Rainmaker

            
             "The Rainmaker" by John Grisham, is about a young lawyer named Rudy Baylor who is graduating from law school and needs a job. When the job that he is supposed to have is given to someone else, he finds himself having to settle for a job with a law firm that isn't exactly on its way up the success ladder. A lawyer named J. Lyman Stone runs it. His nickname is 'Bruiser'. Bruiser, as Rudy will later find out, is not only a lawyer, but also a crook and will have to go into hiding when a former business partner of his testifies before a grand jury. Rudy has to form a partnership with a man named Deck Shiflit who has gone to law school but failed the bar exam more times than one can count. Together the two men have to fight an insurance company called Great Benefit, which has denied their client who has cancer, funds for a bone marrow transplant. Rudy has to go up against a large law firm that represents Great Benefit. Rudy also becomes involved with a woman whose husband beats her. He must juggle the case, the girl, and his landlady. This book is a mix of action, suspense and drama; it will change readers' stereotype of lawyers. .
             Various conflicts in this book all seem to go on at the same time. The beginning conflict is between Rudy and his classmates. He is upset at the hard work he has put in while his other rich classmates will easily find jobs for which he will have to struggle to accomplish. The young lawyer's next conflict is with Leo F. Drumond the lead attorney for the Great Benefit defense who has sold out on his legal beliefs and obligations to win cases. As this conflict is being laid out, another comes in with the woman who is being beaten by her boyfriend. She doesn't want to leave him and Rudy must convince her that it is the only way for her to stay alive. Another part of the Great Benefit trial conflict comes out when the boy with the cancer dies. This escalates the empathetic feelings of the jury during the trial.