The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett

 The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett-217 pages

⭐⭐⭐✰✰

Sam Spade is a private detective in San Francisco. One day, a woman calling herself "Miss Wonderly" walks into his office and says she wants someone tailed. His name is Floyd Thursby and she says her sister ran off with him and Miss Wonderly is distraught and their parents are out of the country but will be back soon. So starts a twisting, winding story about deception, murder, and a statue of a black bird supposedly worth a lot of money. I didn't find any of the characters especially likable, including Sam Spade. It's a pretty good mystery, though, so it's a decent read overall. 

The Rainmaker, John Grisham | 434 pages

The classic underdog plot, this time with a baby lawyer going up against The Big Bad Insurance Company.

Rudy just can't catch a break. Do this many bad things really happen to people one after another? All the way to the last page, one hit after another. Deck and the thugs add interest at least. I don't buy Rudy's relationship with Kelly... That's a wildly unhealthy foundation for a relationship if I've ever heard of one.

I did read it through and there were some well written scenes; I can see why people like Grisham's writing. It's just not for me.