Rating: 
Summary: Might be Grisham's worst novel
Review: Sometimes you read a non-fiction book that's so good that you're tempted to say it reads like a novel. This, unfortunately, is a novel that reads like a non-fiction book: One of the ones you had to plow through in your freshman year and promptly forgot after final exams.
The putative protagonist in this book is Clay Carter; unfortunately Clay is not particularly likeable or even memorable. Clay is a lawyer stuck in a dead-end job when he meets a mysterious stranger who offers him riches beyond his wildest dreams. Carter goes from being a public defender to a flashy mass-tort lawyer in a matter of months, making an enormous fortune and spending it like he can't get rid of it fast enough. This is the part of the book that reads more like a textbook on how to become a successful tort lawyer; I was about two-thirds of the way through the book when I realized that I had not yet encountered a discernible plot.
If the plot line was thin to non-existent, the characters were worse. Most Grisham novels glisten with quirky, sinister, or vibrantly memorable secondary characters. This one had none. There was not one character in King of Torts that was memorable in any way, with the possible exception of the loathsome tort attorney Patton French who takes Clay under his wing.
Ultimately, the inevitable crash comes and Clay's tort empire collapses even faster than it erupted. The book becomes a morality play warning against the dangers of greed and excess. Grisham has written some memorable books in the past. The Testament is one of my favorite books, period, and such tomes as The Firm and The Rainmaker are well worth the price of purchase. But The King of Torts is definitely a book to take a pass on, at least until it shows up in the used bookstores as a half-price paperback.
Rating: 
Summary: Ended Badly
Review: Was John Grisham in a hurry to finish this book? It started off great and seemed to develop the characters in much detail but then towards the end John Grisham must have had his deadline approaching and wanted to finish it in a rush. I was really looking forward to this book but was dispointed by it. Easy to read but not his best book by a long shot.
Rating:
Summary: Good Read
Review: This is a standard Grisham book, where the reader gets some insight into what (according to Grisham) drives lawyers and how the rich and famous lives, interesting characters, and greedy villains (not just lawyers). There are as such no surprises, but if you like Grisham, this will definately not disappoint you.
Rating:
Summary: let down ending
Review: I like reading Grisham books- they are extremely entertaining, engaging, etc. but the endings are always a bit of a let down... everything gets "solved" to easily- like the FBI dropping the charges. Oh please!
It's a good read, if you don't expect a creative ending....
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Rating: 
Summary: This book is B O R I N G (and I'm sad to say it!)
Review: I'm sorry to say that this book is SO boring. It's chapter after chapter of numbers associated with 3 large cases. I have PURCHASED and listened to (I am a voracious audio book listener) EVERY John Grisham book and this one was incredibly BORING. As I came home tonight I almost laughed as I sat in my car shaking my head at how much I didn't care about the characters because there ARE no characters. But I will always buy Grisham - maybe this is one miss out of many hits.
Rating:
Summary: Typical Grisham
Review: King of Torts is a typical Grisham novel. It follows the same pattern as his other lawyer stories. However, I can say that I was suprised that it took the main character as long as it did to spend the money and then lose it. The pattern was predictable from the beginning. I'm sorry to say that this was not one of Grisham's best.
Rating:
Summary: Grisham Off-Peak
Review: This book has the appearance of being churned out quickly, with perhaps Grisham's deserved high status causing fear among editors who would normally improve any author's text.
The book's intention is apparently a lesson in ethics and greed, and to the extent that watching the hero/anti-hero rise and fall will make readers think, it is an enjoyable surprise.
But readers who care about tight, detailed writing will gnash teeth in frustration. There are also too many improbabilities and questiones left unanswered.
Rating:
Summary: A Courtroom Thriller, Without Courtroom or Thrills
Review: It's an interesting notion: follow a young lawyer's climb up the ladder of civil litigation and his subsequent fall. Too bad Grisham's Clay Carter merely coasts along. There are no stirring courtroom scenes: all the action takes place on cell phones between lawyers. There's no mystery during investigation. There's simply no investigation; a mysterious source provides everything he needs. Clay never questions the man's motives. He never questions the origin of his information. To be honest, he doesn't do much of anything. His career is handed to him, his demise mostly the result of unforseeable events. People come into his life, and most leave with barely a blip. Grisham scratches the potential of civil suits, but doesn't dig deep enough to shed much light on the topic. He implies dark secrets, but nobody bothers to search them out. This book isn't bad, just bland.
Rating:
Summary: So close...
Review: Spoiler Warning! I must say that this book is fast paced once it gets started and doesn't drop off until the very end where it unravels within a few pages and suddenly ends. It seems to me Grisham simply recycled the ending of The Rainmaker and stuck on the end of this one and that disapoints me. I loved the book up until the end and even though the end made sense, it was muddy and based on a "verdict" that came out of nowhere. But, I still greatly enjoyed the book and I'm sure in time I'll get over it!
Rating:
Summary: Enough with the Morality Lesson Already!
Review: The first half of this book is a well-written page-turner. The second half is a wrap up job that bangs you over the head with a lesson on greed. For the reader well versed in picking up subtle clues, the last half of the book will annoy the tar out of you. I read the entire book only because the first half was so good. I kept thinking it would get better, but it never did. Still a good read if you're a Grisham fan, just borrow it from the library or wait for paperback.
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