The Racketeer by John Grisham (2012)

Thank goodness for this blog, as I did not recall ever reading a book by Grisham, but sure enough, I have read two of them (Playing for Pizza and Painted House), though neither is a legal thriller like this book. We have black lawyer Malcolm Bannister telling us his story from prison - how he was wrongly convicted of racketeering and how he plans to get out, because he thinks he knows who actually killed a federal judge. The story is quite convoluted and you never quite know what to believe, but it was a great tale and a good read.

At the end of the book the author has a disclaimer, that none of this is based on any facts and that he did not do any research for it. There is no prison camp, murdered federal judge or uranium mine court case, but the story reminded me of  the senselessness of our prison system. Grisham mentions a $40,000 per prisoner per year price tag. A quick Google search places that at the low end of estimates, so we are spending huge amounts to incarcerate large numbers of the populace for non-violent crimes. It ruins the lives of those individuals, as a conviction closes many doors, and creates huge stresses for the families. I would not be surprised if the divorce rates are high, as pointed out in Grisham's story. On one hand the monotony of prison life is mind numbing, on the other it gives one time to concoct elaborate plans as the one we see unfold. I also liked that Malcolm worked in the prison library and helped other prisoners with their legal problems, though rarely being able to shorten their stay in prison.  I also like a well thought out scam like on Leverage or the Ocean movies.