The Pelican Brief

What The Pelican Brief is about

Two Supreme Court justices are assassinated within a short time of each other, one a liberal, the other a Republican-appointed swing vote, and the killer turns out to be the most wanted hitman in the world. Darby Shaw, a law student at Tulane, writes a speculative legal brief arguing that politics had nothing to do with it. She suspects the answer lies in money, oil, and a stretch of Louisiana marshland that is home to an endangered pelican.

Then the people close to her start paying for what she has written, and she is forced to run. Gray Grantham, a Washington Post reporter, offers to help her prove it, while the White House works to bury its connection to a powerful oil tycoon. John Grisham's third novel is a fast, tense legal thriller about corruption, the press, and how far the powerful will go to protect their interests. It suits readers who like a smart, hunted heroine and a conspiracy that keeps widening.

Questions about The Pelican Brief

When was The Pelican Brief published?

The Pelican Brief by John Grisham was first published in 1992.

Was The Pelican Brief one of the best books of 1992?

The Pelican Brief is #19 on BookWard's Best Books of 1992, out of 43 1992 books that cleared our data bar. 253 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.8 out of 5 (27 ratings).

Why is The Pelican Brief on the Best Books of 1992 list?

253 readers have shelved it on Open Library; readers rate it 3.8 out of 5 (27 ratings).

More of the best books of 1992

• Welcome to Dead House Robert Lawrence Stine, #1
• The Secret History Donna Tartt, #2
• The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbes Bill Watterson, #3
• Snow Crash Neal Stephenson, #4
• The Shadow Rising Robert Jordan, #5
• The Artist's Way Julia Cameron, #6

See the full Best Books of 1992, the Top 100, or new books on Rising.