Psychologists suggest that to cure cruelty

With an ear for dialogue and an ability to make legalese understandable to the ordinary reader, lawyer John Grisham became a best-selling writer of legal thrillers. His fast-moving, suspenseful novels often feature an underdog lawyer who must skilfully battle powerful oppressors to save lives. Grisham began writing his first novel after observing a rape trial involving a 10-year-old victim. Stirred by the intense emotions in the courtroom, he wondered what a jury would do if the girl's father killed the attacker. Although he was already devoting more than 70 hours a week to his practice, Grisham got up early each day for three years to write what became A Time to Kill. Some two dozen publishers rejected the book before Wynwood Press bought the manuscript for 15,000 dollars and printed 5,000 copies in 1989. A New York movie scout saw the manuscript for Grisham's next novel before it was sold, and Paramount studios bought the rights to it for 600,000 dollars. This brought attention from many large book publishers, and Grisham quit his practice after signing a contract with the publisher Doubleday. The Firm (1991) spent almost a year on the New York Times best-seller list and was translated into more than 25 languages. Tom Cruise starred in the movie version, which was one of the top-grossing films of 1993. Grisham solidified his reputation as one of the most popular writers of the 1990s with The Pelican Brief (1992), The Client (1993), The Chamber (1994), The Rainmaker (1995), The Runaway Jury (1996), and The Partner (1997). The reissue of A Time to Kill also did well. The film rights to Grisham's novels now command millions of dollars.

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