The Rooster Bar

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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • In this legal thriller, John Grisham takes you inside a law firm that’s on shaky ground.

Mark, Todd, and Zola came to law school to change the world, to make it a better place. But now, as third-year students, these close friends realize they have been duped. They all borrowed heavily to attend a third-tier, for-profit law school so mediocre that its graduates rarely pass the bar exam, let alone get good jobs. And when they learn that their school is one of a chain owned by a shady New York hedge-fund operator who also happens to own a bank specializing in student loans, the three know they have been caught up in The Great Law School Scam.

But maybe there’s a way out. Maybe there’s a way to escape their crushing debt, expose the bank and the scam, and make a few bucks in the process. But to do so, they would first have to quit school. And leaving law school a few short months before graduation would be completely crazy, right? Well, yes and no . . .

Pull up a stool, grab a cold one, and get ready to spend some time at The Rooster Bar.

Our Top Reviews

Reviewer: Marie-Jo Fortis
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A MUST READ FOR WHOEVER IS INTERESTED IN THE DEVIOUSNESS OF CAPITALISM
Review: Four friends, Zola, Mark, Todd and Gordy are soon going to be graduates from law school. Bi-polar Gordy, who drinks too much, avoids his medications, goes from overactive behavior to deep depression, commits suicide. But not before sharing with his friends what he has discovered, a major scam with major links. A man owning a powerful company has bought four law schools, theirs among them, through the intermediary of other companies of which he owns shares. In addition, banks, also linked to the man (whom Gordy called The Devil), give loans to law students who must make payments after graduation. Only these loans are made in such a way that the graduates will only be able to pay interest for what looks like the rest of their lives. In other words, students are treated as financial investments. Nothing is illegal in this undertaking. But it is immoral. It is education treated as business when business does not care one bit about education.When the friends decide to fight “The Devil,” they do it through similar methods, catching the enemy at his own game. But for naïve souls, it is a dangerous game, mostly for their souls.It’s typical Grisham, informative, satiric with the right amount of humor. With the less is more prose approach that inspires my own fiction, it is learning mixed with pleasure. And don’t tell me that an entertaining book cannot address important issues. Grisham is one shining example that proves the contrary.September 3, 2024

Reviewer: C Wm (Andy) Anderson
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: “The Rooster Bar” Typical Fun Grisham Read but with a Difference…
Review: INTRO:The Rooster Bar is typical Grisham, relating to us the stories of three young, disillusioned lawyers. In one sentence, stays true to his formula with this book. What makes a difference, for me anyway, is that character development is improved. Read on to learn more…*** ARE THERE PROFANITIES USED? ***Yes, sparingly used and with no overly harsh terms.POV Told in third person point of view.KEY POINTSBLUSH FACTOR This is a story you can read aloud without great embarrassment to your 80-year-old grandmother.To give a feel for the editing, and the style and flow of this work, I am posting a brief excerpt below.Excerpt‘…Zola finally said, “Let’s go,” and they walked to the front door. A temporary sign beside it read, “Bardtown Federal Detention Facility. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Office of Detention and Removal Operations. Department of Homeland Security. DHS, DRO, ICE. Administration Building.”They stared at the sign and Todd mumbled, “Alphabet soup.”To which Mark replied, “Let’s hope they’ve met the ACLU.”They walked through the doors and entered a reception area. There were no signs to guide them, so Mark stopped a thick young man in a uniform. “Excuse me, sir, but where is the visiting area?”“What kind of visitors?”“Well, we would like to see one of your inmates.”“They’re called detainees.”“Okay, we would like to see one of your detainees.”Reluctantly, he pointed down the hall and said, “Try down there.”“Thank you so much.” They drifted down the wide hallway, looking for a sign that would indicate anything to do with visitation. Because it was a federal facility, there were employees everywhere, all in uniforms that varied. Beefy young men swaggering around with guns on their belts and “ICE” in bold letters on the backs of their parkas. Clerks with white shirts and ties and gold badges over their pockets. Cops who appeared to be nothing more than county deputies.They walked to a counter where three young ladies were camped out. One was shuffling papers while the other two were enjoying their afternoon snacks. Zola said, “Excuse me, but I’m here to see my parents.”“And who are your parents?” asked the gal with the paperwork.“Where are they from?”“Well, they’re from New Jersey, but Senegal originally. They were picked up yesterday.”“Oh, they’re detainees?” Mark bit his tongue to keep from blurting…’“Maal. My father is Abdou, my mother is Fanta. Maal. M-A-A-L.”Grisham, John. The Rooster Bar (Kindle Locations 1187-1205). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.Bottom Line:When I sit down to read a Grisham novel, I’m looking for insight into the challenges faced by young legal professionals and how they persevere. I pretty much know the formula, but, due to his good writing, I seldom find disappointment with his tried-and-true formulaic writing. In “The Rooster Bar,” I not only was not disappointed, I found the character development to be improved.Four stars out of five.Comments regarding your opinion of this book or of my review, whether favorable or unfavorable, are always welcome. If you buy the book based on my review and become disappointed, especially, I do want to know that and I want to understand how I can improve as a book reviewer. Just please be polite.Thank you.

Reviewer: Robert James Vandevoort (Show Low, Arizona)
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Most Certainly – This Reader’s Least Favorite Grisham Novel
Review: Mark Frazier, Todd Lucero and Zola Maal are all three-year law students at the non-prestigious Foggy Bottom Law School in Washington, D.C. This is one of those for-profit law schools that anyone can get in. All the students will graduate, since after all, if you pay your fee’s you will receive your B’s. After graduation the next step is to pass the bar exam. Half of Foggy Bottom graduates do and the other half do not.Loans to attend Foggy Bottom are easy to obtain. Now, going into their final semester, these three law students have nearly $600,000 combined in student debt. Their prospects for gainful employment are nearly none. Mark and Todd decided not to return for the final semester. They thought they really didn’t need a law degree to practice law. They convinced Zola to join them in their new law firm and she does. What they are about to do is not legal.They start hanging out at the courthouse, where DWI cases are presented. They start approaching potential DWI clients. Slowly but surely, they build their law business. No one knows or questions them about having a law degree. Next, they try hanging out at hospitals for potential accident clients. They keep climbing the legal totem pole and taking on riskier cases. None of this is legal and perhaps one day they will be caught. If they are caught, what would happen? Readers, will soon find out.This reader bought author John Grisham’s novel “The Rooster Bar” when it was published in 2017, but only now has read it. Not your typical John Grisham novel. What law student when entering their final semester, would not stick with it to the end and thus graduate with a law degree, even though not from a school of prestige? What kind of person would want to practice law without a degree or license, especially knowing that it was illegal? Typically, this reader likes the key characters in a novel. This reader did not like either Mark or Todd.This reader at times liked Zola, as he felt that she had a conscience and was being manipulated by the two men. This reader wondered why Zola was added to the plot. Zola was born in the United States and thus is an American citizen. Her parents and brother were not. They were illegal immigrants from Senegal. A good portion of the plot covered the terrible ICE, arresting and deporting her illegal immigrant parents and brother. At times, this reader thought author Grisham was trying to present his political beliefs about immigration and the agencies that enforce American laws. Why is Senegal even part of the plot? Soon, readers will understand why. And, even the reason why, was a little strange.

Reviewer: Archita
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I was kind of expecting Gordy to come back in the end. I did not believe that it was so easy to pose as a lawyer and even get clients. But as that went on I did not want them to get caught.I really dig the friendship that Todd, Mark and Zola had. I loved the part where they did not hesitate for a second to send the money to Zola to get her family out. A friend in need is a friend indeed.By the end I had my reservations about Zola as to how she helped Todd and Mark, but she does help them when they come to Senegal.Really enjoyed it!

Reviewer: davidescaletta
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Un bella amicizia tra 3 giovani aspiranti avvocati, la incredibile verità dei debiti di studio nel sistema USA sono gli ingredienti principali di questo romanzo davvero bello.

Reviewer: ektorin1977
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Un excelente libro, es mi primer libro en inglés y realmente lo he disfrutado mucho, el factor de ser un libro de pasta dura, lo hace más duradero y mejor para llevar.En cuanto a la historia, personajes y escenarios, estos están completamente bien desarrollados, la historia tiene giros inesperados, pero también algunos puntos predecibles.Sin duda un libro recomendable para todos.

Reviewer: Richard M. Morales
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: I think Mr. Grisham may have really researched this book. Like, by wearing a disguise and rubbing elbows with ambulance chasers (the constantly wanting to punch lawyers in the face almost sounded personal :-). This is his best book yet. I was up and down while reading on whether I liked it or not. But I began rooting for American university students at some point in time, and I was very glad the good guys finished first. I loved it until the very last three words, and then I loved it some more. I know the whole book was not about Africa, but any American who has not visited Africa is big fat dummy (nothing against fat or dumb people; just people who have yet to visit Africa, it is a very cool and dangerous country). The Funniest Sentence Award goes to page 310 in hardcover: “”‘You want it back?’ Phil asked, bristling.” The Best Sentence Award, of course, is for: “‘We thought about calling you last night,’ Todd said” (page 314). No spoilers. You gotta read the book to get the context.

Reviewer: Aluisio Martins de Sousa Junior
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Excelente livro sobre os perigos que cercam a advocacia desde a faculdade.

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