Rating: 
Summary: Good airplane reading
Review: I bought this book on the way to the airport for the three-hour flight to Sydney. It is indeed a page turner as others have pointed out. Grisham has lost little in the his skills in putting together a compelling narrative.However, I _did_ find the plot a little improbable. The CIA-picked Presidential candidate seems more Tom Clancy-ish than what we would normally get in one of Grisham's legal thrillers. A trio of disgraced judges and their prison starchamber was a stretch in itself, but when combined with the Lake candidacy, I thought it overreached.
Rating: 
Summary: I loved this book
Review: I love Grisham, and this, in my opinion, is his best work.
Rating: 
Summary: Skip It
Review: This book has at least two major flaws. One, very little of it is at all plausible. A congressman clean as a whistle for a long career and all of a sudden he goes over to the dark side? The head of the CIA has the power to buy the presidency and would intentionally allow terrorists to kill 80 Americans? The Russians can build a military that can be seen as a threat to the U.S. in a short period? What a cartoon! Secondly, there's just no one character to like in the book. In reviewing James Fenimore Cooper's Deerslayer, Mark Twain once wrote that an author should "make the reader of a tale feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and their fate, and that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones. But the reader of the Deerslayer tale dislikes the good people in it, is indifferent to the others and wishes they would all get drowned together." The only difference here is that I'm not even sure who the good people and the bad people are. I've read all of Grisham's books. Several of them I really enjoyed - good "lite" reading. This is the worst of the lot by a large margin.
Rating: 
Summary: Different.
Review: The 3 brethren were more humorous than the relatives in "The Testament." This book has more twists and turns, more surprises than all his other books put together. While that adds to the suspense, I found it difficult remembering who was who and what was what. I had to keep re-reading sections to keep up with the story. I hope the ending doesn't mean the author will enter the next dinension of the dreaded sequel. All in all, there was enough of the Grisham signature throughout to remain a fan.
Rating:
Summary: If you liked Blair Witch Project, you'll love this book!
Review: The last time I felt ripped off this bad, was when I saw the Blair Witch Project. That was the first time in years where I wanted walk out of a movie and get my money back. That's essentially how I felt about this book. JG should provide a refund. I know some people will like this book, just as some liked the Blair Witch movie, (different strokes for different folks). I felt JG's books were inconsistent in the past, but I pretty much enjoyed them. But, this book has no character worth rooting for, little or no conflict, no suspense, or no rising action, it's just plain BORING! The only person greedier than the judges in this book is JG!
Rating:
Summary: Bad, Bad, Bad
Review: I wish I had read the reviews for this book. I'm a Grisham fan, but this was his worse by far. Easy reading, but totally unbelievable plot. Thank God I used a gift cerftificate. My sister-in-law should be refunder the 7 bucks. Shame on you Grisham.
Rating: 
Summary: Barely passable
Review: It seems inescapable that Grisham's "The Firm" was his best story. After that, each book has gotten successively worse, roughly linearly, except for this one. "The Street Lawyer" was terrible; "The Brethren" just barely passes muster. It's not that it is unrealistic -- I work in a court and can suspend disbelief for most legal books (which, unfortunately, is invariably necessary) -- but that it is plain & simple a bad read. No real plot to speak of. No characters to which to become attached. No empathy with the story at all, in fact. Stale ideas, stale prose, awkwardly plotted and badly told. Skip this one unless you have absolutely nothing better to do; go back and read a much earlier Grisham or try Brad Meltzer's "The Tenth Justice". Or go for a brisk walk; anything.
Rating:
Summary: The Brethren
Review: A page turner, though its ending is kind of dissapointing
Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: I did not read any reviews before I read this and expected another great Grisham read. I really feel that I wasted both my time and money on this book. The story wasn't that good, but I thought that it would surely have a good ending. Not at all!! This has the worst ending of any book I have ever read! I agree with those who said he seemed to be writing this for a deadline and ended the book before it was complete. My favorite JG books were "The Firm" and "The Testament". My least favorite this one and "Pelican Brief".
Rating:
Summary: The Brethren
Review: Overall... this was another Grisham masterpiece. The idea to set up a scam while in prison was so interesting, I can't imagine why it doesn't happen more often in the real world. Grisham has made another totally unrealistic story so believable. The story was little lengthy, and therefore, maybe not his best work. Some parts could have been omitted. I found it hard to believe that the CIA, that was built up to be so highly powerful in the book, would not be able to have three prisoners killed. However, this book far surpasses so many others I've read in quality. I can't wait until his next legal thriller comes out. Will he ever run out of ideas?
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