The Racketeer is John Grisham’s 30th book. It debuted at the top of the New York Times bestseller list in November 2012. John Grisham has twice won the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and also received the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction. He has written over 35 bestsellers. Eight of his novels have been adapted for film, and one, The Firm, spawned a 2012 television series that takes place 10 years after the original story. Overall, his books have sold 300 million copies, and he is one of only three authors whose books have sold at least 2 million copies on their first printing.

John Grisham was born in 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, but grew up in Mississippi, graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981, and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990. In addition to writing legal thrillers, he also serves on the board of the Innocence Project, which is dedicated to identifying and freeing those who were wrongfully convicted. His work on the Innocence Project confirmed his opposition to the death penalty, since he is well aware of the number of wrongful convictions in the US judicial system.

This guide refers to the Kindle version of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group edition.

Plot Summary

Malcolm Bannister is a former lawyer who is now incarcerated in Frostburg Federal Penitentiary on a charge of racketeering. He was caught up in a crooked land deal without realizing it, and the feds swept him up with the real criminals. The FBI and federal prosecutors knew that Malcolm was an innocent dupe, but they arrested him anyway. Malcolm is now serving a 10-year sentence with five more years to go. The action commences when Malcolm sees a news article reporting that Judge Raymond Fawcett has been murdered along with his mistress.

Malcolm contacts the FBI, telling them that he knows the identity of the murderer. He makes a deal with them. According to Rule 35 of the federal code, prisoners can gain their freedom if they help to solve a crime on the outside. The FBI agrees to the deal. Malcolm will give them the name and the location of the killer in exchange for freedom and witness protection. With the deal in place, Malcolm tells them the killer is Quinn Rucker, a former cellmate of Malcolm’s. Quinn is a member of a dangerous organized crime family. Malcolm tells the FBI that Quinn had a grudge against Judge Fawcett because the judge took a bribe to free one of Quinn’s cousins and then reneged on the agreement while keeping the half million dollars. Quinn had escaped from Frostburg and sworn to get revenge on the judge.

Following Malcolm’s directions, the FBI finds and arrests Quinn Rucker. They skirt the bounds of legality in their interrogation but extract a confession from Quinn. However, Quinn has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, and he quickly recants the confession, shifting between manic and depressive episodes. As soon as Quinn is indicted for the murder of Judge Fawcett and his mistress, Malcolm is released from prison, and the US Marshal’s service gives Malcolm a new name, face, and identity. Under the new name of Max Reed Baldwin, he relocates to Florida and occupies his time traveling the Caribbean.

Soon, the FBI receives word that Quinn Rucker’s crime family has found Malcolm and is planning an assassination. The marshals offer to move Malcolm again, but he no longer trusts them and goes underground on his own. As Max Baldwin, Malcolm contacts Vanessa Young, Quinn Rucker’s sister, whom Malcolm met when she was visiting Quinn in Frostburg. Malcolm sets up a bogus film company and tracks down Nathan Cooley, whose brother Gene was shot by the DEA during an arrest. Malcolm tells Cooley that he is making a documentary about the DEA and all the people they have wrongfully killed in the line of duty. Malcolm persuades Cooley that the investors are excited to meet him. Malcolm, Vanessa, and Cooley take a private plane to Florida. Midflight, Malcolm and Vanessa drug Cooley and divert the plane to Jamaica. They plant a gun, cocaine, and a fake passport on Cooley and allow him to be arrested by the Jamaican police.

Desperate to get out of jail, Nathan tells Malcolm about a stash of $8 million in gold that he offers to split if Malcolm will go get it and buy Nathan out of jail. Malcolm finds the gold, and he and Vanessa move it into a number of safe deposit boxes in various banks. When the gold is secure, Malcolm contacts the FBI and states that he was mistaken when he told them that Quinn was the killer. Vanessa provides evidence that Quinn was in a drug-rehab clinic at the time of the murder.

At this point in the novel, the narrative finally makes it known that Malcolm and Quinn were friends in Frostburg before Quinn’s escape. Malcolm had been acting as a jailhouse lawyer when he first met Nathan Cooley. At the time, Nathan told Malcolm about the gold and how he intended to kill the judge to get it. Malcolm waited until the murder appeared in the papers before launching his confidence game with his partners, Quinn, Quinn’s sister Vanessa, and his brother, Dee Ray.

Now, Malcolm uses Rule 35 again, this time to get Quinn out of FBI custody, and tells the feds about Nathan Cooley’s backstory. As it turns out, Judge Fawcett had a cabin near Nathan’s hometown. The judge once asked Nathan and his brother Gene to help carry a heavy safe into the cabin. Nathan’s curiosity was aroused. He broke into the judge’s cabin and found the safe, but not the combination. He was arrested for drug dealing before he could get into the safe, and he had to wait until he was released to go back and get the gold. He then kidnapped the judge and tortured the judge’s mistress until the judge gave up the combination; then he killed them both.

When asked, Malcolm claims that he doesn’t know the whereabouts of the gold. The FBI doesn’t believe him, but they decide to let it slide as recompense for the false conviction. They know that they have been played, but they are satisfied at having secured a conviction for the murder of the judge; justice has been served, after a fashion. Malcolm, Vanessa, Quinn, and Dee Ray retire to Antigua with the gold.