The King of Torts

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It's a hit!

Definitely kept you wondering how it was going to turn out! I wish it hadn't stopped there, though. I wanted to see exactly how the settlements end... (show more)

Definitely kept you wondering how it was going to turn out! I wish it hadn't stopped there, though. I wanted to see exactly how the settlements ended up going. (show less)

 

 

by Samantha Guiddy

No, it's a flop!

I was very disappointed in this book. I love Grisham, and if someone had asked me a few months ago if Grisham could do wrong I would scoff and say... (show more)

I was very disappointed in this book. I love Grisham, and if someone had asked me a few months ago if Grisham could do wrong I would scoff and say of course not. Now, not so much.

Grisham is renowned for his abilities to bring characters to life with drama that is simultaneously gripping, extraordinary, and believable. In this book, he is unable to pull it off. The characters are predictable and shallow with a highly unenergized plot. It flabbergasts me that this is the same author that gave us A Time to Kill and the Client. It just doesn't seem to fit correctly.

If you are one of those people that feels the need to read every book that Grisham writes regardless of the individual quality of the books, than go for it. As a book, its not terrible. Its about the quality that one would expect on the bargain rack at the airport, written by an author that you have never heard of who makes a living pumping out mindless books. But that is not who Grisham is. He's better than that. He's better than this book. I do not recommend it. (show less)

 

 

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  While I was reading this novel I kept having this weird sense of deja vu. No, I'm not dragging out that hoary old criticism of Grisham, that all of his books are the same. In fact, I don't actually buy that critique at all: I've read "The Firm", "The Client", and "The Pelican Brief" before. All were fresh and original; none seemed like the others. And this book was no exception; it was not at all like the other three. So why did it all seem so familiar?

  Then I... (show more)

  While I was reading this novel I kept having this weird sense of deja vu. No, I'm not dragging out that hoary old criticism of Grisham, that all of his books are the same. In fact, I don't actually buy that critique at all: I've read "The Firm", "The Client", and "The Pelican Brief" before. All were fresh and original; none seemed like the others. And this book was no exception; it was not at all like the other three. So why did it all seem so familiar?

  Then I noticed another thing. This guy, this supposed protagonist, this lawyer who is being presented to us as a likable, slightly-above-average-Joe kinda guy, is really not very admirable at all. Yes, he was good to his friends. Yes, is politics were copacetic. But he is, at his root, a corrupt sell-out, and not even an original one. At each step of the way, someone older and more corrupt leads him by the nose into the next stage of his moral downfall.

  Ah, then I got it. The first time I ever read this story, it was called "The Bonfire of the Vanities". True, Wolfe's "Bonfire" charts only the fall of his character, while Grisham's "King" follows both rise and fall. But the characters in each are equally morally vapid, equally unsatisfying when viewed either as heroes or as antiheroes. Both books were fun reads and enlightening about the corrupt societies they examined, but both really failed to deliver for me spiritually. (show less)

   

   

  by Roger Glover on May 10, 2009 at 02:41AM

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  This book was definitely not Grisham's best work. Most of the themes and ideas in this book appeared in other of his works, where he did a much better job with them. I have no trouble with recurring themes, many great authors use them very effectively, but Grisham seemed to rehash previously used ideas to simply churn out a novel. It may be that since this is one of the books in the middle of his career, he felt the need to have something on the shelves for his readers to pick up. Frankly, he... (show more)

  This book was definitely not Grisham's best work. Most of the themes and ideas in this book appeared in other of his works, where he did a much better job with them. I have no trouble with recurring themes, many great authors use them very effectively, but Grisham seemed to rehash previously used ideas to simply churn out a novel. It may be that since this is one of the books in the middle of his career, he felt the need to have something on the shelves for his readers to pick up. Frankly, he should have not published a book this year rather than put out a mediocre work such as this. I am currently working my way through his novels, trying to read them in order with the exceptions of the books I have already read. I hope this book is not a harbinger of what I have ahead of me. (show less)

   

   

  by Zach Davidson on Sep 28, 2009 at 03:04PM

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