The King of Torts

Rating:
Summary: cool movie
Review: If you're looking for a good page-turner I'd recommend this book. I found the lead character likeable, and his ride to riches, fun and exciting. The story whooshed along like a cool movie you can't take your eyes off. (I kept seeing Charlie Sheen as Carter). I wish Grisham gave this book a little more substance and suspense towards the end so I could give it more than 3 stars, but it still was a good read.

Rating:
Summary: Hi $ Oppty--Some Legal Knldge Req'd
Review: "King of Torts" gives in fiction form a primer on the difference between tort law practice and mass tort boiler room scam practice. In the former, a victim of corporate wrongdoing is compensated, either through a verdict after a trial or an out-of-court settlement. In the latter, fast buck operators who've passed the bar exam contact thousands of victims promising a settlement to them if they will join their plaintiff class. They then come to a settlement with the offending company, take out a huge cut for themselves, and split up the paltry remains among their thousands of "clients". The focus is not justice or law or compassion, but fast profit, almost as if the class of victims were a block of stock options to be exercised at the most opportune moment.

Clay Carter, Grisham's protagonist, never takes a case to trial, seldom even sees the inside of a courtroom. Instead, his resources are poured into advertising for victims to enlarge his plaintiff classes, and into the trappings of wealth to show his prospective clients that he has pulled off big scores in the past. After they sign with him, his client/victims get a couple of phone calls, a perfunctory medical exam, and a few months later, a check that is woefully low in light of what they have suffered.

The companies that are the targets of Carter's assaults are crippled financially, sometimes driven into backruptcy, throwing thousands out of work. In one case this results in some painful retaliation on Carter, which is satisfying enough to the casual reader. But to those who read this to gain a greater understanding of the diseased tort law system, the ray of hope seems to be personified in the lawyer who steps in toward the end of the story to form a plaintiff class of Carter's dead or dying former clients. A plan is formed to sue him for a crime that seems to be all too rarely prosecuted: legal malpractice.

Not being a lawyer, I can't tell how realistic the circumstances underpinning this tale are. The dollar amounts seem high, but then the normal fee for a normal lawyer seems high to me. If Grisham's hyperbole in "King of Torts" is only minor, then he has done the public a service in illuminating a serious public problem.

Rating:
Summary: Waste of time...
Review: I love John Grisham, at least the old John Grisham. THE FIRM and THE PELICAN BRIEF were classics. Underdog lawyer trying to do the right thing, terrible greed, and exciting plot twists that kept the pages turning very fast. But The KING OF TORTS was just a story of the underdog lawyer, so to speak, immense greed, but no interesting subplots or twists that kept you going. At page 324, I decided to skip ahead to page 424 to finish it. I found that I missed nothing in those 100 pages that I didn't read that I couldn't figure out by page 427. This book left me very unsatisfied, as did the wwful THE SUMMONS and wondering if John Grisham has just lost his original touch to write a great legal thriller. I hope not.

Rating:
Summary: Not Very Exciting
Review: Starts out good. Gets really slow in the middle. Predictable ending. The book is constantly going on and on about how much money the main character is spending. Guess what happens to him in the end? Yeah, your right.

Not one of Grisham's best but he has proved his worth in the past and I will continue reading whatever he publishes.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!
Review: John Grisham does it again! It takes a lot to capture me! This one is right there with Terri Bailey's, "Cries of the Orchids" and "Bleachers." John Grisham is such an awesome writer!

Rating:
Summary: Sour Torts
Review: What can be said about a good Grisham novel other than that it's good. You'll enjoy this read. Also, check out LUST OF THE FLESH by Beverly Rolyat, about a district attorney who finds himself in a web of deceit of lies, betrayal, love, lust, murder, mystery, suspense, romance and sex galore. Is he really the biological father of his wife's promiscuous teenager? Or has he been setup? Read and find out and much, much more! It offers a different, enlightening type read that you're gonna enjoy. Happy reading!