Rating: 
Summary: The King of Torts
Review: After having read some of the other reviews I would have to agree that John Grisham has not put much effort in his last few books. I felt that in The King of Torts he floundered with his character development. I also felt he never completely developed the story.
I also had a hard time with the story because it hit a little too close to home for me. I am also taking an arthritis drug of the newer generation and am concerned about potential side effects in the future. My only hope is that I don't end up with as shallow a lawyer as was portrayed in the book if I should!
All in all though, I would have to say that if John Grisham put out a book tomorrow I would be one of the first ones in line to buy it!
Rating: 
Summary: Closer to Grisham.
Review: Like several reviewers, I have been less than enthralled with Grisham's latest legal thrillers. His last thriller, THE SUMMONS, in my opinion, was a yawner. However, after a brief sojourn into classic fiction with A PAINTED HOUSE and SKIPPING CHRISTMAS (which I highly recommend), Grisham has clawed his way back into the arena that made him the King of Legal Thrillers. THE KING OF TORTS is classic Grisham, in the form of A TIME TO KILL, THE FIRM, and my all-time favorite, THE PELICAN BRIEF. While KING OF TORTS still doesn't quite measure up, it is incredibly good.What makes THE KING OF TORTS so good is the conceptual elements fans have grown to love about Grisham's thirllers: an underdog young attorney, a mysterious and clandestine protagonist, greasy "ambulance-chasing" attorneys and unscrupulous corporations. In the end, as always, it's all about the dollar. Our "hero" in this thriller is J. Clay Carter II, a low-paid public defender in Washington, D.C. Clay has a well-to-do fiancée, Rebecca Van Horn who, along with her pugnacious mother and father continually nettle Clay to take a more lucrative job. His future in-laws are everything Clay despises. When he wontonly rejects Mr. Van Horn's offer of a corporate position making more than twice his PD pay, Rebecca dumps him for an geeky Ivy Leaguer. Concurrent with his personal life heading south, Clay has just been ambushed into handling the defense of Tequila Watson, a young black man who shot a friend named "Pumpkin" (lively names). Although totally unmoved, Clay is intrigued as to why Tequila can't remember killing Pumpkin. It's as though his mind has been washed away...with drugs, Clay suspects. After issuing subpoenas for all the medical files from the street-tough drug rehabilitation center where Tequila was being treated, Clay gets the call of his young life. As Grisham describes him, "the man in black." Clay meets the man in black, Max Pace, an ex-lawyer cum "fireman," hired to solve problems on behalf of a variety of unnamed companies. His current "project" is on behalf of a major pharmaceutical company, which has just pulled the plug on a bad drug...a drug that has the side effects of making ex-addicts kill for no apparent reason. Pace's job for Clay? Offer the victims' families large settlements NOT to pursue any potential investigation or legal action. For this, Clay will receive a cool $15 million. Clay takes an extremely short moment and decides that this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Why, he would be foolish to turn it down, wouldn't he? Sure to his word, Max makes Clay a millionaire with a few short weeks of work. And, to add pleasure to ecstasy, Max has another, much larger "deal" for Clay. This deal involves another bad drug but this time, Clay gets to play the mass tort game. This, all from "tips" provided by the mysterious Max Pace. As Clay's new lawsuit takes form, he lands thousands of class-action suits and is dubbed by the major media "The King of Torts." As the pitiful pharmaceutical company decides to settle with Clay and his newly minted legal bretheren, Clay is two-for-two, only this time, his take isn't $15 million; it's $100 million! Like taking candy from a baby. Clay believes he's this good and here comes the element creating problems for most, greed. As Clay acquires a yacht (for his father), a private plane, an island retreat and a trophy girlfriend, he burns through his new found wealth at an astonishing pace both for pleasure and in funding his next legal bonanza. But, like Mitch McDeere, Grisham's protagonist in THE FIRM, Clay soon learns that his newly acquired riches come with a price he can't afford to pay. Grisham's glimpse into the world of mass tort attorneys is poignant and timely. How many commercials do we see on television from those soliciting our aches, pains, and more frighteningly, our health. The multi-million dollar advertising campaigns they use to attract clients and the huge sums they extract from big corporations are astonishing albeit fetid. Unlike many of the Hollywood stories, not all mass tort actions have "happy" endings. In some cases, attornys undeservingly obtain riches simply because the defendant corporation believes it can spend less to settle than to litigate. At some surreal level, this crack in our legal system is one that is uncomfortable at best; horrifying at worst. In many cases, good, well-intentioned companies are forced into bankruptcy and the victims, who suffered the most, are left with little after attorney's fees. Grisham sets a good pace for this storyline and develops the characters quite well. The only problem I saw with THE KING OF TORTS is, having set up strong characters and revealed the conspiracy, Grisham spins the story to a condensed close. While this glimpse of the Grisham of old is encouraging, the sprial down to climax was a return to the recent past. This doesn't spoil the book, as a whole, but it does bring the awestruck level down to solid. A good book, a fun read. I hope this is only peek into Grisham's future direction. Maybe, just maybe, we'll see another PELICAN BRIEF in the making.
Rating:
Summary: Very mediocre
Review: Disappointing read. It starts with the potential of being a good thriller, but goes nowhere. I kept expecting some twist somewhere, but nothing happened. Just basic story of greed will get you in trouble. Don't buy it, read it from the library.
Rating: 
Summary: Riveting to the last page!
Review: I picked up this book because the title was so nifty and I found that it was a page-turner. I am so impressed with John Grisham's story-telling. This one was one of his best!
Rating:
Summary: Interesting, Albeit Preachy
Review: This certainly isn't Grisham's best work. I'd probably give
that nod to "The Firm", his first seller. That being said, its an enjoyable little yarn: young lawyer
turns to the "dark side" of the law, learns a valuable lesson
about life, finds redemption in the end. You could almost
term it an "After Law School Special". The story draws
the reader in thoroughly, but it lacks the suspense of
the real physical danger suffered by the hero in "The
Firm", for instance. (There is some violence in the
book; I half suspect Grisham included it to prevent the
hero with more that financial danger.) It is undoubtedly, though, a book with a message, and that
message is "mass class action suits are a Very Bad Thing".
The book pulls no punches it making the lawyer who get
very rich filing such legal actions look extraordinarily
sleazy -- they're almost parodies of the "flaunt your wealth"
rich. To be fair, Grisham does not call for massive reform of
the entire civil justice system; he goes out of his way
to make it clear that there are people with legitimate
reasons to sue and get large settlements. Of course, these
people end up harmed by being part of the class action
suits. I tend to agree with Grisham on his points, but I prefer
to save my sermons for Sunday morning.
Rating:
Summary: Not his best legal thriller
Review: Many of the reviews of John Grisham's I read in the newspapers did not care for The King of Torts, his 15th novel. I, however, enjoyed the book but not as much as his other legal thrillers
The King of Torts is Clay Carter, a 31 year old lawyer who has worked in the public defender's office in Washington, D.C. His newest client is Tequila Watson a young black man who kills another man after leaving a drug rehab center. The next day Clay is approached by Max Pace who says he represents a drug company that produced a drug that caused Tequila and others to kill. The company is willing to pay Clay $15 million to bring a $5 million dollar settlement with the murder victims' families.
This case propels Carter into his own law firm, creating a very large venture with many lawyers, paralegals and staff. The firm continues to grow as other mass tort suits are filed. Greed is the key and this will eventually bring down the protagonist.
The King of Torts is a good read although some Grisham fans might find it a little disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Lightweight morality tale
Review: This book is a pleasant read, better than Grisham's recent offerings but lacking the depth and substance of his earlier works. The theme "greed is bad" is simplistic and the plot moves straight ahead with no subplots to add interest. Clay Carter as a main character failed to win my empathy simply because he was so weak. Greed sucked him up as easily as a lint ball under a vacuum cleaner with no protest or moral battle on his part. And his girlfriends were almost cartoonish, especially Ridley, who seemed nothing more than an adolescent male fantasy of pumped [breasts], perfect body, and a constant desire to get naked. Rebecca was almost as bad in her own way, with little redeeming qualities to recommend her. Further, her motive for the eventual and sudden springing loose from the tight parental paws was never explained. Another detraction was the ludicrous names Grisham chose for the supporting characters. Patton French? Zach Battle? Tequila Watson? He must have pulled them out of the phone book after a bad night's sleep. I also found the repetition of pet phrases tiresome. By the middle of the book, I felt if I read "I'm listening" or "serious money" one more time, I was going to rip out the pages. Nevertheless the book had enough interest to keep me reading and offered a glimpse into a life most of us will never experience. Grisham's style is always easy to read and at least he doesn't find it necessary, as so many authors do, to descend into sordid sex and foul language as an excuse for poor plotting. However, Grisham can do better. Maybe he's not up to it anymore. The pressure to be brilliant repeatedly must be overwhelming. Since he's still a favorite author despite his flaws, I'll give him four stars. Anybody else would get three.
Rating:
Summary: Another Grisham Great
Review: This book is right in line with all of John Grisham's stories. I thought that it was wonderful and certainly up to the standards that I expected from him.
Rating: 
Summary: Typical Grisham
Review: Typical Grisham book-Young lawyer against the world-makes money-loses it-sails away.....however, easy reading for those who don't read often.
Rating:
Summary: Much better than the Summons
Review: This is much better than his last few legal thrillers (The Summons, The Bretheren...), but I didn't like it as much as A Painted House, and it's definitely not as good as many of his earlier novels. But, I really enjoyed reading it. The story is fast-paced and interesting. The characters are well written and likeable. This reminded me a little bit of The Rainmaker with the inexperienced newcomer, shady characters, big corporations, and big, big money. The story seemed a little unrealistic, but that may just be because I don't live in the world that it is set in. Also, there were a couple of loose ends in the story that were not resolved to my satisfaction, but nothing so important that it would ruin my overall impression of the book. If you're a Grisham fan, I'm sure you'll enjoy this.
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