Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: A most unlikeable main character...throughout the dreary book. A very disappointing Grisham book.
Rating: 
Summary: Almost a winner
Review: Clay Carter, 31 years old, is a financially poor, disillusioned Washington D.C. public defender. Although he just wrapped up a three year murder case and would definitely like a break, he doesn't get it. Instead he gets Tequila Watson, a young man arrested for a random murder. The sheer randomness sets Clay sniffing for clues, and what he sniffs out is more than he ever bargained for -- a visit from a stranger named Max Pace who is known in the legal world as a fireman, someone hired by large companies who have messed up to fix their mistakes behind the scenes. This time, a huge corporation's drug is making people kill. Tequila was on this drug. If Clay will quit his job and set up his own practice, the corporation will pay him 15 million to help them quietly settle with the victims. Unable to say no to so much money, Clay agrees. Besides the money, he gets as a reward a huge mass tort case and is soon richer than his wildest dreams. But even after he owns his own jet and fancy home and has a beautiful model on his arm, he doesn't have the woman he loves. And he doesn't have security. The FBI is sniffing at his heels. Former clients aren't happy. What will happen if the King of Torts himself gets sued? I never thought I'd see the day when I was ready to give a Grisham book five stars, but by the middle of THE KING OF TORTS I was planning to do just that. Somehow, without resorting to unexpected twists, violence, sex, or worldwide conspiracies (seemingly the fare of many thrillers today), Grisham managed to achieve incredible suspense. While certainly no master of setting, his prose is clean, his plotting tight and fast, and his message as clear as the nose on your face (pardon the cliche) -- mass tort litigation is bad! And I have no doubt readers will be convinced he knows what he's talking about, since I was. However, this book never actually made the five stars in my mind because of the last third. I can't point to any particular place where it went wrong, just that it slowed to the point where I was checking pages to see how many I had left and finally, in the last couple chapters, skipping paragraphs altogether. THE KING OF TORTS is like THE FIRM in many ways, from weak women characters to protagonists with poor morals to endings that sag. Grisham has remarkable talent, especially when it comes to writing books that would make great movies, but he also works from a formula and too often his novels reveal that formula. Unfortunately, THE KING OF TORTS is no exception. Although readers who enjoy high intrigue and lots of twists will probably be better off looking elsewhere, for legal thriller lovers and Grisham fans, THE KING OF TORTS is a solid, moralistic read I highly recommend.
Rating: 
Summary: John doesn't quite live up to his rep!
Review: I have always enjoyed John Grisham books but in this case i was a little let down. It was to typical of a story rise to fame then a terrible fall. If Grisham is trying to teach a leason then we should classifiy his books as self help. I wanted for twists and sudden changes. I am not saying this isn't a good book but it isn't that good. If you are looking for a great book by Grisham then you should read The Partner. In my opinion his best book. The summons and the Firm are also Five Star books.
Rating: 
Summary: Lacks the thriller you seek in a Grisham book
Review: I was really disappointed after I finished this book. It started like a great read but ended with me asking... Why did I waste money on this book? I was looking for the chase, the thrill like his earlier works but what I got was a dud. Lacking any excitement, you'll be left wondering whether Mr Grisham's star is on its way down.
Rating:
Summary: Greedy Author Pans Greedy Lawyers
Review: A morality tale of a naive and greedy young attorney, rags to riches to rags, the SEC and the Caribbean. Sound familiar? This book is a quick read simply because you can't wait to see if Grisham has the audacity to end his book the way you know he's going to end it from page one. Exceptionally irritating is he doesn't even have the creativity or literary courage to change locations. Take a trip to Disneyworld on your next vacation for a change! Mr. Grisham brazenly recycles the same plot over and over and over again solely because he knows he can get away with it. We will pay him handsomely to do it. The irony? We fools pay this cynical and greedy man millions to write morality tales dripping with indignation about lawyers getting millions. Grisham obviously wrote "King of Torts" for his advance and his book contract. If you want an attorney morality tale with substance and just as much entertainment value, read A Civil Action.
Rating:
Summary: 4 stars if you've never read Grisham, 3 stars if you have
Review: This book is a typical, predictable book about greedy lawyers. If you haven't read any Grisham before, you'll think it's a great book. If you've read him before, you'll know that it's not in the league with "A Time to Kill," "The Firm," or "The Partner." There must a lot you can say about lawyers besides their greed. We never really find out why Rebecca is so appealing to him. Does he want her only because he can't have her? Clay admits that the romance was over - why then the change of heart? He does treat his best friends well, I'll give him that. But they did work for it. However, a lesser person would not have been so generous and it works out for him in the end. AGain, not one of Grisham's better efforts, kind of in the middle of the pack. Grisham has also written worst books. He might want to explore something other than greedy lawyers next time.
Rating:
Summary: Grisham not getting any better
Review: This is by far one of Grishams lesser novels. The Summons sputtered and died at the end and this dog was sputtered and died after the third chapter.
Rating:
Summary: Such A Dissapointment
Review: I had hoped that this book would redeem Grisham for the past couple books he wrote, but alas, it has not. I thought that it could not get worse from The Summons, but again, it has. The story had no real direction, and I could not figure out the moral of the story. There was no restitution or retribution like there usually is in his other novels. It's just a story about a greedy lawyer. Nothing else, just his greed, and the extent he will go to get it. I will say nothing else but hope that his next book will be an improvement.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely makes for a great lazy Sunday afternoon reading!
Review: After making a brief foray into a new genre in 'Skipping Christmas' and 'The Painted House', Grisham returns to his home turf with the 'King of Torts' Yes, he is back to zillion dollar lawsuits and the men who file and fight them. Only here, there's a slight departure from his standard formula. There is no clear demarcation between the good and the bad guy. They blur into one. But having said that, it is only fair to say that the minor variation notwithstanding, the book remains a quintessential Grisham. In his disdain for money-making, mega law firms, legal malpractice, he retains his original flavor. The story takes an unexpected turn when the poorly-paid, savior-of-the-downtrodden, public prosecutor at the OPD, Clay Carter, falls prey to avarice and ambition. He abandons his rather hapless client, the victim of an experimental anti-addiction drug, resigns and sets up his own law firm. A relentless craving for power, money and recognition pushes him to take on the life on a mass tort litigator. He digs around for dirty laundry on big corporations, jumps at the first opportunity to sue them, arm-twists them into out-of-court settlements worth millions of dollars. But just when the champagne-caviar life is hits the zenith, a bunch of disgruntled clients, who feel they have received a raw deal, decide to go after the 'King of Torts' himself.
Rating:
Summary: Tort Lawywers are bad, and so is this book
Review: As I began to read the King of Torts, I was under the impression that Clay Carter of the Public Defenders Office was going to sue a drug company and make billions. I thought this would be just like the Rainmaker or the Street Lawyer with Grisham taking on evil, corporate America. Clay Carter does get this chance and he makes a quick fortune through dubious methods and then takes on a case that could make him millions of dollars. At this point, the King of Torts switches gears and becomes something totally unexpected and also pretty boring and dissappointing. Clay Carter started out as an underdog with a chance to change his life. But then Clay turns into the person we all hate, the evil tort lawyer. Grisham shows his obvious distaste for the evil greed of the bigtime tort lawyers, and that redeems this book in some fashion. Yet the story it is trying to tell takes on more of a biographical tone of Clay Carters life. There are no twists or turns or good guys or bad guys. Things just happen to Clay Carter, good and bad, and we are along for the ride. I didn't totally hate this book because its message is against tort lawyers and their greed, but the King of Torts is a big disappointment. There is no depth to the characters. All characters are just an accessory to Clay's life from the bimbo girlfriend to the jilted fiance to the other lawyers who work with him. Grisham has definitely been in a slump lately, with the Painted House being his best work. Grisham is still obviously a great writer, I just hope he soon decides to write a thriller type novel instead of a biography of a greedy tort lawyer.
| 
