This is the first time I’ve written a preview of an unpublished book of which I have read only the first four chapters. The exception is because the author is John Grisham. I’ve learned a lot about writing from Grisham’s early books, he is a master of building tension, a master of the slow-burn. I’m a fan, right back to A Time to Kill, The Firm and The Pelican Brief. So does The Whistler stand tall beside my favourites?

Truth is, it’s difficult to say. I haven’t read chapter five yet. Grisham has never been an author to start with a wham-bang first chapter. He introduces characters and backgrounds, both essential in legal thrillers. And that’s what he does with The Whistler. But what I read made me want to read it all.

The classic Grisham elements are there. The setting is Florida where those who help the state to recover illegally acquired assets get a big payout. The protagonist is Lacy Stoltz, an investigator for the Florida Board on Judicial Conduct. She is a lawyer, not a policewoman. Into Lacy’s ordinary world walks Greg Myers, a dodgy lawyer with an assumed name. He has a client, a whistleblower willing to name the most corrupt judge in Florida. The judge is involved with the Coast Mafia syndicate, has aided the building of a casino on an Indian reservation, and has accumulated wealth beyond her salary. She has to be stopped.

But people have already died. Will Lacy take the case? Of course she will.

The Whistler will be published in the UK in October 2017.

‘The Whistler’ by John Grisham [UK: Hodder & Stoughton] Buy at Amazon

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
THE WHISTLER by @JohnGrisham #bookpreview via @SandraDanby #JudgeForYourself http://wp.me/p5gEM4-25V