The King of Torts

Rating:
Summary: Really weak.
Review: The subject matter is compelling and interested me, but Mr. Grisham should have limited his scope (and page count) to an Op-Ed piece or a magazine article. There is simply no story here. None. You keep turning the pages waiting for something to happen -- surely this character will have an antagonist of some sort other than (or in addition to) the obvious one, himself. But no.

This "novel" functions as a diatribe against greedy trial lawyers, much of which I agree with, but it's not a story.

Rating:
Summary: Terrible, boring, don't waste your time!
Review: I have read many of John Grisham's novels and they all have two things in common: very weak character development and the fact the ending is always the same [to escape to a far away land!]. This novel is no different. It is a rather simplistic story of a young guy who gets corrupted by money and then crashes. That's it, that's your story... This is no "thriller." There is no "hidden conspiracy" [what the back of the book suggests]. There is no "suspense." There is also no real depth to any of the characters, or the story itself. It's all very typical Grisham simplistic stuff. Don't waste your time with Grisham. If you want a courtroom thriller read Reed's The Choice, Steve Martini's Compelling Evidence, or Irving's Trial. If you want to read a good author at creating suspense read Michael Crichton.

Rating:
Summary: a waste of effort
Review: What is good about the book: the information it gives on all the players involved in mass tort legislation -- defendants, litigants, and the attorneys. If Grisham's goal was to reduce the likelihood of people signing on with frivolous mass torts, he convinced me; I have received solicitations to join in on three different mas torts in the past few months, and now refuse to do anything to help those attorneys and their ilk make a fortune while making a mountain out of a molehill.

However, I think Aesop's story of greed was more effective, succinct, and interesting. As far as entertainment goes, this book is a loser. I kept waiting for the plot to thicken, and it never happened. I think Grisham is riding on his own coattails.

Rating:
Summary: The rise and fall of a lawyer
Review: I am a big fan of JG, and I was eagerly waiting for his latest addition to the collection.
The story deals about an obscure lawyer, working for the public service in DC, who is suddenly approached by a mysterious man offering to cut a deal which will make him millionaire by the night. Oddly, but not enough with his scruples, he agreeds to it and suddenly becomes the new "wunderkind" of Class action attorneys, getting the attraction of colleagues and the envy of many others.
Not to spoil the whole story, the plot (superbly narrated as usual) goes around the rise to the pinnacle of this young guy and his abrupt and profound fall, leaving you with a moral precept.

Rating:
Summary: Grisham novel found in the John
Review: Sorry John. I must say that I shall not pick up another of your novels after having labored through this one for three days. With every turned page, I felt as though I myself were being gaveled by some judge who condemns people for reading such mindlessless. Maybe the idea was to force your readers to experience, first-hand, emotions like frustration and disappointment, the same ones often suffered by the helpless victims represented by tort lawyers in class-action law suits. In that regard, you have succeeded.

It may very well be that Mr. Grisham has finally lost interest in producing quality work. He has, after all, had a nice run at it. Of course, the author's early legal thrillers are quite compelling page-turners of the variety that we as readers hate to see come to an end. To the contrary, this tale of greed and revenge is painfully predictable and, worse, follows its alleged climax with a drab denouement.

I live in Shanghai, China. Last week, I visited Beijing for a week and stayed in a hostel. Like many such establishments, the lounge area had a small book exchange. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to whoever ends up with this novel. Additionally, I would like to say that the book I received in return, the Scott Turow classic, Presumed Innocent, could teach Old Grisham a thing or two about, first of all, high-quality legal fiction writing and, second, the art of suspense.

Rating:
Summary: Up all night
Review: It's been a while since I read a Grisham through, but I wasn't disappointed. How much is a soul worth, Grisham asks in this tale, with an even harder question whispering underneath,Who has to pay for it? Clay Carter decries his beatup Honda Accord, condescending would-be in-laws and deadend job. When saddled with a murder case, the public defender thinks things have really hit rock bottom.

And he's right. But not for long. Enter a slick guy dressed in black and rippled with muscles, a corporate fireman who needs to silence Clay before he runs onto a secret that can destroy his client--and everything changes. Ten million everythings. Dragging his co-workers and roommate along for the ride, Clay gets sucked into the vaccuum of wealth over the next year, only to be spit out at the end, grasping the one thing that's eluded him despite his millions, a relationship with the girlfriend he loves.

Though some describe this as fluff or boring, I urge them to read between the lines. The background cast of THE KING OF TORTS is just as important as the main cast. Tequila Watson, Ramon Pumphrey, the Hannas and definitely the Worleys all give a picture of the reality of tort litigation, drug companies and the criminal justice system. It's not just about the writing, but the thinking the writing makes you do. :)

Rating:
Summary: Fun to read
Review: It'd been awhile since I've read a Grisham novel and someone suggested that this one was fun to read. I did enjoy it. There's sleazy lawyers and back room deals, women and money and expensive jets. Basically Grisham pokes fun at lawyers and sort of spoofs some of the stuff that goes on in the world of law, specifically mass torts and class action.

I realize that some of his works are not nearly as good as the first novel he produced, 'A Time to Kill', which really is a more serious novel than many of his others, but none the less, this one is fun to read, just don't expect serious literature and you'll probably not be disappointed. If you want a strong plot with meaningful characters and realistic situations and no fantasy, go elsewhere, but otherwise, it's an enjoyable read if you like the genre.

Rating:
Summary: Mass torts, mass money
Review: Grisham takes on mass tort litigation in this latest legal thriller. Although "litigation" is part of the term, there was no litigation involved in this book. In fact, the most I've seen is amongst the various reviewers here.
Grisham's latest protagonist, Clay Carter, is a lawyer slaving away in the public defender's office. While he lacked the cynicism a position like this should inspire, he is tired and somewhat frustrated. Doing the right thing doesn't seem to be very rewarding when even your fiancee looks at you as though you are letting somebody down with your lack of career aspirations. As his personal life collapses, a career opportunity drops into his lap. He can make a lot of money; all he has to do is throw out a few people nobody cares about anyways and maybe he'll be able to win back the heart of his true love. A couple of lucky breaks, both incredibly illegal, and next thing you know Clay is the "king of torts"--the best at playing a game that only lawyers can win. The plaintiffs are losers, as well as the large corporations that wind up financing the whole mess. I found the inticracies of the tort system to be interesting, although the cases themselves seemed a bit unbelievable. I am not a lawyer, but could easily make some arguments that could defeat Clay's legal maneuvering. But apparently for these companies, it's easier to just fork out some cash than fix the problems you have created. Is this stuff really true? Does this really happen? Probably, but lets hope in a more intelligent manner than in this book.
The characters seem a bit stereotypical and as I was reading it, I fully expected some surprises. Maybe one of Clay's fiancee's parents would turn out to not be such a snob. Maybe Clay would ingratiate himself in the mass tort community and cause it's collapse. Perhaps his fiancee would help him see the error of his ways, they would win a huge settlement for some horribly disfigured victims of a poorly tested pharmaceutical, give all their money to charity and devote their lives to providing for the disadvantaged. NOT. Everybody in this book is exactly what they seem to be. Weak, spineless, completely lacking in ethics, any sort of moral compass, and conscience.
While the characters become somewhat tiresome, the ins and outs of this legal game are interesting. Grisham has taken on a segment of the legal world usually limited to bad jokes. It's interesting to see what money does to someone who has never had it.
Characters: weak, don't fulfill their potential.
Plot: interesting, enough to hold your attention until the end.
Ending: No surprises, a bit routine.
Overall: An interesting, mildly entertaining read, suitable for airport reading, or a long car ride. Won't keep you up at night, but will hold you enough to want to see what's going to happen next.
If you like a book with a little tension, read it!

Rating:
Summary: Agree w/ Adam 18; Snooze
Review: Yeah, Adam, I noticed the Flagstaff temperature reference as well. Guess folks figure its in Arizona, it must be hot. Note To Grisham: Its in the mountains. Its cool. I realize its a small point but its representative of the sloppy way the book was put together. Plot is tired. Characters are not developed. Lawyers and corporations are caracatures. And for the folks that are thankful about the education about the tort system, you might want to look elsewhere for the truth. Here is just one thing. These cases that Clay has are not class actions. They may be mass tort cases, but they are not class actions. In class action litigation, the plaintiff's lawyer does not go out and recruit individual clients and race to sign them up. You sue on behalf of one person and others, not named in the lawsuit, who are similarly situated. The class is as big as the number of people who respond to public notices. One other thing. Grisham breezily dismisses the rights of the murderer client. Maybe someone who is drugged to undo addiction with a drug that causes the user involuntarily to kill people might have a good defense, as Clay's lawyer realizes in the waning moments of the book. If Clay had realized this at the beginning then we wouldn't have had much of a story I guess.

Rating:
Summary: Typically Grisham, I was Up all Night
Review: This book is the story of Clay Carter, a thirty-one-year-old D.C. public defender who lives a simple life but wants so much more. He's been assigned to defend a murderer who was on a drug that was supposed to help him quit his addiction, but instead it turned him, and a few other that took the drug, into a mindless killer.

With the help of a shadowy benefactor named Max Pace, Clay quits his job, bails on his client, joins the other side and in no time at all he becomes a multimillionaire tort litigator, one of the legal vultures who get rich skimming millions off the settlements they orchestrate between wealthy manufacturers and the countless masses they have wronged.

Grisham uses Clay's rise to the top and fall to the bottom again to illustrate the greed that permeates the world of tort lawyers, but he delivers his message in a book that you won't be able to put down. There is a bit of Clay Carter in all of us, we don't want to admit it, but it's true, read this book and you'll know it too.