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Summary: This could be a great movie!
Review: I just finished reading this book today and I couldn't wait to write a mini-review. This book is one of John Grisham's best. They keep getting better and better. Who would have thought it would end like it did. Just think about it... a president, in the eye of every citizen, getting caught?! What would happen. This book was so intriguing, it could easily be made into a movie, especially if the president may be... I'll let you read it, and see what the president may be... but seriously this book is a thriller. Anything that deals with the president, that may be bad for the United States, is worth being made a movie. Great book!
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Summary: This book could ruin Grisham
Review: I generally have enjoyed John Grisham's novels, but this one left me appalled. A fairly clever blackmailing scheme by three corrupt judges, jailed in the same prison, accidentally intersects with an evil plot to take over the U.S.A. The take-over is being engineered by government insiders, presumably within the CIA, who have at their disposal unbelievable resources and technology. An undertone of homophobia is the final nail in the coffin. Skip this book - Grisham must have let his dog write it. (Yes, I'm a cat lover.)
Rating: 
Summary: Fine to listen to on tape, not worth the read time
Review: I listened to the book on tape in the car, and am glad. It was good, clever, and interesting. However, it was not good enough where I would have wanted to sit down and devote the time needed to read it as a book.
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Summary: Entertaining Yarn
Review: Look, from a purely critical point of view, you have to wonder who the heck the main character is. As a reader suggested, the protagonist IS the scam cooked up by the three judges in the slammer, a scam that touches and tangles together with a more sinister scam cooked up by Teddy, the director of the CIA. So one way to look at the book is the battle between the two scams, which at first threatens to ruin both.From an entertainment side, the book is pure joyride, from get-go. The tone and rhythm of the book is a yarn; characters with decisive, tenacious motivations scheme and plot, with all SORTS of characters, including the future President of the United States, being used and using one another. The plot is intricate, and never lets you go. (The CIA agents working inside the US will touch your funny bone, believe me.) The book is certainly a bit on the cynical side, as only Grisham can deliver it. And while you may not buy into his outlook on life and politics, you will buy into the colorful characters and the often-funny things that happen to them. Without a true main character, with the cynicism, you still get Grisham the storyteller, and you'll be staring at the final page before you realize you've just stayed up all night.
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Summary: A great book
Review: The Brethren a novel is written by John Grisham. The Brethren has two subplots. The first one developed focuses on three ex judges who call themselves the Brethren; one is from Texas, one from California, and one from Mississippi. They hold "Court" in the cafeteria of Trumble a low security prison. The Brethren decides cases involving the disputes of inmates to lower their time in jail. One soon finds out that the Brethren has another purpose, to get rich while in jail. They accomplish this by writing extortion letters to people who are gay but have not disclosed that fact to anyone. They started this when they found an ad in a magazine seeking gay pen pals between the ages of forty to fifty. The Brethren would take turns writing to a pen pal and use a false name. In addition, the second plot is about a CIA director named Teddy Maynard that is trying to get Aaron Lake elected president. The two subplots come together when the Brethren is writing a letter to a pen pal and the Brethren finds out that it is Aaron Lake who's used the pen pal name of Al. Once they realized to whom they are writing they decided to set him up, by threatening to disclose his hidden gayness. What the Brethren and Lake do not know is that Teddy has the CIA intercepting the mail and finding out about their plot. But by the Brethren writing this mail to Lake they use him to get them out of jail. Even though Lake is not responsible for getting them out. The author's purpose in writing this book is to entertain the reader. He kept me entertained throughout the book and I could not put the book down. The characters learn to not go behind someone's back that is very powerful and get involved in a pen pal letter and do not know who the person is or does. I learned from this book to not respond to anyone that I do not know or to get involved in something without knowing what is going on. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to be entertained. I recommend this book because it is a fast read and entertaining.
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Summary: not up to Grisham's sandards
Review: book had no hero and no ending
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Summary: Grisham is back!
Review: Well, to be honest, after reading "The Testament" I swore myself to stay away from Grisham in the near future. But anyway - of course I bought his newest novel and was surprised. Grisham is back! The book is a real pageturner. Of course the characters are somewhat steril again. But combined with a great story, two plots and a good sense of humor it's his best novel since "A time to kill" and "The Rainmaker". So, dear John, let's forget "The Testament" and assume you had to pay some bills. Write more books like your latest and you've won a reader back!
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Summary: Grisham's least memorable effort
Review: I love to read Grisham. I've read all his books, and I intend to read all his future books. This, like all the others, kept me turning pages. It never failed to entertain. But it did fail to satisfy. Why? There was not any character to care about, to cheer for, to identify with. They were all bad guys, with not even one flawed good guy. And so I never became part of the story. I was always a spectator. Curious, yes, but not emotionally involved. Is it worth reading? For a real Grisham fan, of course (though any Grisham fan will read this without anyone else's recommendation). For someone new to Grisham or who has only read a book or two, choose another, and save this one for last.
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Summary: Finally: Grisham recovers from deep slump!
Review: I was hooked on Grisham books from the time of The Firm, but the last few years have been tough: his books have shown all the telltale signs of an author who tries to write more than he can handle (not that poor John is alone in that respect). But here, finally, the slump ends: I enjoyed The Brethren, with its two plots weaved together, very much. Not that there is any doubt where the story is going, if the reading had been a bit more unpredictable it would have been even better. The characters are, as usual, a bit sterotype but enjoyable company nevertheless. If you have never read a book by John Grisham, try "A Time to Kill", "The Firm", and "The Runaway Jury" first, though. Avoid "The Partner" and "The Testament".
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Summary: Not good as far as Grisham goes
Review: I've read all books written by Grisham, and this one lacked the engaging excitement that i found in The Partner, or The Pelican Brief for that matter. When Grisham started, his leading characters were mostly young, perfect lawyers. Later they weren't so perfect, as in the Partner parhaps, which is nevertheless one of the best books ever written, or the Testament. But all his books had protagonists; leading characters who kept the book together. Perhaps the greatest failing in this book is the absence of such a character.
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