52+2 Deck Draw #1: THE PELICAN BRIEF by John Grisham ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Before the review: this is the first book in a new reading challenge I saw on Reddit that lets fate decide what comes next. As ready as I was for freedom, a blind pick from a curated list sounded too fun to pass up. Called 52+2, each card in a standard deck is a different book on your to-read list. The suits are different genres, jokers are up to you. For me, it looks like this:

Spades = General Fiction

Clubs = Classics

Diamonds = Nonfiction

Hearts = Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror

Jokers = random book already owned, picked by my wife!

You simply pick a card and read what’s on it, continuing to pull cards after each book is finished until complete!

I pulled together as thorough and wide-reaching a list as I could, trying to cover the spectrum within each category as well as mix books I already have and need to read with ones I’ve been needing an excuse to buy and add to the pile. I’ve looked at many of these on my shelf at home or at the bookstore and thought “not today.” Well, today is finally the day, if the card is right.

This will surely take years to complete, but I’m dying to get to so many on the list. And with the first draw of a cycle I intend to replicate many times, we have…

THE PELICAN BRIEF by John Grisham

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Can you imagine turning the things you know about your job or your field into an intense thriller? After reading The Firm and seeing how effortlessly John Grisham morphed his lawyering years into some legitimately riveting fiction, I’ve wondered if it’s even possibly doable with dentistry.

Sitting here after another legal page-turner, I’m still wondering. And doubting.

As hard to imagine as the murder of two Supreme Court justices is, Grisham believably pulls together the life of a young law student with the acronymed powers that be — FBI, CIA, POTUS — to concoct a national chase for the culprit and the girl who named him. At times, the excitement gets to be overwhelming in an almost immersive way, mirroring the chaos of Darby Shaw’s new life. Even when we think the coast is clear, I still feel like looking over my shoulder.

This is bread and butter legal thriller territory. A book to read literally anywhere, and after decades out it probably has been. While I enjoyed Scott Turow’s descriptive and deep detours into the minds of his characters more, Grisham can set an honest person on the run like no one else.