The Brethren

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I thought this latest book was very good. Grisham's last two novels felt "canned." This was a good read and a good look into what politics is like. I thought the characters were interesting -- especially Lake -- everyone has an ego for sell! It was nice to have a well written book that did not have a "damsel in distress" but just a great story.

Rating:
Summary: Pass or just buy the paperback
Review: Disappointing to say the least. The first Grisham book that I've been unsatisfied with. Perhaps Mr. Grisham wrote this many years ago and only now decided to publish to appease his readers? Please redeem yourself Mr. Grisham with something else... SOON!

Rating:
Summary: By far, Mr.Grisham's best effort since "The Firm"
Review: Grisham's best since his first. A unique, interesting and credible storyline with two intersecting plots. Great, colorful characterizations (Teddy, Lake, Trevor and the Judges). Politics, extortion, a shady, whisky soaked lawyer, the CIA and off-shore banking...what a great mix. Page-burning paced. Hard to put down from page one to the end. Grisham almost lost a fan after "Street Lawyer", but I relented, bought "The Testament" liked it, and ordered this one. We can only hope his next work is a good a read as "The Brethren"

Rating:
Summary: What a waste of paper
Review: I have read all of John Grisham's books - even before he became rich and famous. I am always first in line to buy his new books each and every year. I read some of the reviews at Amazon before I bought the book and should have listened to them. This was a waste of time. There was no character I cared about. No story line that was interesting. Don't waste your money. And pray no movie gets made.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely disappointing
Review: I absolutely love John Grisham. However, after this book, I think he needs to take a little time off and think about his writing. His first 3 books were incredible. Then, they got a little less exciting. I thought he was going to have a resurgence with The Testament, a book not many liked, but I thought really extended him as a writer. Then, this one. I thought this book was very uneventful. I kept expecting the usual Grisham suspense, drama, murder, etc. It never came. There was no suspense at all. It could have been a biography of the 3 judges. That's was it read like. Very disappointing!

Rating:
Summary: Disappointing
Review: The book is a complete disappointment. The first half of the book was typical and built the characters and the story, then something happened. A tight web was woven with the CIA monitoring all the mail and somehow a letter which pulls the plot together gets through the web? Was there no way to pull the book together other than to rip off the reader, hoping that nobody would notice? There was no second half to the book, after the letter gets through the story goes down hill rapidly. I gave the book one star because I had to, but I feel that John Grisham owes me that star back. I also resent that I bought this book. I have bought every one of John Grisham's books the day they hit the street, brought them home and devoured them. This book was a real disappointment for a true fan of his ability to write good, believable, enjoyable books. I have to hope that he will make it up to me with his next endeavor.

Rating:
Summary: New to books and The Brethren was great cause...
Review: ...I like to use my imagination when reading books.

What I found great about Grisham's book, The Brethren, was that it was written in a way that allowed me to use my imagination to follow along.

I feel that this was what Grisham was attempting to do with The Brethren, and he did it wonderfully.

It's like reading the thoughts, feelings, and dialog of all the characters as they interact with eachother in dealing with any subject the author placed them in, with a brief description of the setting.

The only thing that got me good was the ending... There was none... Nice twist Grisham.

Reading this book was sure a revolutionary way of writing. Grisham at least shows that he's not content to just write the same stuff all the time. Since it was so revolutionary, and many reader's don't expect a famous writer to ever write something like this, Grisham broke the wall that the readers were putting around him, so he can write his magic, instead of write what others expect him to write.

Since The Brethren doesn't seem to be hard to write by a talented author, I hope that Grisham, and others of my great authors, Clancy, Crichton, King, find that writing a lot of these light reads would be great, giving them time to come out with the main course... the big, fat, to much detailed, novels that most readers want.

Rating:
Summary: Buy only in Paper back.Hard Cover not worth the extra money.
Review: The book starts out with good characters, does nothing with them and has an extremely weak endding. You will feel like you do when you go to a movie theater and walk out feeling like you should have waited and rented it instead.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: I enjoyed this one! Excellent story line that kept me riveted to the pages. Coundn't put it down. As always, I look forward to the movie and the next book from this great writer.

Rating:
Summary: It Wasn't THAT Bad (as the other reviews)
Review: I read Grisham for entertainment, and entertained I was. It had its flaws, but it was a page-turner. I would have liked Lake to have been wearing more of a white hat. His was a shallow character, and I really couldn't care less what happened to him. Trevor was much more interesting, and I was very dissatified with his ending. Still, there was probably less "Law" in this book than his others. I usually learn something from Grisham's books, be it about wills, the gas chamber, jury selection. But I was entertained.