copyright 1992; Doubleday publishers, New York; hardbound with brown and ebony boards and nice gilt lettering along spine; very good condition with unmarked pages; decorative dust jacket very good.
Description -
The Pelican Brief is a legal-suspense thriller written by John Grisham in 1992. It is his third novel after A Time to Kill and The Firm. The hardcover edition was published by Doubleday in that same year. Two paperback editions were published, both by Dell Publishing in 1993. A film adaptation was released in 1993 starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington.
Plot -
The story begins with the double assassinations of two ideologically divergent Supreme Court Justices. Both murders are committed by Khamel, one of the most wanted terrorists in the world. Justice Rosenberg, a liberal, is killed at his home while Justice Jensen, a Republican-appointed swing voter, is killed inside a gay movie theater in Washington. The circumstances surrounding their deaths, as well as the deaths themselves, shock and confuse a politically divided nation.
Darby Shaw, a Tulane University law student, conducts research on Rosenberg and Jensen's records and writes a legal brief speculating they were not killed for political reasons. She shows the brief to Thomas Callahan, her law professor and lover, who in turn shows it to his friend, an FBI lawyer, Gavin Verheek. Soon afterwards, Callahan is killed by a car bomb, while Darby, who witnesses his death, is contacted on the scene by some suspicious people. Afraid that she is the next target, Darby goes on the run. She contacts and agrees to meet Verheek, but Khamel murders Verheek and impersonates him when they meet. He is just about to kill Darby when he is shot by an unknown perpetrator. Darby manages to escape again...