The Racketeer is a legal thriller novel written by John Grisham that was released on October 23, 2012 by Doubleday with an initial printing of 1.5 million copies.

A real estate transaction which he undertook in good faith turns out to have involved the purchase of a secluded hunting lodge where a Washington lobbyist invited corrupt congressmen for debaucherous orgies with underage girls.

[2] The story begins with Bannister halfway through his ten-year prison term; he has since been disbarred, divorced by his wife, lost contact with his son and is nursing a bitter grudge against the FBI.

He informs them that Quinn Rucker, a drug dealer he met in prison, had vowed to escape and murder Fawcett as revenge for a failed bribery attempt in which the judge took $500,000 but didn't follow through on his end of the deal.

Acting on information from Bannister, the FBI arrest Quinn and, despite having no evidence against him, manipulate him into confessing to the murder using legal interrogation tactics.

He sets up a fake film company and meets another man he met in prison, Nathan Cooley, who doesn't recognize him.

Bannister warns the FBI to investigate the bribery that took place between Fawcett and the mining company, or he will give the story to the press.

[14] The book debuted at #1 on The Wall Street Journal Hardcover Fiction bestseller list on for the week ending October 28, 2012 in the edition of November 3.

[21] Tom Nolan of The Wall Street Journal describes the book as an enigmatic puzzle to understand who the title character is: Bannister, murdered Judge Raymond Fawcett, or his killer.

They signed on director Daniel Espinosa, who previously directed Safe House, which starred Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds.

[23] When the book was first released in October 2012, Washington was mentioned as a possibility to play the lead role of Malcolm Bannister in a film adaptation.