SOURCE: "Grisham's Latest: Passing Judgment on The Client," in Chicago Tribune—Books, February 28, 1993, p. 7.

In the following review, Colbert provides a negative assessment of The Client, characterizing Grisham's works as "bland and inoffensive,… the literary equivalent of pureed potatoes or Muzak."

On a literary level, there is little to recommend John Grisham's new novel, The Client. The characters are wooden, and the plot is contrived. The pace is plodding and because the book never gathers any momentum, it seems painfully overlong.

It hardly seems worth the bother to read such a book—much less review it—but as the jacket of The Client proudly states, Grisham has written "three consecutive number-one bestsellers"—A Time To Kill, The Firm and The Pelican Brief—and "has become one of the most popular authors of our time." And that claim can be substantiated by a trip to any chain bookstore, where...