Grisham departs from the law to weave a story about rookie baseball player Joe Castle of Calico Rock, Arkansas, who’s called up to the Cubs in 1973 and thrills fans with an astonishing rookie season that breaks all the records--until it comes to a sudden end. This story is nothing like John Grisham’s legal thrillers: Calico Joe is short and straightforward, exploring relationships and redemption--all centered around the game of baseball.

Publishers Weekly says, "Grisham's gripping fiction debut describes the inner workings of a law firm. Readers will be totally hooked by this unusual and absorbing story." My husband says this is the book that made him a reader—it was the first novel he couldn’t put down!

I can't tell you how many times I've read The Pelican Brief to admire its unique structure. I love to wax poetic about Grisham's action-packed legal thriller. The story opens with the assassination of two Supreme Court judges, then breathlessly follows a young law student who believes she knows why. She can't help investigating, and writes a brief of her findings. When the brief travels from the trash to the FBI, all hell breaks loose. This is backlist at its best: stories about seeking justice in the face of political corruption and cover-ups will never get old.