The rule remains true, in life and in writing

Title: The Litigators

Author: John Grisham

Progress: 100% done!

Platform: Kindle

Amazon Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

NYT BS Hardcover List: #1 (debuted at number 1)

Book 4 out of 107

As in math, chemistry, and physics,  the rule of consistency holds true for writing. If it worked before, it will work again.

The proof is the fight at the end of every Rocky movie. No matter how bad the that particular edition is (Rocky V, good god, the badness), the fight at the end is always effective, always gets your blood pumping, makes you clench your fists and take a few jabs at the air.

Even in the worst Rocky movies, the fight scenes always work. Same thing with Grisham courtroom scenes.
Was Rocky V the worst Rocky movie? Or the best of the sequels? Discuss.

Same thing with The Litigators. This is a book that was working for me up to the 75% mark. Then comes the court room battle, the fight, and suddenly I am all in.

Our hero David, completely outmatched by his opponent, totally abandoned by his partners, without the benefit of one fact in his favor, puts up a decent fight, and it glorious.

The court scenes are terrifically put together, and again, very much like a boxing match. In the opening rounds, David gets pummeled, and he takes the beating, doing what he can to stay in the ring. His offense doesn't exist. He has a quack doctor who barely speaks English and a pharmacology expert who flees the courthouse when called to testify.

David looks done, thoroughly defeated. Then, almost as if he had a brilliant plan to lull the opposition into a false sense of security, he strikes. He goes after the head scientist for the evil drug corporation like Rocky raining down left hooks on Mr. T.

Those scenes made hard not to cheer out loud. 

Despite the fact that David wasn't all the sympathetic, and that the lawsuit was bullshit, you root for the guy. He's the underdog and it seems even when the underdog is wrong, you still want him to win. How about that?

What did we learn? The end of Rocky always works, and that readers will root for even a flawed underdog.