• The Pelican Brief

  • By: John Grisham
  • Narrated by: Anthony Heald
  • Length: 5 hrs and 36 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,163 ratings)

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The Pelican Brief  By  cover art

The Pelican Brief

By: John Grisham
Narrated by: Anthony Heald
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Publisher's summary

In suburban Georgetown a killer's Reeboks whisper on the front floor of a posh home... In a seedy D.C. porno house a patron is swiftly garroted to death... The next day America learns that two of its Supreme Court justices have been assassinated. And in New Orleans, a young law student prepares a legal brief...

To Darby Shaw it was no more than a legal shot in the dark, a brilliant guess. To the Washington establishment it was political dynamite. Suddenly, Darby is witness to a murder - a murder intended for her. Going underground, she finds there is only one person she can trust - an ambitious reporter after a news break hotter than Watergate - to help her piece together the deadly puzzle.

Somewhere between the bayous of Louisiana and the White House's inner sanctums, a violent cover-up is being engineered. For someone has read Darby's brief. Someone who will stop at nothing to destroy the evidence of an unthinkable crime.

©1992 John Grisham (P)1992 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House Inc.

Featured Article: Christmas with the Kranks—Book vs. Movie


John Grisham may be best known for his legal thrillers, but he's also been known to deviate from form every now and then and write something completely different. Skipping Christmas is one such book. It was adapted into a 2004 film called Christmas with the Kranks, starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, which gained the story an even wider audience. If you're familiar with the film but don’t know much about its literary inspiration, read on.

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What listeners say about The Pelican Brief

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Grisham never seems to strike out

I read this story years ago and I'd say the GRISHAM novels hold there own.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Political intrigue

Good fare from Grisham, probably not his best but he met all my expectations and whilst maybe not a page turner, a good read well narrated.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Why abridged?

I decided to go back through all the Grisham books since I have a long commute now. I was dismayed to see abridged recordings but thought ok I’ll try it. Disappointing! Why hack up a great book?

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Good story

The music inserted at the beginning and end of chapters is odd. I hope this is not a trend for future Audible selections.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The voiceover don’t like to change

I thought the story was good however, I did not like the voice of the actor changing in and out from male to female roles was not really entertaining

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

I had seen the movie but just listened to the novel twice in a row. I love this one I’ll probably listen to it again sometime.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

This is an abridgement!

It's well done, but such a simple book and with no warning! Waste of money, frankly.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Great story! Poor narrative.

The narrator wasn't that great and sound effects were odd. I would really like to see this one get an update at some point.

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6 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Great story

Great story but the musical interludes were irritating and unnecessary. They should be left out.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

...a bit of a hard listen

The story was a good Grisham classic, but as another reviewer mentioned, the narrator read as though there was no punctuation. His fast paced reading, run on sentences, made this a hard listen.

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