영화로 인해 더 유명해진 존 그리샴의 법정 스릴러물.
"쉬잇! 입조심해라, 얘야. 입을 열면 넌 죽어!"
마피아의 비밀을 알게 되어 목숨이 위태로운 열한 살짜리 꼬마. 그리고 단돈 1달러에 꼬마의 변호를 맡은 이혼녀 변호사의 목숨을 건 모험담이 펼쳐진다.
트레일러 주택에 사는 형제 마크와 리키는 엄마가 출근한 후 숲에 들어갔다가 자살하려는 한 남자를 만난다. 그에게서 엄청난 비밀을 알게되고, 그의 자살을 경찰에 신고한 마크는 언론의 관심을 끌게 되고 마피아로부터 협박을 받게 된다. 아직 어리지만 영리하게도 자신을 보호해야 한다는 생각으로 마크는 변호사를 선임하게 되는데...
In a weedy lot on the outskirts of memphis, two boys watch a shiny Lincoln pull upt ot the curb... Eleven-year-old Mark Sway and his younger brother were sharing a forbidden cigarrette when a chance encounter with a suicidal laywer left Mark knowing a bloody and explosive secret: the whereabouts of the most sought-after dead body in America. Now Mark is caught between a legal system gone mad and a mob killer desperate to cover up his crime. And his only ally is a woman named Reggie Love, who has been a lawyer for all of four years. Prosecutors are willing to break all the rules to make Mark talk. The mob will stop at nothing to keep him quiet. And Reggie will do anything to protect her client -- even take a last, desperate gamble that could win Mark his freedom... or cost them both their lives.“Grisham at his best.”-The Atlanta Journal “Engrossing . . . Grisham keeps the pages of The Client turning faster than lawyers can scribble on legal pads.”-San Francisco Chronicle “The desire to find out what happens next keeps the reader turning the pages. Grisham is an absolute master of the chase story.”-The Washington Post “Heart-pounding . . . fast-paced.”-The Orlando Sentinel