Rating: 
Summary: Preposterous plot and characters
Review: John Grisham is no genius of literary style, but usually he knows how to spin a good yarn. Unfortunately, 'The Brethren' is probably his weakest effort to date. The old adage, "Write what you know!" has relevance here. Grisham strayed from his highly successful formula writing about lawyers and trials, into unfamiliar territory. The result was mediocre at best.Although it is an intriguing story that Grisham tells well, all the characters and major plot elements range from implausible to inconceivable. The three judges as characters are extremely hard to swallow. The idea that three men who devoted their lives to the law would run an extortion scam from their prison cell is simply preposterous. There would be too much cognitive dissonance to overcome. I might believe one, but not three. The entire election storyline was dubious as well. An unknown single-issue candidate touting only defense comes out of nowhere to blow by all the competition in the primaries? Are we really expected to believe this? Finally, there is the ending. I'm not going to blow it for you, but suffice it to say it was absurd. There is no way the final resolution would occur in the real world. Overall, I would have to rate this book about a 4/10. It is hard to enjoy even the best of stories if you are skeptical of almost every premise and character.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad
Review: This book was not as good as other books Grishman has written, but it wasn't a bad read. The ending, though, needed some work.
Rating: 
Summary: lame
Review: pretty lame effort. grisham is not that great a writer to begin with, but this silly story never really gets going. the basic premise is pretty weak to begin with, and with the amateurish wrting, it's tough to get through the first hundred pages.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: While this book was an easy and quick read, the ending was extremely disappointing. I'm a big fan of John G but I can not recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: The Brethren
Review: Colorful characters, as always, but the story did not move forward. Had to push myself to continue reading it. Disappointing.
Rating:
Summary: Boring and disappointing
Review: I am a John Grisham fan. I have read all his books. I looked forward to reading this one, but I was so disappointed. I found this book boring, it took me weeks to read and in the end I was totally deflated. It lacked a 'punch line'..it was simply about 3 judges in a jail up to dirty tricks. My family was shocked that this book stayed so long at my bedside without being touched.
Rating: 
Summary: Shocking Pen Pal Scandal
Review: John has picked-up the most current subject this time, i.e. 'BM' Mails or Pen Pals. The two story lines have been well balanced and paced. It was interesting & breathtaking to read the criminal use of Pen Pals / Friendship kind of magazines. US President Election process was dramatic. Though The Breth'n has never touched heights of The Firm or The Chamber but nevertheless its' worth reading. John has put-in lot of efforts to mix judiciously the two stories with Law as catalyst !
Rating:
Summary: Good Book
Review: This work by John Grisham is a good story. It lacks maning and excitment, but he sure knows how to tell a story well.
Rating:
Summary: A good, smart, funny read
Review: The brethren is another good book by John Grisham: it's smart, realistic (read "Saving Faith" by Baldacci if you want to compare it with something definitely weaker, almost cartoonish) and funny, too. I love Grisham's superficiality and his sense of humour. It seems everything in life is about money and fiction (and it's true, from a particularly cynical point of of view). Of course, if I want to read something a little moving or deep, I choose another author, but I guess I would read anything written by John Grisham just for the intellingence and sense of humour. The plot is interesting, and I liked the ending, too, but the really good part for us readers is sitting around the fire and listening to this great story teller tell us a story.
Rating: 
Summary: An easy read
Review: Grisham has become a staple of my reading not because he writes great novels, but because he writes readable books that aren't very challenging to ones points of view and he writes them frequently which allows me periodic breaks from more serious reading. This book is the perfect example. An easily told tale that is fast paced and not at all thought provoking. I'm glad he broke his formula after Street Lawyer and the last two books have been definite improvements. While not nearly the book A Time to Kill is, its clearly better than his anti-death penalty crusade of The Chamber. Of the highs and low of Grisham's works, this one fits in the middle, thus three stars. He'll probably sulk all the way to the bank with his studio check. This like almost all his recent books read more like a screen play than a novel. I wish he would show the talent that wrote A Time to Kill Again.
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