The King of Torts

Rating:
Summary: From a Pauper to a King and Back Again
Review: Clay Carter is a bottom feeder in the legal world. He's wasting away in the Washington, D.C., public defender's office, representing drug dealers, drug addicts and even sometimes drug-addled killers. His girlfriend's father lines up a terrific job on a congressional staff for him, but he's too proud to take it and all of a sudden his girl is too proud to take him. He's been assigned a hopeless murder case that leaves him nothing to look forward to but hard work and failure.

Then along comes Max Pace, a mysterious stranger who appears ready to solve all Clay's problems. He tells Clay that his new client, Tequila Watson, is one of several junkies who was treated with a new drug that was supposed to help them kick their habits. Instead, it turned a small amount of them into mindless killers. Pace offers Clay sort of a legal deal with the devil, quit his job and represent the families of the victims and Pace and his employer - the company that manufactured the drug in question - will see to it that Clay's cut of the tort settlements will make him rich, while still saving the pharmaceutical company millions. Plus, Max says, there will be more to come.

True to his word, after Clay does what Max wants, he has another terrific offer for Clay. Another drug company - a competitor of the one Max represents - has put a drug on the market that unexpectedly causes bladder tumors, a small percentage of which are malignant. This time Clay puts together tort action on behalf of thousands of victims and walks away wealthy and heralded as the new "King of Torts."

Max comes around with still another case and Clay - who one would think would be happy with his new car, jet, townhouse, trophy girlfriend and millions in the bank - would pass and enjoy his life. However Clay has been bitten by the Tort bug, by the grandeur and the glory, but alas, this time he has bitten off more than he can chew. We knew the fall had to come, because Grisham always puts things right in the end, but it's how Clay handles the rise and fall that makes this such a compelling story and my opinion THE KING OF TORTS is Grisham at his best.

Reviewed by Stephanie Sane

Rating:
Summary: A Deal with the Devil is Never What it's Cracked Up to Be
Review: Clay Carter is thirty-one, has a girl friend he cares about and works for the Office of the Public Defender in Washington DC. Nobody gets rich working for the OPD, but Clay tells himself it's work that must be done and he gives his clients his best effort. He's just finished a long murder case and is sort of suckered into another as he is the only OPD attorney in court at the wrong time and the judge assigns him the Tequila Watson case. Tequila, it seems, walked out of a rehab center on a short pass, got a gun and shot a small time dealer named Pumpkin to death for no apparent reason.

On top of having to do another thankless murder case, his girl's sleazy, developer father has lined up a job with a congressman for Clay that pays more that twice what he's getting at OPD. Clay, who wants to be his own man, rejects the offer and his girl rejects him.

Enter Max Pace, a mysterious stranger who claims to be a lawyer for an unnamed pharmaceutical company, but who looks like he spends all his time in the gym. Pace tells Clay that his client has been testing a new drug that is supposed to help cure addiction, but that a new side affect has been discovered. It turns a very small amount of users into killers. Tequila had been on the drug. Max wants Clay to pay off the victim's relatives without giving up the company's name. He offers Clay a gang of money and promises bigger things to come.

Clay quits the OPD and does what Max asks and Max keeps his promise by clueing Clay into a rival company's bad drug, one that causes bladder tumors in some of the users. Max steers Clay into the world of Mass Tort litigation. Clay's cut of the settlements makes him wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Of course what he's doing is highly unethical, maybe illegal, but he's got a new townhouse, a new car, a corporate jet, a flashy new girlfriend who is spending his money like crazy and eventually the FBI breathing down his neck.

This is a wonderful "Man who sold his soul to the Devil" story and as usual John Grisham has breathed real life into characters we care about. We know from the beginning that Clay's rapid rise to the top is going to eventually wind up with a fall just as rapid, we wait for it, but what we don't know is how Clay will handle the failure and that is what makes the story work, what makes it special. But heck, it's gotta be special, John Grisham wrote it.

Review submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

Rating:
Summary: The Hidden Perils of Greed
Review: Clay Carter is a lawyer tired of serving the poor, tired of his girlfriend's country club parents, and ready for a change. He meets a shady character named Max Pace who feeds him some information which sounds too good to be true, and uses it to establish himself as a mass tort attorney. Business is good, as he pulls in many millions of dollars, barely staying ahead of his sudden spending habit. But you know something bad is lurking. Will greed catch up? Is he over his head? Well, duh - what else would you expect? I loved to see Grisham expose the dark side of this somewhat disruptable industry. In the end, it makes you appreciate the value of earning an honest dollar. Yes, this is the best book Grisham has written in a long time.

Rating:
Summary: Never gets out of second gear
Review: Upshot: I needed something to read while I endured a several hour airport delay. This book filled the bill, but just barely.

The book starts off well, with interesting characters and laying of groundwork. How, I wondered, will these various characters develop? Is that minor character going to turn up much later in a more prominent role? Did such and such happen for the reasons Clay thinks it happened, or will we see later that something more complex was going on? Lots of characters and links (well, possible links, it turned out), making me think that the climax of the book will be very interesting and nuanced.

Not quite.

I forgot what happened when I read The Firm in 1991: stayed up all night reading the darned thing and then couldn't believe the "and then everything was OK" ending. Seem to recall something similar with The Client. Well, not to give anything away, so let's just say you don't really need to pay very close attention to events or characters. The morality issues are interesting, but if you really think about it, Clay is a big-time cheeseball who should face Bar charges. Not a sympathetic or particularly interesting character.

So, to sum up, buy the paperback. Or borrow it.

Rating:
Summary: When will I learn?
Review: The best thing I can say about this book is that it was a quick read, so I didn't waste too much time on it. Lazily plotted; characters popping up cconveniently to bridge plot points and then disappearing; ridiculous, sloppy "resolution"; utterly unbelievable, even by Grisham standards. Just to show how quickly and slipshod this book was cranked out, the author picture is one of JG scowling at a book signing for his next book. Save your money.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Grisham Book In Years!
Review: I put off reading The King Of Torts for a long time due to the many average-to-below average reader reviews posted on Amazon. I'm glad, however, that I finally decided to read it, as it is the best book Grisham has written in a long time. The King Of Torts is about morality (or lack thereof) and greed. Without going into detail, the plot involves a lawyer who decides to give up his job as a lawyer in the Office of the Public Defender after being given the chance to handle a major mass tort case against a pharmaceutical company. He goes on to become the King Of Torts, as well as fabulously wealthy and extremely greedy in a very short time. A lot of information is learned about tort lawyers and their relentless pursuit of major corporations at the slightest whiff of impropriety. Grisham's hero, Clay Carter, can also be considered the villain in this very interesting and exciting thriller. I think what led to many of the negative reviews of Grisham's latest book is not that it is boring or poorly written or unexciting, but more to the contempt he creates about the main character due to the extent of his of greed and immorality. As such, unlike in most thrillers, the reader doesn't have a "good guy" to route for. Further, deep down I think many of the readers crticize the book because of the very good job Grisham does in getting the reader to route for the villain. The King Of Torts is the best book I've read by Grisham in years and, having been steadily dissapointed in many of his more recent, am once again a "big fan" and anxiously awaiting his new book due out in a few weeks, called The Last Juror.

Rating:
Summary: Sometimes Brass isn't Gold
Review: Clay Carter is just about the lowest of the low in Washington DC as far as attorneys go, a peon slaving away in the Office of the Public Defender. He's just finished one murder case and the last thing he wants is another, but as luck would have it a judge sticks him with the job of defending Tequila Watson, a black kid who shot a friend called Pumpkin and can't remember why.

As for his personal life, Clay's girlfriend Rebecca is talking marriage and she wants him to knuckle under and get a job her father has lined up with a local congressman. Clay loves her, but hates her family and he hates it more that they consider him a failure. For Clay, the choice seems to between marrying money or having principles, he opts for the principles

However soon the stakes get raised, principle wise. Clay gets a call, the call a lot of lawyers are waiting for, that deal with the devil that will make them wealthy. He goes to meet an ex-lawyer hired to solve problems for a vast pharmaceutical company which has just pulled a bad drug from the market - the kind of drug that makes ex-addicts kill. The company needs a sharp lawyer to deal with the families of the victims, like Pumpkin. All Clay has to do is quit his job, betray his client and throw his principles out the window. He can't do it fast enough.

And he soon becomes a top-tier mass tort lawyer, one of those ambulance-chasers who scream from billboards and cajole in television commercials, asking if you've been injured and urging you to call if you have been. Clay makes millions, but can he keep the money and can he get the girl back? That is the question.

Once again Grisham has written a thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat as you stay up all night worrying about Clay, a loser who grabs for the brass ring only to find out brass isn't gold.

Reviewed by Jeremiah McCain

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: I love the way Grisham writes. His characters are wonderful. However, I was really disappointed in this book. Like most people, I have a very busy life. Finding time to read an entire novel is such a hard thing for me to do. So I was very sad to see the 'hero', Clay,be such a greedy, cliche character. It somehow was made even worse by his tragic end, even though I suppose he deserved it. I would just like to read something a bit more uplifting - like Clay learns his lesson, but comes out with at least some dignity and money. The last Grisham book I read, Painted House, had an ending that also left me feeling empty, like there should be more to it. So I guess when I find a few precious moments to read, my next book will not be authored by John Grisham.

Rating:
Summary: VERY Disappointing
Review: If you would like to read this book, don't buy it....borrow it from a friend.

I gave it 2 stars because I learned quite a lot about class action suits. However, other than that it is not worth it.

Major problem: No character development, and most notably for the main character, although others in the book are just as badly developed, or should I say not developed at all.

I would not say this is one of Grisham's best...but I would definitely say it's one of his worst.

Rating:
Summary: Yawn
Review: As I rounded page 300, I was starting to get concerned that NOTHING WAS HAPPENING. This book is horribly boring with inane sub plots that go nowhere and mean nothing. The first hundred pages were excellent and intriguing, and then . . . issue resolved. No big deal, like nothing had happened. There are countless pages of Clay dreaming about private jets, and countless other pages of Clay driving, eating, vacationing, dating, complaining. Good grief, edit out about 100 pages of fluff, DEVELOP A STORY, and this would be a great read. What bothers me more than anything is that Grisham is an excellent writer. His characters are vivid and entertaining. My opinion is not a matter of excessive expectations. This book was just boring. Oh, and I read the whole thing just to make sure.
Off topic, and realizing that this is fiction, Grisham has a scene set in Flagstaff, AZ, a place near and dear to my heart. Grisham writes on page 406 that in September the temperature was pushing 105. A quick look at the record books reveals that the RECORD high in Flagstaff, AZ in September was 90 and that was in 1950. The average is around 75. I don't care in the context of the King of Torts, but I don't want people thinking that all of Arizona is an arid wasteland. Flagstaff is a wonderful mountain town and home to my undergrad university, Northern Arizona University.