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Standard Of Review: John Grisham's New Short Story 'Partners' Is Less O. Henry And More D'oh Henry

Our book critic Harry Graff's verdict: good idea, bad execution.

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Partners John Grisham full sizeGood idea. Bad execution.

That was all I could think about while reading John Grisham’s new short story e-book Partners, a prequel to his last novel Rogue Lawyer (which I reviewed in October). I praised Rogue Lawyer for its vignette structure, a departure from the typical novel in the Grisham canon. Understandably, Grisham attempted to capitalize on this, writing a new standalone story about Rogue Lawyer’s protagonist Sebastian Rudd as he takes another unpopular case and navigates the seedy underbelly of “The City.” The problem is that Partners is just not very good.

In Partners (not to be confused with Grisham’s 1997 novel The Partner; Grisham has written so many books that he is cannibalizing his own titles at this point), Sebastian defends Tee Ray (who is also a character in Rogue Lawyer), an African-American man accused of murdering a white police officer. Tee Ray’s guilt is never in question. As the novel opens, Tee Ray, a family man who is a reluctant cog in a drug-running operation, is confronted out of nowhere by a police officer, who yells at Tee Ray to freeze. After Tee Ray complies, the officer inexplicably starts shooting at him. Tee Ray is able to dodge the bullets, find his gun, and kill the officer. The case is controversial, as Tee Ray is labeled a “cop killer” by the media, but a shady man with some unknown connection to the drug-running ring convinces Sebastian – who has not yet obtained the reputation as the rogue lawyer of the coincidentally named Rogue Lawyer – to take the case.

John Grisham

John Grisham

Grisham is best known for his plot twists and turns, but those twists are basically nonexistent in Partners. Sebastian agrees to represent Tee Ray, conducts an investigation, finds some witnesses, and ultimately takes the case to trial. A few things go wrong along the way but there are not really any repercussions. Grisham makes a mistake by making it clear from the opening pages that Tee Ray is innocent; it would have been more effective to see the case from Sebastian’s perspective, initially expressing skepticism at Tee Ray’s innocence but changing his mind along the way. Instead, the reader is a step ahead of Sebastian.

Further, there are numerous plot points that never pay off. For example, one key witness for the prosecution disappears without explanation. More importantly, Grisham has no interest in answering the question of why the officer shot Tee Ray in the first place. I assumed that the officer would be part of some bigger conspiracy involving the drug-running ring. Or, in the alternative, I speculated that the officer is just racist and an all-around bad guy. But I never found out. I appreciate that Partners is a short story and not a full-blown novel. But that does not excuse a half-baked plot; to paraphrase Benjamin Braddock, a plot should be “fully baked,” even in a short story.

This lack of development undermines Grisham’s political statement. Similar to Rogue Lawyer, Partners takes on the hot-button issue of police brutality. And just like Rogue Lawyer, Partners’s viewpoint is extremely anti-police. Grishman portrays the officers as indiscriminate killers and liars who will say anything to protect their own. However, because he does not attempt to provide motivations for the officers’ actions – even if those motivations are pure racism – Grisham’s critiques do not land.

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Despite these criticisms, I hope that Grisham writes another short story involving Sebastian Rudd taking an unpopular case. Rogue Lawyer proved that Grisham can excel in the vignette format, as long as he makes his stories somewhat interesting. Let me suggest some more interesting topics for the next short story: Sebastian defends Ramsay Bolton; Sebastian facilitates an initiative to give “The City” an even plainer name; or Rudd files a lawsuit attempting to enjoin any law firm from moving to the $180,000 salary scale.

Partners [Amazon (affiliate link)]

Earlier: Standard Of Review: John Grisham Goes Rogue In Latest Novel

Harry Graff is a litigation associate at a firm, but he spends days wishing that he was writing about film, television, literature, and pop culture instead of writing briefs. If there is a law-related movie, television show, book, or any other form of media that you would like Harry Graff to discuss, he can be reached at harrygraff19@gmail.com. Be sure to follow Harry Graff on Twitter at @harrygraff19.

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