The Rooster Bar

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

As a John Grisham fan, I was eager to read his newest crime action drama, The Rooster Bar. Grisham’s readers often expect a fast-paced story with vivid characters and a plot filled with thrilling twists and turns, and this book does not disappoint. The Rooster Bar is a sharp criticism of today’s educational, financial, and immigration systems. Grisham savages the shady colleges and universities which are far more interested in creating large profits than in enriching the lives of their students. The book also exposes corruption in the student loan industry and the excesses of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).This crime action drama follows three students at the fictional Foggy Bottom Law School: Mark, Todd, and Zola. They all borrowed heavily (each nearly $200,000) to attend school, and they are struggling in their personal and professional lives. All of them were betting heavily on their earnings as lawyers to pay back their high-interest loans. The schools recruiting videos and TV ads sold them on how easy it was to borrow the money and get a high-paying job in a law firm.As they progress through law school, they become aware that their school has a low percentage of graduates that pass the bar exam and only a few of those that do get well-paying jobs. They find out that even that was an elaborate hoax, as the mega-millionaire also controlled eight law firms where they would hire a few of the graduates and start them at a high salary, use them in their recruiting ads, and then lower their salaries at annual reviews.Gordy, a friend of the three main characters and romantically linked to Zola, traces a conspiracy linking Foggy Bottom to a lender in the student loan industry. His suicide leads the three friends to investigate further. The three decide that exposing the corruption is more important than receiving tainted law school degrees. They drop out of law school, assume new identities, and set up a fake and unlicensed law firm of their own with the goal of taking down Foggy Bottom and its financial partners.The plot builds in excitement until this crime action drama provides a thrilling climax. Grisham’s reuse of a plot device from The Firm was one of my few real problems with this book, though some avid Grisham fans could rationalize it as an update to an ongoing problem, which in a way it is.Grisham manages to make us sympathetic to these underdogs even though their methods are almost as shady as those of the law school they are trying to expose. I especially enjoyed the development of Zola’s character. Born to undocumented parents from Senegal, she becomes heavily involved in the politics of immigration after the deportation of her family members. Zola’s family’s experiences with the immigration system lend urgency to her character.Other reviewers have criticized Grisham’s last few books for having lost the spark and thrill of his earlier works, but I found that The Rooster Bar was a return to his usual form. The characters came to life for me and were the best part of this crime action drama. Despite the slightly predictable plot twist, this courtroom drama was as engaging as any Grisham novel.Grisham’s new book The Rooster Bar will not disappoint fans of crime action drama, though those who have read The Firm might be turned off by the reuse of an older plot device, it is a small point, and after you get into the story, it will not matter that much. The characters of Mark, Todd, and Zola carry the book and cause the readers to root for them even though they operate outside the law. If you are looking for an entertaining legal read, pick up The Rooster Bar and decide for yourself.

Was this one of Grisham’s best books? Not really. But it was enjoyable and it moved along at a good pace. I did have trouble keeping the two male main characters straight…they didn’t really have a lot in the way of distinct personalities, and they seemed rather interchangeable. There were moments of tension…will they be caught?… and moments of sadness during the immigration/detainee scenes. It was a good , solid read, and if you like Grisham’s law novels, you’ll enjoy this one.

An unusual gift from Grisham. Exciting and suspensful.

I’ll admit I was drawn to John Grisham’s The Rooster Bar, about three students caught up in a law school scam, because of my own less-than-stellar four-year college experience involving advisors, college work study, student loans and general naivete about the value of a degree and how it would lead me to career success and financial security. On this front, The Rooster Bar is satisfying, if not overblown, which Grisham admits to in the Author’s Note at the end of the book. But I still give Grisham credit for using an article entitled “The Law School Scam” that appeared in The Atlantic in 2014 as the basis for his highly imaginative tale that sticks it to the world of higher education, which isn’t always what it seems to be… Three law school students, Todd, Mark and Zola who are sacked with overwhelming debt team together to form a bogus law firm and practice law with no license. Their goal is to turn the tables on the sleazy hedge-fund executive that runs their law school and several others, as well as a bank that dishes out student loans like free ice cream. How they go about their well-conceived mission makes The Rooster Bar a compelling read, but not without flaws. Two of the three main characters, Todd and Mark, are not fully developed, while Zola is placed at the center of the country’s immigration issue as she deals with her family being deported to their native Senegal. The plot, while mostly absorbing if maybe a little too complex, is not always well paced, but the reader is left wondering how it will all end, whether the story’s three heroes will persevere or be apprehended. The ending of The Rooster Bar felt like it was merely tacked on, lacking an exciting finale… Despite its shortcomings, The Rooster Bar is fascinating, proving without a doubt that John Grisham is a highly gifted storyteller that knows how to spin a clever yarn. Case dismissed.

The book was fantastic.

Meanders around a bit in the 1st third, but eventually gets into gear, then becomes crazier by the page as their lives unravel.

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.

Excellent roman de Grisham, qui nous en apprend beaucoup sur le fonctionnement des bourses scolaires aux US et sur le business des facs de l'Ivy League. Histoire et personnages bien menés.

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.