The Pelican Brief

Darby Shaw, a brilliant Tulane law student who comes up with an ingenious theory to explain the baffling assassinations of two Supreme Court justices in one day. They were shot and strangled by ace international terrorist Khamel, who loves the film Three Days of the Condor, but government gumshoes don't get what connects the deaths. Silly government guys! They died so the conservative president, who just wants to be left alone to play golf, will appoint new, conservative justices who will help out a case involving an industrialist who is the enemy of pelicans and other living things. It's all spelled out for them in Darby's brief. She likes to do legal feats to impress her boyfriend, her boyish law prof Thomas (who, like Grisham, prefers to shave at most once a week, and is cool, smart, and antiauthoritarian). The prof likes to paint her toes red, in homage to Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham.

It may look like the blurb has spoilers and it tells you what happens but it's not like that. It is very different from what I thought it would be.
I've been talking about this book a lot here, it took me two weeks to finish this book. It's not that I didn't like it, I started reading it Jan 16 and got to page 40 that day. I thought it was interesting and even though I know nothing about law and it was one of the subjects I didn't like, it wasn't boring. The way the plot unfolds keeps you wondering what is happening and why.
I only read 6 chapters that day but I liked where the book was going. I don't know what happened but it took me 11 days to pick it up again and continue reading. (I guess I just didn't feel like reading)

Everything was a surprise, there were about 5 times when I thought we already knew everything but I was still not halfway done. It still didn't get boring, I was so into the book I felt like I was in danger as well. It's very detailed which only makes it more real, making you feel like you're in the room with them.

I got to chapter 29 and I didn't know what he was talking about, I didn't know why it was worth mentioning until later when I got to the second page and understood why it was a very important part.
I liked how he changed perspectives without letting you know beforehand, it made it a little more exciting, wondering who was talking and what we would find out next.

After chapter 36 I was so tense, I was dreading every page turn for what would happen to them.
I did like the plot, but it was one of those books where I kept asking the author, why? But I guess I understood in the end why things had to happen like that, or at least I understand why he wrote it like that, I would have wanted some things differently but I guess I can overlook them.

When I first started reading it, I thought it wasn't going to be for me. The same thing happened with Law and Order, I kept saying I didn't like law shows and it didn't matter that they involved solving cases, I liked the crime investigators better. But after watching one episode I was hooked, it didn't matter that they mentioned words I didn't know and kept going to court and there were mostly lawyers, I liked it. This book was not only about lawyers, everything that surrounds them is the interesting part and kept me turning pages wanting to know the same things they were looking for.
This was really different from the mystery cases when you're trying to figure out who did it, this goes beyond that, you know from the beginning who is responsible but that's not the only thing that matters.