The Judge's List: A Novel (The Whistler)

This is a must read if you read The Whistler. It was a “do not put it down” suspenseful read.

Good story. I like the plot and characters. The constant apprehension of some characters seemed to slow things down a bit. On the other hand, that also helped define them. The ending was unexpected. A good read.

John Grisham is pretty much the owner of his own niche of books: the legal thriller. There are many other authors who write this type of book, but it is Grisham who stands at the very top. Almost forty legal thriller novels, over 300 million books in print, etc. From the first one published in 1989, his legal thrillers have gone number one consistently. He's so good as an author, at plotting, at character building, at dialogue, at velocity, etc., he's the master. He most often will take a specific subject, in this latest outing, serial killers who are also sitting judges, research the subject thoroughly, and weave the facts and context and motivations into a story which draws us deeper and deeper with each paragraph. This latest, "The Judge's List," is, in my opinion, one of his best. To be writing at his best after 40 years on the job says a lot about how truly skilled he is. Grisham gives us Lacy Stoltz, an experienced investigator at the Board of Judicial Conduct in Florida, a backwater, sleepy agency which investigates complaints against judges. She gets a cold call from Jeri Crosby, whose father was killed 20 years ago. She has spent those 20 years tracking down her father's killer, and has discovered that the killer has killed at least ten other victims, using the exact same technique: a blunt instrument to the head, and a nylon rope tied around the neck with a unique knot at the end. Crosby believes the killer is a sitting judge; she files a complaint against the judge with Lacy, who is obligated by law to investigate all complaints. Thus, Grisham sets up an intriguing story—Lacy involves the various agencies and instruments of state, local and federal government to investigate and ultimately reveal the judge's crimes. How they unite and work together, how they track the judge, how they almost get killed by the judge, and how they ultimately solve the case, is Grisham at his best. When Grisham has wandered into fields outside the legal thriller neighborhood, such as his sports books and his young adult books, I felt that he was good, but not great. With every one of his legal thrillers, I always felt like I was reading the master. And so it is with "The Judge's List," Grisham at his best, giving us exactly what we want in a legal thriller. Can't wait for his next one.

I loved this book. I loved Whistler as well. I certainly hope ther is a book 3. The writing style and storyline never waivers. What a treat to read.

Great Book. One of his best.

Lacy Stoltz works for the Bureau on Judicial Conduct in the state of Florida. She is the senior lawyer working there because turnover is high. Her office investigates complaints and then decides the next step in the process that includes letting a judge know of the complaint. Lacy is in a relationship with an FBI Agent which may or may not lead to marriage. Lacy’s life is about to be challenged when she receives a request to meet from a woman who may be filing a very unusual complaint against a sitting judge. When Lacy meets with Jeri, she isn’t quite sure what to expect, but the complaint that a judge is committing murder is the last thing Lacy expected. Jeri has been on the judge’s track for two decades once she realized her father was murdered. As Jeri sets out to look for answers, she uncovers what might possible be a serial killer! Now the course is set, and Lacy must follow the leads where there is only possible motive and maybes. There is not one shred of physical proof for her or the police to collect and study. The judge is thought to have committed murder over a couple of decades but never has a sitting judge been investigated let alone found guilty of such a heinous crime. Judge Bannick learns he is being investigated not through Lacy but using his vast resources that are safely hidden away in what he calls “The Vault.” Time is of the essence as the judge feels his craftly constructed world of hidden secrets and crimes is about to be exposed for the world to see. I read the novel in just a couple days. I was captivated by the hunt of capturing the man responsible for so many deaths. It has been a while since I read a John Grisham novel, and I was hoping this would be equal to his earlier works that I thought were excellent. I wasn’t disappointed. The novel has a strong plot, interesting characters, and suspense from beginning to end. I hope other readers enjoy the book, and I will keep an eye out for future books by Grisham. In the meantime, I plan on going to read about Lacy Stoltz’s adventures in The Whistler.

JUDGE’S LIST by John Grisham Well, I was so happy to go back to one of the loves of my literary like, John Grisham, and see that he’s back in shape. We parted a while ago when I read some of his work that was not worthy of Grisham. But I am glad we are back together. .Judge’s List is part of the Lacy Stolz series. Stolz works as an investigator for the Florida Board of Judicial Conduct. A strong woman in her thirties, she is faced with unexpected complications that seem to belong more to the FBI than to the BJC. The woman who insists on seeing her, Jeri, is convinced that a respected judge is also a serial killer, and that one of his victims was her own father. For twenty years, Jeri built an enormous dossier on that judge, stalked him and, in the process, created several identities with different names, and untraceable phone numbers. What’s fascinating in this thriller comes from Grisham’s parallel between two obsessive and organized minds, Jeri’s and the judge/serial killer’s. One good and one evil, they use similar methods to get to their end, one looking for justice, the other looking for the next revenge murder. While working as a novel with psychological insights and complex analysis, it can be read also as a fable representing the human mind and its duality and inner fight between negative and positive forces. There is a paragraph toward the end where Jeri admits that part of her got strangely attached to the man who killed her father. Her decades-long investigation has made him an intimate part of her life. And, discovering the magnitude of her work, the killer himself thinks of this enemy, as brilliant as he is, with reverence. If I only gave three stars to the novel, it’s not because of the journalistic, minimalist prose characteristic of this author. Simplicity is not that simple. It’s because I compare Grisham to Grisham –a graving on a curve of sorts. I believe he has done better in the past. I am about to read one of his old books, and should I change my mind after that, I will add a star here. The other reason is the cute, sentimental ending. This ain’t a cute story and, should the reader need a release from this dark tale, Grisham could have placed it in an epilogue and not as the last chapter. It's definitely worth a read. Despite his nearly telegraphic style, or because of it and its efficiency, Grisham manages to go to the depths and conflicts of our human condition. 6.5.23

Great purchase and read.