The Client
by John Grisham
★ Top 10 book of 1993 · #10 on Best Books of 1993
Eleven-year-old Mark Sway stumbles onto a deadly secret in Memphis after meeting a suicidal lawyer. Hunted by prosecutors and a mob killer, he turns to Reggie Love, a young lawyer, as his only ally.
Best for: Fans of fast legal thrillers with a child caught between the law and the mob
The Client is #10 on BookWard's Best Books of 1993, out of 36 1993 books that cleared our data bar.
What The Client is about
Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother Ricky happen to witness a lawyer's suicide attempt, and the man tells Mark something dangerous: where a missing Louisiana senator's body is hidden. Overnight, a boy from a Memphis trailer park becomes the person a U.S. Attorney and the Mafia all want to reach.
Mark hires Reggie Love, a lawyer who usually handles child abuse cases, for a token one-dollar retainer. Against her stands Roy Foltrigg, an ambitious prosecutor known as "Reverend Roy," who badly wants that location. The story moves between Memphis and New Orleans as the family loses its home and Mark must decide whom to trust. At its heart it is about a child, a lawyer and the loyalty that grows between them under pressure.
The Client on the Best Books of 1993
The Client came out in 1993. Of the 36 books first published in 1993 that met BookWard's data bar, it ranks #10 on our Best Books of 1993 list.
Why it made the list: 293 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.6 out of 5 (33 ratings). The list ranks each year’s books on how many readers have picked them up, how highly readers rate them, and how many are reading them right now.
Nearby on the 1993 list
- Night of the Living Dummy Robert Lawrence Stine, #8
- The Virgin Suicides (Bloomsbury Classic) Jeffrey Eugenides, #9
- Voice in the Wind Francine Rivers, #11
- The Fires of Heaven Robert Jordan, #12
See all Best Books of 1993 Best books by year
More years: Best Books of 1992 Best Books of 1994.
The numbers behind it
- Readers: 211 want to read it, 19 are reading it now and 63 have read it, according to Open Library.
- Ratings: 3.6 out of 5 from 33 Open Library ratings.
| Signal | This book (0 to 100) | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Reach | 78 | 55% |
| Reader love | 8 | 25% |
| Being read right now | 89 | 20% |
Questions about The Client
When was The Client published?
The Client by John Grisham was first published in 1993.
Was The Client one of the best books of 1993?
The Client is #10 on BookWard's Best Books of 1993, out of 36 1993 books that cleared our data bar. 293 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.6 out of 5 (33 ratings).
Why is The Client on the Best Books of 1993 list?
293 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.6 out of 5 (33 ratings).
More of the best books of 1993
- The Giver Lois Lowry, #1
- The Scam Debashis Basu, #2
- Along Came a Spider James Patterson, #3
- A Suitable Boy Vikram Seth, #4
- Girl, Interrupted Susanna Kaysen, #5
- Understanding Comics Scott McCloud, #6
See the full Best Books of 1993, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.
How we know
This page uses public data: Open Library reader counts and ratings, and Wikipedia page views for recent years. The description is paraphrased from real source text. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Lists update monthly.
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