The "Organization" in Grisham

As I indicated in the review of Gray Mountain (below) I found one of the key plot threads appeared to have been dropped.  Some spoilers may follow.


One of the characters habitually carries a gun, and is convinced that people are out to get him, to harm him or to stop him from pursuing his life's work of suing coal companies and making fees while doing so.


Ultimately, this character dies, and it is an open question whether he was murdered or whether his death was accidental.  Another character steps in, and soon our protagonist is convinced there are shadowy figures following her, wanting to stop her work, tapping her phones and manipulating law enforcement.


It's not unusual for a Grisham novel... similar things happen in The Pelican Brief and The Firm.  What is unusual is that Samantha basically gets bored of seeing these shadows, ignores them and the problem seems to go away.  There is very little extrinsic evidence of the existence of the organization.


Which got me thinking that it would be a very clever, and kind of humourous take on things if Grisham was ascribing to these lawyers the sense of self-importance and storytelling ability that makes them convinced that what they're doing is so important that they have exciting lives with mysterious people wanting to block their agenda at every turn.


I suspect many lawyers have been threatened in some way or another in connection with litigation.  When emotions are high, people can take out their frustration on their lawyer or the other side's lawyer.  Many lawyers probably have the ability to make a good story out of it as well, since in some ways they're professional storytellers.


I'd find it fascinating if the commentary Mr. Grisham is making is that these stories are just fictional yarns, exaggerated even in the lawyer's own head to give them a sense of purpose.  It's fairly cynical, but fascinating to think about.  Unfortunately, in this regard, I think I'm reading too much into a dropped plot thread.