Gray Mountain: A Novel by John Grisham (Epub)

Description

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 is downsized, furloughed, and escorted out of the building. Samantha, though, is offered an opportunity to work at a legal aid clinic for one year without pay, all for a slim chance of getting rehired.

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. Samantha’s new job takes her into the murky and dangerous world of coal mining, where laws are often broken, communities are divided, and the land itself is under attack. But some of the locals aren’t so thrilled to have a big-city lawyer in town, and within weeks Samantha is engulfed in litigation that turns deadly. Because like most small towns, Brady harbors big secrets that some will kill to conceal.

User’s Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. 1The 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 entire division is on the block. Cut. Eliminated. Who knows when owners will start building again, if ever. The firm is unwilling to keep you on the payroll while the world waits for loose credit. Hell, we could be headed for a major depression. This is probably just the first round of cuts. Sorry, guys. I’m really sorry.”Ben spoke first. “So we’re being terminated outright?””No. I fought for you guys, okay? At first they planned to do the pink slip thing. I don’t have to remind you that CRE is the smallest division in the firm and probably the hardest hit right now. I talked them into something we’re calling a furlough. You’ll leave now, come back later, maybe.””Maybe?” Samantha asked. Izabelle wiped a tear but kept her composure. “Yes, a big fat maybe. Nothing is definite right now, Samantha, okay? We’re all chasing our tails. In six months we could all be at the soup kitchen. You’ve seen the old photos from 1929.”Come on, Andy, a soup kitchen? As a partner, your take-home last year was $2.8 million, average at S&P, which, by the way, came in fourth in net-per-partner. And fourth was not good enough, at least it wasn’t until Lehman croaked and Bear Stearns imploded and the sub-prime mortgage bubble burst. Suddenly, fourth place was looking pretty good, for some anyway.”What’s a furlough?” Ben asked.”Here’s the deal. The firm keeps you under contract for the next twelve months, but you don’t get a paycheck.””Sweet,” Izabelle mumbled.Ignoring her, Andy plowed ahead: “You keep your health benefits, but only if you intern with a qualified nonprofit. HR is putting together a list of suitable outfits. You go away, do your little do-gooder bit, save the world, hope like hell the economy bounces back, then in a year or so you’re back with the firm and you don’t lose any seniority. You won’t be in CRE but the firm will find a place for you.””Are our jobs guaranteed when the furlough is over?” Samantha asked.”No, nothing is guaranteed. Frankly, no one is smart enough to predict where we’ll be next year. We’re in the middle of an election, Europe is going to hell, the Chinese are freaking out, banks are folding, markets are crashing, nobody’s building or buying. The world’s coming to an end.”They sat for a moment in the gloomy silence of Andy’s office, all four crushed with the reality of the end of the world. Finally, Ben asked, “You, too, Andy?””No, they’re transferring me to Tax. Can you believe it? I hate Tax, but it was either Tax or driving a cab. I got a master’s in taxation, though, so they figured they could spare me.””Congratulations,” Ben said.”I’m sorry, guys.””No, I mean it. I’m happy for you.””I could be gone in a month. Who knows?””When do we leave?” Izabelle asked.”Right now. The procedure is to sign a furlough agreement, pack up your stuff, clean off your desk, and hit the street. HR will e-mail you a list of nonprofits and all the paperwork. Sorry, guys.””Please stop saying that,” Samantha said. “There’s nothing you can say that helps matters here.””True, but it could be worse. The majority of those in your boat are not being offered a furlough. They’re being fired on the spot.””I’m sorry, Andy,” Samantha said. “There are a lot of emotions right now.””It’s okay. I understand. You have the right to be angry and upset. Look at you–all three have Ivy League law degrees and you’re being escorted out of the building like thieves. Laid off like factory workers. It’s awful, just awful. Some of the partners offered to cut their salaries in half to prevent this.””I’ll bet that was a small group,” Ben said.”It was, yes. Very small, I’m afraid. But the decision has been made.”A woman in a black suit and a black necktie stood at the quad where Samantha shared a “space” with three others, including Izabelle. Ben was just down the hall. The woman tried to smile as she said, “I’m Carmen. Can I help you?” She was holding an empty cardboard box, blank on all sides so no one would know it was the official Scully & Pershing repository for the office junk of those furloughed or fired or whatever. “No, thanks,” Samantha said, and she managed to do so politely. She could have snapped and been rude, but Carmen was only doing her job. Samantha began opening drawers and removing all things personal. In one drawer she had some S&P files and asked, “What about these?””They stay here,” Carmen said, watching every move, as if Samantha might attempt to pilfer some valuable asset. The truth was that everything of value was stored in the computers–a desktop she used in her space and a laptop she took almost everywhere. A Scully & Pershing laptop. It, too, would remain behind. She could access everything from her personal laptop, but she knew the codes had already been changed. As if sleepwalking, she cleaned out the drawers and gently tucked away the six miniature skyscrapers from her collection, though she thought about tossing them into the trash can. Izabelle arrived and was given her own personal cardboard box. All others–associates, secretaries, paralegals–had suddenly found business elsewhere. Protocol had been quickly adopted–when someone cleans out a desk, let them do it in peace. No witnesses, no gawking, no hollow farewells.Izabelle’s eyes were puffy and red; she had obviously been in the restroom crying. She whispered, “Call me. Let’s have a drink tonight.””Sure,” Samantha said. She finished stuffing it all into the box, her briefcase, and her bulky designer bag, and without looking over her shoulder she marched behind Carmen down the hallway and to the elevators on the forty-eighth floor. As they waited, she refused to look around and absorb it one last time. The door opened and thankfully the elevator was empty. “I’ll carry that,” Carmen said, pointing to the box, which was already increasing in bulk and weight. “No,” Samantha said as she stepped inside. Carmen pushed the button for the lobby. Why, exactly, was she being escorted out of the building? The longer she pondered the question the angrier she became. She wanted to cry and she wanted to lash out, but what she really wanted was to call her mother. The elevator stopped on the forty-third floor and a well-dressed young man stepped in. He was holding an identical cardboard box, with a large bag strapped over his shoulder and a leather briefcase under an arm. He had the same stunned look of fear and confusion. Samantha had seen him in the elevator but never met him. What a firm. So mammoth the associates wore name badges at the dreadful Christmas party. Another security guard in a black suit stepped in behind him, and when everyone was in place Carmen again pressed the button for the lobby. Samantha studied the floor, determined not to speak even if spoken to. On the thirty-ninth floor, the elevator stopped again, and Mr. Kirk Knight got on board while studying his cell phone. Once the door closed, he glanced around, saw the two cardboard boxes, and seemed to gasp as his spine stiffened. Knight was senior partner in Mergers & Acquisitions and a member of the executive committee. Suddenly face-to-face with two of his victims, he swallowed hard and stared at the door. Then he suddenly punched the button for floor number 28.Samantha was too numb to insult him. The other associate had his eyes closed. When the elevator stopped, Knight hustled off. After the door closed, Samantha remembered the firm leased floors 30 through 65. Why would Knight make a sudden exit onto 28? Who cared?Carmen walked her through the lobby and out the door onto Broad Street. She offered a meek “I’m sorry,” but Samantha did not respond. Laden like a pack mule, she drifted with the foot traffic, going nowhere in particular. Then she remembered the newspaper photos of the Lehman and Bear Stearns employees leaving their office buildings with boxes filled with their stuff, as if the buildings were on fire and they were fleeing for their lives. In one photo, a large color one on the front of the Times’s section B, a Lehman trader was caught with tears on her cheeks as she stood helplessly on the sidewalk. But those photos were old news now and Samantha did not see any cameras. She set the box down at the corner of Broad and Wall and waited for a cab. 2In a chic SoHo loft that cost her $2,000 a month, Samantha flung her office crap at the floor and fell onto the sofa. She clutched her cell phone, but waited. She breathed deeply, eyes closed, emotions somewhat in check. She needed her mother’s voice and reassurance, but she did not want to sound weak, wounded, and vulnerable. The relief came from the sudden realization that she had just been freed from a job she despised. Tonight at seven she might be watching a movie or having dinner with friends, not slaving away at the office with the meter running. This Sunday she could leave the city with no thoughts whatsoever about Andy Grubman and the pile of paperwork for his next crucial deal. The FirmFone, a monstrous little gadget that had been glued to her body for three years now, had been surrendered. She felt liberated and wonderfully unburdened.The fear came from the loss of income and the sudden detour in her career. As a third-year associate, she was earning $180,000 a year in base salary, plus a nice bonus. A lot of money, but life in the city had a way of devouring it. Half evaporated in taxes. She had a savings account, one she halfheartedly acknowledged. When you’re twenty-nine, single, and free in the city, in a profession where next year’s package will exceed this year’s salary plus bonus, why worry too much about saving money? She had a friend from Columbia Law who’d been at S&P for five years, had just made junior partner, and would earn about half a million this year. Samantha had been on that track.She also had friends who jumped off the treadmill after twelve months and happily fled the awful world of Big Law. One was now a ski instructor in Vermont, a former editor of the Columbia Law Review, a refugee from the bowels of S&P who lived in a cabin by a stream and rarely answered his cell. In just thirteen months he had gone from an ambitious young associate to a mildly deranged idiot who slept at his desk. Just before HR intervened, he cracked up and left the city. Samantha thought of him often, usually with a twinge of jealousy. –This text refers to the paperback edition.

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ What a complete waste of money as I gave up half way through and then skipped through pages here and there. I cannot believe that John Grisham wrote this rubbish no tension, no excitement and have read better characterizations in free books. I have loved his books in the past, couldn’t put them down, and feel sad to see some reviewers saying this was the first book o his they read.Politi al ranting, and my pet hate American compensation lawyers that frankly stuff their pockets more than their clients.So many similar and sadly far better books regarding similar situations. As for the ednin, well it literally didn’t end, it simply petered out.Please don’t waste your money, I am angry that I ignored some of the poor reviews.

⭐ I’m a big John Grisham fan. I’ve enjoyed many of his books and thought it would be a no-brainer that Gray Mountain would be a good read. There are both pros and cons to reading this book. The cons are that the story, for the most part, plods along, and the protagonist is uninspired. But several of the other characters are interesting, passionate, and admirable, choosing to fight for the poor and disadvantaged with little personal economic reward. They fight in a bureaucratic morass, and its interesting to see what legal challenges they overcome. What this book has to offer, that I appreciate most, is an education on coal mining, and the brave and courageous efforts put forth by a handful of law firms to fight this powerful, ruthless industry. This is truly a David and Goliath story. Hardly a day goes by since reading this book that I haven’t thought about the systematic destruction of men and nature by this industry, and how it incites fear in the environmentalists and lawyers fighting back. My hat is off to these heroes for their hard won achievements. Now with Trump in office, one of the first things the GOP did was allow coal companies to again dump thousands of tons of toxic black sludge into pristine creeks and streams, poisoning people and animals. A heartbreaking travesty. Linda Berry is the Author of Hidden Part One and Pretty Corpse.

⭐ Haven’t read Grisham since his earliest and enjoyed them so I was curious. This is irritating – not with tension and pacing – characters, dialogue, structure, and research. I learned exactly what strip mining is in about three paragraphs – good to know. Unfortunately, the book drones on about it ad nauseum. Big Coal is Bad just like other Big Industry at some point. Poor people are beated by the system. So what’s new in the telling? Nothing. Worse, the main character has one parent who is senior in the Justice Dept who could’ve launched an investigation into the illegal activities in a heartbeat yet doesn’t bother to point it out, pack her bags, and return to Manhattan. Mom’s investigation would’ve been a lot more interesting.

⭐ This is the first Grisham book I’ve read and I’m left wondering what the fuss is about. I tried a sample and was intrigued by the protagonist, Samantha. I balked at first at the cost (why are e-books, with no printing costs, so expensive?) but decided to chance it since this is a big name author. By the end of the book I still had no idea what Samantha looked like or if she wore clothes. Admittedly, there may have been descriptions buried in there because it didn’t take too long before I started skimming in a desperate search for dialog. This novel read more like an informational dump on coal mining, with the author preaching his views. By the first third of the book, we all get the fact that coal companies are the villain. We as readers don’t need to be reminded, in great narrative length, repeatedly. The protagonist seemed to exist simply to give a reason to call this fiction. She never, at any point in the story, was ever at risk. Each time tension started to build, where it seemed like, finally, she was going to play the part of a protagonist, the plot fizzled. There were moments that made no sense, as when on one page Samantha is thinking how much she’s not going to get involved and can’t stand the guy, and the next page they are in bed together and she’s helping him. But the worst things an author can do that make me, as a reader, never return to one of their books, ever again, are these. The protagonist was not a likable character (by the end of the book I was very tired of her whining, then doing the opposite of what she whined about, with nothing to show the change of heart). The characters were cardboard, inconsistent, and simply vessels to deliver the author’s preaching against coal mining. None of the questions posed in the plot were ever answered. None of the villains ever brought to justice. The people that Samantha agreed to help, whose stories took many, many confusing pages, never have resolution to their problems, and she simply walks away from them. And the book ended with no change from the beginning – meaning no character growth, no change in the plot premise, nothing. In other words, there was no reason to read the book. I could just have easily gone online, researched coal mining, and ended up with the same result. And without spending money.

⭐ I just finished reading John Grisham’s “Gray Mountain”. I have read almost novel Mr. Grisham has published and I nearly always enjoy them. This one is very much one of his social justice novels and a great read.The story begins with the collapse of Lehman Brothers in New York in 2008. The Protagonist is an associate at an enormous law firm in their real estate department. Within just a few days she gets her notice. But instead of just firing or laying their associates off they offered to give them a 1-year unpaid sabbatical with benefits. If they would take an unpaid internship working for a social justice organization. She ends up working in the fictional town of Brady, VA in the middle of Appalachia coal country for the Legal Aid office there. She learns firsthand how beautiful the country there is and how nice most of the people are. But she also learns first hand just how awful the coal companies treat their employees and the residents living near the coal companies.I’ve never wanted to be a coal miner. I certainly don’t after reading the book. He does an amazing amount of research for each of his books and the detail is incredible. Before becoming a famous writer he was a small town lawyer and his books with small-town lawyers always feel the most genuine.I give the book five stars.

⭐ I politely disagree with those who think the book did not have a proper ending, or an ending at all. Because it did. An underlying theme in the novel is Samantha’s dream of fulfillment, a life that is meaningful to herself and also others. Despite her life in exciting NYC, she hated her job. You shouldn’t do that just for money. I can’t imagine a job anywhere where I would be expected to log my hours for billing purposes. I did it for a short period as an accountant and hated it. And who in their right mind wants to work 80 hours a week? Unless you are self-employed and own the place. Then it’s all yours, and it’s a labor of love.I thought the characters were well presented and and the fiction and fact were accurate. If you want a Jack Reacher, etc. book this is not it. It’s a powerful story when understood.

⭐ Not a bad read even though the story is very thin and there is practically no suspense. There is a bunch of good – almost saintly people – some engaging rogues on the side of the angels, a new heroine, skulking villains and helpless people who find no redress in the law. However the reader has to wade through pages and pages on the evil of strip coal mining and of some heartless and ruthless bosses. Doubtless a worthy cause but the lengthy developments are tedious. Nothing is resolved at the end and a sequel seems likely.

⭐ I have read many of the critical reviews and differ with most of them. I found the book interesting though somewhat predictable. Samantha was a good character, an attorney in a big law firm in New York who was furloughed when the economy crashed in 2008. The description of the firm reminded me of the firm I worked in as a paralegal in Los Angeles. Samantha was slaving in an area of the law that was boring and she hated it. Fast forward to Brady, a small town in West Virginia, with a legal clinic that had an unpaid position for a litigation attorney and Samantha needed a job. She learned litigation on the fly representing poor people with nowhere to turn many of whom had cases against the big coal companies that were killing them and the environment.The book was filled with information about coal mining and its destruction of the environment. It accurately depicted the David and Goliath scenario of the poor people trying to stand up to the mining companies and kept me reading late into the night.I liked the characters including Samantha, Mattie Wyatt who headed the town’s legal aid clinic and Donovan Gray who was “on to something.”Was it the best book by John Grisham that I have ever read? No. But it was worth reading and I recommend it to people who like books about corporate greed and those who fight against it.

⭐ It’s often said that a writer should write about what s/he knows best. Lawyer/author John Grisham is a strong believer in that.Samantha Kofer has just been laid off from the big law firm where she works. She must decide whether to stay in her beloved New York or take a temporary position in a small town pro-bono law firm in Appalachia. She hasn’t even interviewed for the job yet when she’s arrested by a mentally unbalanced man and saved by lawyer Donavan Gray who grew up in the area. He educates her about the powerful coal companies that rip the tops off the scenic mountains to get at the coal. Because Gray wants to punish them for their crimes he hors to enroll Samantha in his plan.She becomes involved in the lives of her poor clients and the ones dying from black lung disease. Still doubtful about whether she’ll stay or return to New York, Samantha must decide which house to follow.Rather than tell you how the book ends, I’ll urge you find out for yourself.

⭐ Gray Mountain is a story about a corporate lawyer who gets furloughed by her NYC law firm (Scully & Pershing, the largest in NYC). To retain seniority, health insurance, and the possibility of going back to work for the firm later, she must accept an intern position for one-year. She agrees to an internship with a volunteer family law service in Brady, Virginia, with a population of about 2,000.Despite the large coal mining corporation regularly screwing their workers out of the benefits of black lung, most of the community see these corporations as their only means of putting food on the table. Samantha soon finds herself in the middle of a legal and ethical fight she hardly understands. Especially after one of her first acquaintances in the town gets killed, his brother may hold the key to her survival. He certainly holds one of the keys to her heart.This story, to me, might be another case of readers expecting Grisham’s usual fast-paced courtroom drama. Eighteen thousand, three hundred, and thirty-two (18,332) verified Amazon buyers gave Gray Mountain 3.8 out of 5 stars, only 62 percent gave it four or five stars. I enjoy it. I’ll leave it to you to form an opinion.Buy it on Kindle: https://amzn.to/2LG61zY

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