John Grisham: Gray Mountain, Gebunden

Short description

John Grisham has a new hero - and she's full of surprises.

Samantha Kofer was a third year associate at Scully & Pershing, New York City's largest law firm. Two weeks after Lehman Brothers collapsed, she lost her job, her security, and her future. A week later she was working as an unpaid intern in a legal aid clinic deep in small town Appalachia. There, she stumbles across secrets that should have remained buried deep in the mountains forever.

Description

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Als New Yorker Anwältin hat es Samantha Kofer binnen weniger Jahre zu Erfolg gebracht. Mit der Finanzkrise ändert sich alles. Samantha wird gefeuert. Doch für ein Jahr Pro-Bono-Engagement bekommt sie ihren Job zurück. Samantha geht nach Brady, Virginia, einem 2000-Seelen-Ort, der sie vor große Herausforderungen stellt. Denn anders als ihre New Yorker Klienten, denen es um Macht und Geld ging, kämpfen die Einwohner Bradys um ihr Leben. Ein Kampf, den Samantha bald zu ihrem eigenen macht und der sie das Leben kosten könnte.

Samantha Kofer, ambitionierte Anwältin bei einer der größten Kanzleien in New York, wird kurz nach dem Untergang der US-Investmentbank Lehman Brothers von ihrem Job freigestellt. Im Gegensatz zu vielen ihrer Kollegen, die von einem auf den anderen Tag auf der Straße stehen, bietet man ihr einen Deal an: Wenn sie für ein Jahr ohne Gehalt bei einer Non-Profit-Organisation arbeitet, behält sie ihren Job. So verschlägt es Samantha nach Brady, einem kleinen Ort in den Bergen Virginias, wo sie bei einer Beratungsstelle für kostenlosen Rechtsbeistand anheuert. Anfangs noch etwas unbeholfen in der ungewohnten Umgebung, entwickelt Samantha bald ein Gespür für die Nöte der Einwohner Bradys. Menschen, die auf den umliegenden Kohlefeldern jahrelang Schwerstarbeit geleistet haben und nun, ausgebrannt oder erkrankt, von den Kohleunternehmen im Stich gelassen werden. Der tragische Fall eines Arbeiters, der von Elend und Krankheit so gezeichnet ist, dass ihm nur noch wenige Monate zu leben bleiben, lässt Samantha schließlich über sich hinauswachsen. Gemeinsam mit einem befreundeten Anwalt nimmt sie den Kampf gegen die Kohlemagnaten auf und schreckt auch dann nicht zurück, als ihr Leben akut bedroht wird. John Grisham has a n ew hero . . . and she's full of surprises

The year is 2008 and Samantha Kofer's career at a huge Wall Street law firm is on the fast track - until the recession hits and she gets downsized, furloughed, escorted out of the building. Samantha, though, is one of the "lucky" associates. She's offered an opportunity to work at a legal aid clinic for one year without pay, after which there would be a slim chance that she'd get her old job back.

In a matter of days Samantha moves from Manhattan to Brady, Virginia, population 2, 200, in the heart of Appalachia, a part of the world she has only read about. Mattie Wyatt, lifelong Brady resident and head of the town's legal aid clinic, is there to teach her how to "help real people with real problems." For the first time in her career, Samantha prepares a lawsuit, sees the inside of an actual courtroom, gets scolded by a judge, and receives threats from locals who aren't so thrilled to have a big-city lawyer in town. And she learns that Brady, like most small towns, harbors some big secrets.

Her new job takes Samantha into the murky and dangerous world of coal mining, where laws are often broken, rules are ignored, regulations are flouted, communities are divided, and the land itself is under attack from Big Coal. Violence is always just around the corner, and within weeks Samantha finds herself engulfed in litigation that turns deadly.

Review

" An important new novel . . . Grisham's work - always superior entertainment - is evolving into something more serious, more powerful, more worthy of his exceptional talent. " - Patrick Anderson, The Washington Post

"John Grisham makes a powerful closing argument against Big Coal, but the message never obscures a satisfying, old fashioned, good guy-bad guy legal thriller ." - Christian Science Monitor

" Grisham has written one of his best legal dramas in quite some time with this dive into small-town politics. There's a mystery, but that's a minor portion of the story. The main thrust that will engage readers is Samantha Kofer and the cast of characters that help her discover her passion." - Associated Press

Blurb

John Grisham has a new hero . . . and she's full of surprises

The year is 2008 and Samantha Kofer's career at a huge Wall Street law firm is on the fast track-until the recession hits and she gets downsized, furloughed, escorted out of the building. Samantha, though, is one of the "lucky" associates. She's offered an opportunity to work at a legal aid clinic for one year without pay, after which there would be a slim chance that she'd get her old job back.

In a matter of days Samantha moves from Manhattan to Brady, Virginia, population 2, 200, in the heart of Appalachia, a part of the world she has only read about. Mattie Wyatt, lifelong Brady resident and head of the town's legal aid clinic, is there to teach her how to "help real people with real problems." For the first time in her career, Samantha prepares a lawsuit, sees the inside of an actual courtroom, gets scolded by a judge, and receives threats from locals who aren't so thrilled to have a big-city lawyer in town. And she learns that Brady, like most small towns, harbors some big secrets.

Her new job takes Samantha into the murky and dangerous world of coal mining, where laws are often broken, rules are ignored, regulations are flouted, communities are divided, and the land itself is under attack from Big Coal. Violence is always just around the corner, and within weeks Samantha finds herself engulfed in litigation that turns deadly.

Excerpt from the book

1

The horror was in the waiting--the unknown, the insomnia, the ulcers. Co-workers ignored each other and hid behind locked doors. Secretaries and paralegals passed along the rumors and refused eye contact. Everyone was on edge, wondering, "Who might be next?" The partners, the big boys, appeared shell-shocked and wanted no contact with their underlings. They might soon be ordered to slaughter them.

The gossip was brutal. Ten associates in Litigation terminated; partially true--only seven. The entire Estate division closed, partners and all; true. Eight partners in Antitrust jumping to another firm; false, for now.

The atmosphere was so toxic that Samantha left the building whenever possible and worked with her laptop in coffee shops around lower Manhattan. She sat on a park bench one pleasant day--day ten after the fall of Lehman Brothers--and gazed at the tall building down the street. It was called 110 Broad, and the top half was leased by Scully & Pershing, the biggest law firm the world had ever seen. Her firm, for now, though the future was anything but certain. Two thousand lawyers in twenty countries, half of them in New York City alone, a thousand right up there packed together on floors 30 through 65. How many wanted to jump? She couldn't guess, but she wasn't the only one. The world's largest firm was shrinking in chaos, as were its competitors. Big Law, as it was known, was just as panicked as the hedge funds, investment banks, real banks, insurance conglomerates, Washington, and on down the food chain to the merchants on Main Street.

Day ten passed without bloodshed, as did the next. On day twelve there was a flash of optimism as Ben, one of Samantha's colleagues, shared a rumor that credit markets in London were loosening a bit. Borrowers might find some cash after all. But late that afternoon the rumor had run out of gas; nothing to it. And so they waited.

Two partners ran Commercial Real Estate at Scully & Pershing. One was nearing retirement age and had already been shoved out. The other was Andy Grubman, a forty-year-old pencil pusher who'd never seen a courtroom. As a partner, he had a nice office with a distant view of the Hudson, water he hadn't noticed in years. On a shelf behind his desk, and squarely in the center of his Ego Wall, there was a collection of miniature skyscrapers. "My buildings" he liked to call them. Upon completion of one of his buildings, he commissioned a sculptor to replicate it on a smaller scale, and he generously gave an even smaller trophy to each member of "my team." In her three years at S&P, Samantha's collection had six buildings, and that was as large as it would get.

"Have a seat," he ordered as he closed the door. Samantha sat in a chair next to Ben, who was next to Izabelle. The three associates studied their feet, waiting. Samantha felt the urge to grab Ben's hand, like a terrified prisoner facing a firing squad. Andy fell into his chair, and, avoiding eye contact but desperate to get things over with, he recapped the mess they were in.

"As you know, Lehman Brothers folded fourteen days ago."

No kidding, Andy! The financial crisis and credit meltdown had the world on the brink of a catastrophe and everyone knew it. But then, Andy rarely had an original thought.

"We have five projects in the works, all funded by Lehman. I've talked at length with the owners, and all five are pulling the plug. We had three more in the distance, two with Lehman, one with Lloyd's, and, well, all credit is frozen. The bankers are in their bunkers, afraid to loan a dime."

Yes, Andy, we know this too. It's front-page. Just get it over with before we jump.

"The exec committee met yesterday and made some cuts. Thirty first-year associates are being let go; some terminated outright, others laid off. All new hires are deferred indefinitely. Probate is gone. And, well, there is no easy way to say this, but our