Rating: 
Summary: Grisham Morality Tale on Evil of Mass Torts
Review: In this average John Grisham legal novel, the character has his life changed by sudden wealth stemming from his entry into the world of mass torts as a trial lawyer.We meet our young lawyer idealistically toiling away as a public defender and as the paramour of a rich girl who wants more than matrimony from her knight in shinning armor (she wants her knight to have wads of cash in addition to compassion and great performance in the sack). Fortune appears in the form of a mysterious stranger who offers the lawyer more money than he could make in a lifetime defending poor criminals. The source of his new wealth: mass tort cases handed up on a silver platter if our attorney will settle with the families of murder victims whose murdered loved one was the unfortunate side effect of a new wonder being secretly tested in drug clinics around the world. The young attorney accepts, holds his nose and settles the suits and becomes the new "King of Torts," as his success suing his first drug company catapults him into the front ranks of the country's trial attorneys. His untold riches finance cars, planes, a beautiful consort, a national profile and the burying of his conscience. In the end, his world collapses when he reaches for a "case to far" and the FBI catches up with him for short selling the stock of a company against which he was about to file a class action suit. Riches gone, he wins back his girl (who finally decides that a wad of cash borne by the wrong suitor might be a worse deal than the right suitor whose only credit is his newly rediscovered character). They then ride off into the sunrise (east from Washington DC to a flat in London). This novel has some of the character development of the standard Grisham fare, though it pales besides some of his earlier work. The action is fast paced, and some of the early sub plots are interesting -- particularly the conspiracy with the original bad drug. His portrayal of the Mass Tort Trial Attorney world fascinates - particularly his Patton French character - the granddaddy of mass tort actions and a caricature of greedy lawyers at the top of their game. What this book is mostly is a morality tale on two levels. First, the evil of a legal system which allows mass tort trial lawyers to decimate companies good and bad with the no-holds-barred fee system that currently exists. Second, the evil effect of quick and ill-earned wealth on the character of otherwise normal people. (one quote from the book: "nobody, nobody earns six million dollars in six months") This book is interesting and a quick read. I thought the ending was not as calculated and dependent on the earlier story as has been the case in previous efforts -- it just kind of happened and was declared by the author. All in all, a middling effort from Grisham; still a good read because he is one of the best popular novelists around.
Rating:
Summary: Ho-Hum - Too "Formula"
Review: I used to love Grisham. His novels were fun, fast-paced and exciting. Maybe my literary tastes have changed, but "King of Torts" was disappointing. If you want a light read, this may be the ticket for you, but I'm tired of the predictable formula. Grisham gets brownie points for research perhaps, but I thought there were BIG plot holes and credibility problems in this book. I've read almost all that Grisham has written and just get the feeling that his writing is getting watered down as he's "compelled" to keep cranking out the books. Yes, we've finally gotten out of the South, but really, this is a pretty flat read.
Rating: 
Summary: Ghost Writer
Review: Who wrote this book? It sure doesn't read like the first Grisham novels. I've read them all and now we are getting sleezy with people hopping in and out of beds, bad language, vugarity, and smut. He never used to write this way. A good thriller never needs this low grade writing. It wasn't even good sex. I will not have this filth in my home even if John Grisham writes it, but I don't think he did. He must have farmed it out and stuck his name on it. Many readers don't care about this sort of smut, but in our home we do and with all the aids stuff going on this book doesn't help the young readers. Clean it up or I'm out of your fan group.
Rating:
Summary: bad
Review: i have read all of his books and this one is like the last few...bad.
Rating: 
Summary: Grisham is as greedy as his protagonist
Review: I think I am through with John Grisham. His earlier books were exciting and featured some actual character development. His later books are completely formulaic, predictable and shallow. Perhaps this is because he is turning out books at a rapid-fire pace. To accept this book, you have to get past the initial actions of the protagonist, Clay Carter. Carter is a burnt-out public defender assigned to represent Tequila Watson, a 20-year-old recovering addict without a history of violence, in a murder trial. The murder is perplexing; Watson shied away from any confrontation and seemed to have no motive. Enter Max Pace: a "fire fighter" for a major pharmaceutical company, who explains that Watson has been taking Tarvan, a prescription drug rushed into the marketplace prior to the completion of a thorough study of its side effects. In a small percentage of its users, it causes sudden, unprovoked violent outbursts. Pace offers Clay millions of dollars to drop Tequila as a client, start his own firm, and represent the victims of the Tarvan killers in a quick and low-profile settlement. And so Clay does! He drops his client, keeps the scandal of Tarvan silent, and leaves Tequila to be sentenced to a life term in prison without ever mentioning Tarvan! From there, he enters the mass tort game, suing huge companies in class-action suits, angling for the biggest settlement possible--not for the good of the class-action clients, but for the greedy lawyers' benefit. How are we supposed to like this character whatsoever? He wrestles with the moral obligations to Tequila for about half a second before dumping him, and we are supposed to think that he has any scruples? His character, and the characters of his girlfriends and associates, are completely undeveloped and superficial. I give this book 2 stars because Grisham's take on the world of mass-tort law was interesting. I have no idea if it is accurate. I am a lawyer, and I bristle somewhat with the notion of portraying personal injury lawyers as greedy. Generally, the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies are greedy--not the attorney suing these companies who is actually working in his clients' best interests. I think Grisham writing a book about greed like this is particularly interesting. I wondered the whole time what he was getting paid to write this shallow book, if he has a private jet and a Porsche. He definitely worked harder when he wrote books like A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, and The Pelican Brief, and the results were a hundred times better.
Rating:
Summary: Grisham is fading
Review: I am a big fan of John. But with the last two new books he pushed out, maybe for the money, he is disappointing. Is his star fading, or just the cloud of money overshadowing his talent? This book has no real plot and everything was too predictable. The facts were not believable and the characters lacked depth. But it has all the easy ready trademark of John. Not a bad book to burn through for summer reading, but nothing memorable.
Rating:
Summary: The hidden traps of greed.
Review: John Grisham is an accomplished author for a reason: he writes stories that capture the imagination and the reader quickly. After some rather unusual departures in his normal genre with the "Painted House" and "The Brethren (where you didn't know who to root for), he is back to the old formula of the underdog lawyer who gets in over their head. He is very good at developing and writing this "character", who is quite similar to the lead characters in The Firm, The Rainmaker, and The Client. What is different about this story than some of his others, is that character doesn't hesitate to quickly forget his conscience and his moral position as a public defender to make as much money as possible. The result is sometimes predictable, sometimes not. Grisham clearly has an agenda here about the result of too much money, too fast, and what damage it can cause. Is this autobiographical? The whimsical desire for a simpler life comes through over and over again. Overall, this book is nowhere near as good as some of his other classics, but was an enjoyable summer afternoon read. The clear shots taken at tort lawyers and the vast sums of money they receive on class action lawsuits, at the expense of those who are truly injured, is always welcomed!
Rating: 
Summary: KING OF TORTS
Review: I loved reading The King of Torts, by John Grishman. I enjoyed matching witts with him while reading this book. The excitment of trying to figure out the plot and the ending intreges me the most. I could not put the book down until I had finished it. While reading his books I'm always looking for his hidden clues to how the story will end. The King of Torts, unlike John Grishman's other books, the plot and ending was easy to figure out. I kept waiting for a surpise twist. This book was well written and I enjoyed it very much and will continue to read his books. John Grisham's (goodboy) Clay Carter's distaste for greedy Lawyers and Businessmen is suddenly changed when he also becomes the (badboy). Greedy and power hungry Clay becomes the very thing he hated. Becoming the King of Torts in less than a year, Clay was so busy spending his money, that he did not see his downfall coming, just as fast. Clay was lucky that his first love was there, when the King fell to help him start over. Morals vs. money and power become the issue in this story and it makes you want to slap Clay across the face as you see him change rapidly into our worst fear, a greedy Lawyer.
Rating:
Summary: the skipping stone
Review: We read it because it is Grisham...like a skipping stone. Nothing was developed. It skipped through plot and informed us that possibly our math wasn't as good as it should be. It skipped through characters...Like they were are in the shade waiting for something to happen.In fact, many characters left the book after making their money only to return to save the day and the main character. Yuck, skip it or maybe borrow but do not buy!
Rating:
Summary: Preaching to the Choir
Review: It isn't exactly news to most Americans that lawyers can be a venal bunch of cads. Yet John Grisham pounds home his "message" with such forceful clarity, you would think he had just discovered Betsy Ross was a traitor. Mysterious Max introduces Clay Carter, a youngish lawyer going nowhere, to the shadowy world of "mass torts". Mass torts are when a large group of consumers bring action against a corporation for a faulty product. One lawyer may represent thousands of citizens. The idea is to get the corporation to settle (without going to court). The payout is in millions; the lawyer skims his enormous fee off the top and frequently the consumers get only a pittance in a successful action. Clay's greed goes into overdrive and he is sucked into this new world of big money. By the end of his first year at his new job he is worth ten million, proud owner of a Gulfstream V, a gorgeous girl to hang on his arm and spend his money, and a definite thirst for more. This is a precarious and pressure-filled universe just barely operating on the sunny side of the law. One misstep is disastrous. Trouble is, the reader knows from the get go that Grisham is never in this world going to allow Clay to enjoy his misbegotten goodies. So we spend the whole book waiting for the other shoe to drop--and drop it does. Also given Mr. Grisham's former profession and his outlandish success at his present occupation, I think he is standing on a fairly fragile pulpit. Nevertheless, Mr. Grisham, as always, is a master storyteller so it isn't a chore to follow Clay through his Pilgrim's Progress and back. But be warned, this isn't a mystery or general fiction; it's an admonitory tale.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer
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