• Booklist Reviews : Booklist Reviews 2003 August #1
  Grisham's latest is a departure for him, perhaps even more so than A Painted House (2001). There are no lawyers on the run or murders to be unraveled. Instead, Bleachers is the story of a high-school football hero returning to the town of his youth when he receives news that his coach is dying. Neely Crenshaw has bittersweet memories of playing football for the Messina Spartans. Without a doubt, his career as the Spartans' quarterback was the pinnacle of his glory days, but his contentious relationship with Coach Eddie Rake taints his memories of the experience. Eddie Rake is man who is impossible to fully love or fully hate; his "boys" have memories of running miles in the stifling August heat and being yelled at mercilessly by their coach, but they also knew a man who cared deeply about the game and the futures of his players. As Eddie lays dying of cancer, Neely and many of the other former players gather together to remember their coach--his stunning six-year winning streak and many championship games, as well as the tragedy that led to the end of his career, and the incident that Neely cannot forgive or forget. Touching and quiet, this is a meditative, thoughtful tale that should find an audience with anyone from former and current football players to those who cheer them on. ((Reviewed August 2003)) Copyright 2003 Booklist Reviews

Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year (his other books are The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, and The Broker) and all of them have become international bestsellers. The Innocent Man (October 2006) marks his first foray into non-fiction.

Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea. The family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm in Mississippi and a plantation near Charlottesville, VA.


From the Trade Paperback edition.