The Client

“The suit was not gaudy, just flashy. He could pass for a well-dressed drug importer or perhaps a hot Vegas bookie, and that was fine because he was the Blade and he expected people to notice, and when they looked at him they were supposed to see success. They were supposed to gawk in fear and get out of his way.”

One of the novel’s main antagonists, Barry Muldanno, is introduced in Chapter 2. He is immediately characterized as an egotistical, arrogant mafioso, who thrives on attention and intimidation. These character traits are reflected through his physical traits and manner of dress. Indeed, Muldanno’s mental state can be tracked throughout the novel by the state of his clothes and physical presentation, which decline as Muldanno becomes increasingly paranoid over being arrested.

“And, Barry had his one marvelous advantage—the body, the diminutive, wiry corpse of Boyd Boyette rotting slowly away in concrete. Without it, Reverend Roy could not get a conviction. This made Barry smile, and he winked at two peroxide blondes at a table near the door. Women had been plentiful since the indictment. He was famous.”

The location of Senator Boyette’s body—and Mark’s knowledge of it—drives the drama of the novel. Barry needs the location to remain a secret for the very same reason the US Attorney, Roy Foltrigg, needs it revealed: the body is the key to Muldanno’s conviction. Without a body, Muldanno’s defense can merely argue that the Senator is missing. Also of note is that Muldanno has been receiving attention in the press since Boyette’s murder. This not only reflects how Muldanno thrives on notoriety, but it also comments on the press’s role in giving such infamous figures publicity.

“Hardy hesitated slightly, then asked, ‘Who’s Romey?’ Mark braced himself and breathed deeply. In a flash, he knew it was over. He’d blown it. Said too much. Lied too much. He’d lasted less than an hour with his story. Keep thinking, he told himself.”

Mark has keen survival skills and prides himself on the ability to strategize his way out of trouble. However, as a child Mark mistakenly believes that his best way out of his predicament of being linked to Romey’s suicide is to lie. However, Mark immediately begins to trap himself in a difficult web of lies that is nearly impossible to navigate. Such lies will come back to haunt him throughout the novel.

“He also needed to find the damned body of Boyd Boyette, or else there might be no conviction, no front-page pictures, no interviews on CNN, no speedy ascent to Capitol Hill. He had convinced those around him that a guilty verdict was possible with no corpse, and this was true. But he didn’t want to chance it. He wanted the body.”

Roy Foltrigg reveals his primary motivation for finding Boyette’s body and securing Muldanno’s conviction in Chapter 5. It is not for the sake of justice but rather for fame. Foltrigg sees fruitful rewards for his career with Muldanno’s case. Without Boyette’s body, he cannot convict—and if he cannot convict, he cannot achieve the fame he wishes for. Such are the motivations that drive Foltrigg to chase Mark throughout The Client.

“Mark was a thinker, a worrier, and when sleep came and went or wouldn’t come at all, he went for long, secret walks. He learned much. He wore dark clothing and moved like a thief through the shadows of Tucker Wheel Estates. He witnessed petty crimes of theft and vandalism, but he never told. […] He was not afraid of strange places.”

This quote reflects Mark’s familiarity with unsafe situations. He has established habits and coping mechanisms, such as taking walks, that he routinely relies on to think through his situations and ease his anxieties. He has learned survival skills, such as how to sneak around and navigate strange places, throughout his childhood. All these skills come in handy in the novel.

“Foltrigg liked to be escorted. He especially enjoyed those priceless moments when the cameras were rolling and waiting for him, and at just the right moment he would stroll majestically through the hall or down the courthouse steps […] He had the walk perfected. He held his hands up patiently as if he would love to answer questions but, being a man of great importance, he just didn’t have the time.”

Here, Foltrigg’s ego is revealed in full. The US Attorney is like a peacock, thriving on the lavish attention that the press affords him. He has perfected his performance for the cameras, keen on making a lasting impression on Americans watching the news from home. Maintaining the good favor of the press is another motivator that Foltrigg has throughout the book.

“Mark sat on the edge of his seat, and was suddenly terrified. He’d lied to his mother. He’d lied to the police. He’d lied to Dr. Greenway. He was about to lie to the FBI. Romey had been dead less than a day, and he was lying left and right to everyone who asked. […] Maybe it was time to come clean for a change. Sometimes it was frightening to tell the truth, but he usually felt better afterward. But the thought of unloading all this baggage on a stranger made his blood run cold.”

Mark’s internal thoughts as he sits down to talk to Reggie are revealing. Mark is a good child who is uncomfortable with the web of lies he has told by this point in the novel. He knows he is trapped, and he needs an ally to help him fight his way out. He wants to tell the truth, but his fear of the mob is at the forefront of his mind. It is significant that Mark decides to trust Reggie with all these fears.

“Upchurch was a lawyer who wanted to be seen and heard in magazine articles, news stories, advice columns, quickie books, and gossip shows. […] He took only sensational cases with lots of headlines and cameras. Nothing was too repulsive for him. He preferred rich clients who could pay, but if a serial killer needed help, Upchurch would be there with a contract giving himself exclusive book and movie rights.”

Upchurch, much like Foltrigg, is not driven to the law because of any notions of justice. Rather, he wants to defend Muldanno for all the publicity and notoriety it will bring him. Upchurch is then another element with which Grisham weaves his commentary of the press’s role in American legal proceedings. In this way he is also much like his client, who also enjoys the fame surrounding him since Boyette’s murder. Notably, Foltrigg—a US Attorney—is more like the men he is fighting in court than those characters like Reggie and Judge Roosevelt.

“The man who killed the senator was a professional killer who’d murdered many others, according to Romey, and was a member of the Mafia, and those people would think nothing of rubbing out an eleven-year-old. This was just too much for him to handle alone. He should be at school right now, fifth period, doing math which he hated but suddenly missed.”

One of the most tragic aspects of The Client is Mark’s mourning of his childhood. The more he becomes involved with the drama between the mafia and US government, the more the distance grows between Mark and a typical childhood. Regularly throughout the novel, Mark yearns to return to mundane settings (such as the classroom, as in this quote). This reflects his desire to have any semblance of security and normalcy in his life.

“Dianne shook her head in amazement. During her nasty divorce, Mark, then age nine, had constantly criticized her lawyer. He watched hours of reruns of Perry Mason and never missed L.A. Law. It had been years since she’d won an argument with him.”

Mark’s traumatic childhood growing up with his abusive father forced him to grow up fast. Dianne reflects on how Mark stepped up during her divorce and educated himself on the law (albeit, through television) so he could help defend her through the divorce. This quote suggests two aspects of Mark’s character: He has an inappropriate relationship with his mother wherein he is forced to act as a mature adult and help her through emotionally turbulent times, and Mark relies on television to help educate and guide him through different scenarios in life instead of his mother or some other knowledgeable adult.

“He was proud of it, in a way, proud of defending his mother, and the story always amazed people. Then the tough little kid with the baseball bat remembered the knife attack in the elevator, and the folded photograph of the poor, fatherless family. He thought of his mother at the hospital, all alone and unprotected. He was suddenly scared again. He tried to open a package of saltines, but his hands shook and the plastic wouldn’t open. The shaking got worse and he couldn’t stop it.”

Mark is constantly running from the fact that, just like his brother Ricky lying in the hospital, he is a traumatized child too. Mark represses much of his emotions and forces himself to keep moving—no doubt a survival skill he has developed through his traumatic childhood. But because Mark already had significant emotional baggage before the events of the novel, once he is thrust into the drama involving Senator Boyette, he can no longer ignore his emotional turmoil. There are moments when it catches up to him, such as in this quote, where Mark is overwhelmed by the danger he is in and breaks down.

“Mark thought a second and counted the hours. ‘Forty-nine hours ago Jerome Clifford shot himself. I wish we’d simply run away when we saw his car.’

‘Why didn’t you?’

‘I don’t know. It was like I just had to do something once I realized what was going on. I couldn’t run away. He was about to die, and I just couldn’t ignore it.”

Reggie asks why Mark decided to intervene in Romey’s suicide. Mark cannot explain his decision in full but simply attributes it to an instinctual feeling he had overwhelm him in the moment. This points to the fact that Mark is a genuinely honorable person with a strict moral code. Indeed, he has stronger senses of morality than most of the adults in the novel. Mark is thus a distinct juxtaposition against careerists like Foltrigg, which provides a sense of irony to the novel’s narrative.

“Foltrigg flashed a wicked smile. He loved these moments when the power of the federal government shifted into high gear and landed hard on small, unsuspecting people. Just like that, with one phone call, the second in command of the FBI had entered the picture. ‘It just might work,’ he said to his boys. ‘It might just work.’”

Here, Grisham makes an explicit political commentary on the role of the federal government in American citizen’s lives. The power hungry and career driven Foltrigg thoroughly enjoys his privilege as a government employee, who can exert his will over civilians who are typically powerless against his resources as a US Attorney. Mark and Reggie are important opponents for Foltrigg since Foltrigg underestimates the two of them precisely because they are an unsuspecting team he does not respect: an older woman and a child. In having Reggie and Mark win over Foltrigg, Grisham creates a narrative showcasing the agency and power of those who are typically seen as helpless against the American government.

“Children make lousy clients. The lawyer becomes more than a lawyer. With adults, you simply lay the pros and cons of each option on the table. […] Not so with kids. They don’t understand lawyerly advice. They want a hug and someone to make decisions. They’re scared and looking for friends. She’d held many small hands in courtrooms. She’d wiped many tears.”

Reggie reflects on her job as a lawyer who works with troubled children in Chapter 19. She must function as both mother and counselor, which is a difficult line to toe, and it weighs heavily on Reggie. Further, this quote speaks to the novel’s political commentary on the power and effects that the American government has on its citizens, even children. It is Reggie’s job to protect children against being forgotten, neglected, and marginalized by a system that is so often unfair toward those it should protect the most—those such as Mark Sway.

“He stood and walked to the darkest corner of the room, and began crying. She watched his head sink and his shoulders sag. He covered his eyes with the back of his right hand, and sobbed loudly. Though she’d seen it many times, the sight of a child scared and suffering was unbearable. She couldn’t keep from crying too.”

In one of the most emotional scenes of The Client, Mark breaks down in front of Reggie when she tells him that she cannot free him from the juvenile detention center and cannot allow him to lie on the stand. Mark lashes out at her in anger, incapable of understanding her legal duties and ethical boundaries that prevent her from administering justice in the way he wishes she could. Grisham paints a poignant scene where a lawyer must watch her young client break down in front of her because the law prevents her from helping him. He thus prompts his readers to question if justice is truly being achieved with Mark’s confinement in the juvenile detention center.

“There was something unfair about a system in which a little kid was brought into a courtroom and surrounded by lawyers arguing and sniping at each other under the scornful eye of a judge, the referee, and somehow in the midst of this barrage of laws and code sections and motions and legal talk the kid was supposed to know what was happening to him. It was hopelessly unfair.”

As Mark sits in Judge Roosevelt’s hearing, he cannot help but feel small and powerless as the adults around him debate his fate. Mark simmers in anger as he observes the American criminal justice system at work before his eyes, unfairly controlling his life despite the fact that he is an innocent child. Once again, Grisham urges readers to consider what true justice is and if the American legal system truly works toward the ideals it is supposed to protect.

“The thought of jail was not as frightening now that he’d seen the inside of it. He could tough it out for a few days. In fact, he figured he could take the heat longer than the judge. He was certain his name would appear in the paper again in the very near future. […] And surely the judge would catch hell for locking up a little kid who’d done nothing wrong.”

During the hearing in Judge Roosevelt’s courtroom, Mark’s inner thoughts reveal his reasoning behind invoking the Fifth Amendment on the stand, even though legally he cannot hide behind those protections because he is not a criminal. Mark pleads the Fifth in the hopes that the press attention that has surrounded him the entire novel can finally work in his favor. He anticipates that journalists would rake Judge Roosevelt over the coals for incarcerating an innocent child. This is an important turning point for Mark. He is no longer afraid of being in the detention center because he sees the proverbial “light at the end of the tunnel” and realizes, with all of his resourcefulness, he can make the situation work to his benefit.

“This game was growing more dangerous by the hour. And she, Reggie Love, Attorney and Counselor-at-Law, was supposed to have all the answers and dispense perfect advice. Mark would look at her with those scared blue eyes, and ask what to do next. How the hell was she supposed to know? They were after her too.”

Reggie has a crisis of faith in herself after finding out that the mob knows who she is and that she is now a target herself due to her proximity to Mark. While Reggie continually prides herself on her ability to be a strong ally for the children she defends in court, Mark’s dangerous case has shaken her otherwise strong foundations. She knows that Mark will look to her for guidance, but now she too is afraid. In becoming a mob target, Reggie inhabits the emotional space of her own client and realizes precisely how scared Mark must be.

“Barry the Blade entered the warehouse alone. Gone was the swaggering strut of the quickest gun in town. Gone was the smirking scowl of the cocky street hood. Gone were the flashy suit and Italian loafers. The earrings were in a pocket. The ponytail was tucked under his collar. He’d shaved just an hour ago.”

This quote describing Barry’s appearance toward the end of the novel starkly juxtaposes his introductory description. Barry steadily declines as The Client wears on, and by Part 4 of the novel he has been consumed with his paranoia over Boyette’s body being found. Just as his arrogance was reflected in his flashy clothes in Chapter 2, in Chapter 35, Barry’s all-consuming anxiety is reflected in his disheveled dress and neglected hygiene.

“The walk was refreshing. After three days in the hospital, two days in jail, seven hours in the car, and six hours in the motel, Mark could barely restrain himself as they rambled through the woods. He missed his bike, and he thought how nice it would be if he and Ricky were here on this trail, racing through the trees without a worry in the world. Just kids again.”

As Mark walks in the woods behind Romey’s house, he reminisces about childhood memories that, while very recent, feel very long ago. Despite the length of The Client, this quote is important in pointing out that even by Chapter 36 only four days have passed since the opening chapter. Mark feels as though he has lived an entire lifetime in the mere days that have passed since the last time he was in the woods with Ricky. He misses those days of just one week ago where he was allowed to be a child.

“She suddenly grabbed the back of his neck and pulled his face to hers. ‘Listen, buster, this is not one of your little jungle games where you shoot rubber darts and throw dirt clods. Those are not your little buddies in there playing hide-and-seek, or GI Joe, or whatever the hell you play. This is life and death, Mark. You just made one mistake, and you got lucky. One more, and you’ll be dead. Now, let’s get the hell outta here! Now!’ He was still for a few seconds as she scolded him, then he jerked viciously away. ‘Stay here, and don’t move,’ he said with stiff jaws.”

Reggie and Mark have a character-defining confrontation in Chapter 37. Whereas Reggie wants to leave when they find the mob uncovering Boyette’s body, Mark insists on staying. This mimics the opening chapter, wherein Ricky wants to leave once Romey’s car arrives, and Mark wants to stay. Once again, Mark is the one whose strict moral code and commitment to doing the honorable thing compels him to stay and intervene. Reggie is relegated to the “Ricky” role and is similarly powerless against Mark’s will to do the right thing. Mark, iron willed, refuses to listen to Reggie’s lecture on safety. And Reggie, like Ricky, must stay and watch Mark enact his vision of justice.

“Reggie contemplated how close she’d been to death. […] She was indeed fortunate to be here, racing along the expressway, soaked with perspiration, covered with insect bites, bloody from the wounds of nature, and dirty from a night in the jungle. It could’ve been so much worse. […] She was exhausted from the fear and sudden shocks. She was in pain from the crawling and stooping. She was too old for this nonsense. The things lawyers do.”

In Part 4, Reggie displays the lengths she is willing to go for her clients—especially Mark. Not only does she assist his illegal escape from the juvenile detention center, but she helps him dig up a murdered Senator and escape the mob. While Reggie is a hyperbolic figure in this regard, Grisham nevertheless emphasizes the important duty and devotion that (good) lawyers have to their clients. Even though Grisham is not suggesting that all lawyers go to the lengths of Reggie Love, he is communicating how lawyers are often the only ally that individuals have against the American criminal justice system—just like how Reggie is the only ally on Mark’s side against Foltrigg and Muldanno.

“Dianne’s mind was moving clearly now, for the first time in a week. Frightened as she was, she had escaped the dungeon at St. Peter’s. She had seen sunlight and smelled real air. She was holding her lost son, and the other one would improve. All these people were trying to help. […] As dark and treacherous as the future seemed, it could not be as horrible as the past six days. Something had to give. She was due a break. Have a little faith, baby.”

Dianne struggles to have the confidence to make decisions throughout the novel. She typically uses Mark as a crutch, relying on Mark’s maturity and decisiveness to make family decisions. This lack of self-confidence and continual self-doubt is likely a residual effect from her abusive relationship with Mark’s father. Nevertheless, by the end of the novel, Dianne learns to embrace the unknown instead of fear it. The team of people standing beside her—Mark, Reggie, Clint, Judge Roosevelt, and even the FBI—help Dianne feel supported in a way she has never felt before. As a result, she is able to feel hope for the future for the first time.