The Washington Post
The Racketeer…offers a thorough display of [Grisham's] characteristic virtues: imaginative plotting; a fluent, deceptively effortless prose style; and an insider's view of our complex, often fatally flawed legal system…ingenious, surprising and suspenseful. At times, the convoluted scheme that gradually unfolds seems almost too elaborate, too dependent on crucial but problematic events…But like his protagonist, Grisham makes it work, holding the pieces together with a headlong narrative energy that rarely, if ever, flags. The result is a satisfying, deeply engrossing thriller in which different forms of justice are ultimately served…[The Racketeer] is engaging and illuminating in equal measure.
—Bill Sheehan
The New York Times
In its early stages [The Racketeer] does follow the familiar Grisham template, in which a lawyer finds himself unexpectedly in legal trouble. But then it breaks out into the exhilarating tale of how Mal, a disbarred attorney, now a savvy, self-taught legal scholar, leads his pursuers on a long, winding chase…this is not a story about a triumph or a miscarriage of courtroom justice. It's the more devious, surprising story of a smart man who gets even smarter once he spends five years honing his skills as a jailhouse lawyer—and then expertly concocts an ingenious revenge scheme…Mr. Grisham writes with rekindled vigor here. Perhaps that's because he hasn't mired this book in excessive research…He has simply…gone back to what he does best, storytelling rather than crusading.
—Janet Maslin
From the Publisher
Exhilarating . . . surprising . . . ingenious.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“The Racketeer is guilty of only one thing: keeping us engaged until the very last page.”—USA Today
“A satisfying, deeply engrossing thriller in which different forms of justice are ultimately served.”—The Washington Post
“Fast-paced . . . with enough startling plot twists—and changes of scenery, from Miami to Montego Bay and beyond—to surprise even the most suspicious reader.”—The Wall Street Journal
“Tautly plotted.”—Entertainment Weekly
DECEMBER 2012 - AudioFile
THE RACKETEER is to legal dramas what OCEANS 11, 12, and 13 are to heist films—so far-fetched it should be termed legal fantasy. It has so little to do with courtroom and prison reality that the listener feels cheated for listening to it. That's not to criticize the performance of JD Jackson, who does an amazing job, considering the paltry plot. He’s believable as the convicted criminal who cuts a deal with the Feds for freedom, immunity, and $50,000 in exchange for the identity of the killer of a judge. If that sounds implausible, be advised that the rest of the book is even worse. Jackson's clueless hillbillies are priceless, even if they’re out of central casting. If you want a taut legal thriller, look elsewhere. M.S. © AudioFile 2012, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
Evenly paced, smart legal thriller--trademark Grisham (The Litigators, 2011, etc.), in other words. "Secrets are extremely hard to keep in prison, especially when outsiders appear and start asking questions." So writes Grisham in the voice of one Malcolm Bannister, a one-time attorney who has gotten himself in trouble and is now "halfway through a ten-year sentence handed down by a weak and sanctimonious federal judge in Washington, D.C." Grisham locates his story on the familiar ground of the racial divide: Bannister, 43 years old, is black, the only black ex-attorney at the Maryland prison camp to which he has been committed--not a bad place, a "resort" in fact as compared to most pens. And, of course, he's innocent, or so he protests. Bannister also has come by some inside knowledge of events surrounding the death of another federal judge, which links to witness protection, drugs, Jamaicans and some heavy bad guys--and therein lies Grisham's longish, complex tale of cat and mouse. Every character in the book is believable, and though some of the plot turns seem just a touch improbable, the reader never quite knows whether things are going to work out for Bannister before the heaviest of the heavies quiets him down for good. "I have a plan," Bannister says, "but so much of it is beyond my control." That's not so of Grisham's plot, which is carefully mapped out without seeming pat, leading to a most satisfying conclusion. In fact, there are plenty of surprises along the way. As ever, a solid, unflashy performance by Grisham.
