Rating: 
Summary: Up all night
Review: It's been a while since I read a Grisham through, but I wasn't disappointed. How much is a soul worth, Grisham asks in this tale, with an even harder question whispering underneath,Who has to pay for it? Clay Carter decries his beatup Honda Accord, condescending would-be in-laws and deadend job. When saddled with a murder case, the public defender thinks things have really hit rock bottom.And he's right. But not for long. Enter a slick guy dressed in black and rippled with muscles, a corporate fireman who needs to silence Clay before he runs onto a secret that can destroy his client--and everything changes. Ten million everythings. Dragging his co-workers and roommate along for the ride, Clay gets sucked into the vaccuum of wealth over the next year, only to be spit out at the end, grasping the one thing that's eluded him despite his millions, a relationship with the girlfriend he loves. Though some describe this as fluff or boring, I urge them to read between the lines. The background cast of THE KING OF TORTS is just as important as the main cast. Tequila Watson, Ramon Pumphrey, the Hannas and definitely the Worleys all give a picture of the reality of tort litigation, drug companies and the criminal justice system. It's not just about the writing, but the thinking the writing makes you do. :)
Rating: 
Summary: A return to form for Grisham - almost
Review: Just finished reading the book in question. Better than his last few titles (Testament, Summons, Brethren) but realy, not a big deal. Your life won't be changed if you read it. Grisham's heroes are always incredibly passive: things HAPPEN to them, and they don't actively fight for their survival or the things they want. Case in point: boy loves girl, boy loses girl, boy makes a 100 million USD (again almost by chance and by the machinations of others), then girl decides to come back into boy's life. You'll know the formula for his protagonists' character arc by now. Also, a lot of the description in his books are of the "tell, don't show" format, which can be dull, and reading it can be like reading an affidavit (albeit a well-written, concise one). Which is what one wants while waiting for the plane, or lying by the pool.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to usual standards
Review: I was pretty disappointed with this Grisham novel. I have read most of his and usually expect a lot of suspense and tension towards the end. You could see this ending a mile away, so although it's not a bad story in itself, it certainly has a lot lacking.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best
Review: I recall in the movie "Wall Street" Micheal Douglas's speech to his employees on Greed. This book is the followup on that speech. Grisham has spent a lot of time in research to get unmentionable's from a lot of Lawyers,Brokers,and Entrepreneur's. This story tells it all,and could be unbelievable to some. It is highly factual to the workings of the world. I will go a long way to find another great novel to read.This writing potrays it all. I highly recommend it, along with all his other writings.
Rating: 
Summary: Unbelievable characters, questionable "facts"
Review: It's readable, like all of Grisham's stuff, but the characters, the protagonist in particular, are just passive foils for his arguments, in this case about class actions. Worse is Grisham's evident contempt for his audience. The least an author can do is get his facts right. On p. 406 Grisham writes about a trial in Flagstaff, Arizona: "It was the second week in September, the temperature already pushing 105." But it has never, ever been that hot in Flagstaff, which is nearly 7,000 feet above sea level. The highest ever recorded there was 97 degrees, and that was in July. The typical high temperature in mid-September in Flagstaff is 70 degrees, about the same as Washington, D.C., where most of the novel takes place (and where the temperature has indeed reached as high as 106). Maybe this is the only factual error in this long long book, but if an author can get so obvious and easily checkable a fact wrong, how can one have any confidence in anything else he writes? In a real novel, with believable people, this might be overlooked, but in an extensive legal brief like this one, it's a serious drawback.
Rating:
Summary: Complete waste of money and time
Review: Like reviewers before me, I was completely disappointed in this book. Thankfully, I found it on the discount table at my local bookstore so I spent very little money on this horrible Grisham tale. Perhaps Grisham is too busy lately to actually put any real effort into crafting a plot line that captures the reader. I will think twice from now on before picking up anything by this author.
Rating:
Summary: Incredibly disappointing!
Review: I am a fan of Grisham and have been for many many years. This book, however, is so full of holes that I was amazed that I was reading something by the same author that wrote a 'masterpieces' such as "The Firm."
Clay Carter is an overworked public defender, having worked five years in the Washington, D.C. public defender's office. He is suddenly offered the chance to earn a quick $10million by persuading victims' families to accept a no-questions-asked $5million rather than suing a pharmaceutical company. He is then offered a second, larger case through which he earns $100million. Then things fall apart with the third case.
I did not care for the main character at all and while that happens sometimes in books, usually it is a device to prove a moral. In this case, I didn't like him because he did things that no lawyer with any intelligence (and supposedly this Carter is intelligent) would do. For example, he performs some insider trading without blinking an eye. The whole set-up for this to happen was ridiculous.
Secondly, I guess I was supposed to feel something for him and his girlfriend. They break up, she gets married, and I guess I was supposed to wish for them to get back together and/or to feel sorry for Carter. I didn't do either mainly because there was absolutely nothing written to show that they even cared about each other, with the exception of some stereotypical sexual encounters - she in particular came off as nothing more than a spoiled rich girl.
All in all, this is the absolute worse book by Grisham I have read and I have to say that I would not recommend this one to anyone unless they are truly diehard Grisham fans.
Rating: 
Summary: The King Of Torts
Review: The King Of Torts by John Grisham is a great novel full of suspense. A man named Clay is the main character. He is a lawyer who doesn't make much money. One day, a man named Max Pace offered him millions of dollars to file law suits against different companies. One was making medicine to relieve artheritis pain but a side affect that the public didnt know about was that it creates tumors in the bladder. Some of them are cancerous and others are not. After Clay's first case was over, he bought himself a new car and house and much more.
The King of torts is an awesome book and everyone should read it at least once in their lifetime. So if your searching for a good book, read The King Of Torts by John Grisham.
Rating:
Summary: What comes up must come down.
Review: John Grisham returns with from his string of non-legal novels with The King of Torts. This novel quickly puts him back on top of the author world. In the book, we find a young public defender named Clay, who is given the opportunity to earn 15 million dollars with just a few months's work. Soon enough, he is thrown into the world of mass litigation, where lawyers sue big corportations with thousands of claims. The millions start pouring in and Clay soon finds himself at the top of his game. While Clay is on top, he becomes so obssessed with money and fame that he becomes a character you will despise. It's hard to like someone who's complaining about life when they own a yacht, a million dollar house, a penthouse, and their own $45 million jet. But what goes up must come down, a thing Clay does not seem to know. Halfway through the story, Clay realizes that he's in way over his head. When his downfall arrives, it's hard to feel sympathy for Clay. While the story is fairly predictable, it is still a good read. The plot flows very well and can be finished by many in one sitting. Though not his best, I would still recommend this novel.
Rating:
Summary: A Writer's Nightmare
Review: This book came recommended by a friend. I can't say I've ever been impressed by Grisham's writing. I've seen his writing used in too many examples of what a writer should not do. Nevertheless, I went to the bookstore, picked it up, read the first sentence, then quickly placed it back on the shelf. Here's the fatal sentence: "The shots that fired the bullets were heard by no less than eight people...." Huh? Shots don't fire bullets! Pistols do. Rifles do. Grisham is obviously too much of a lawyer to know that 'report' can also mean the sound of an explosion or a loud noise, as in "The report of a gun." Grisham has had a constant problem with this sort of thing, beginning with his breakout novel, THE FIRM. Oh, he can construct an engaging storyline, but the writing is absolutely attrocious. I can't believe this got past his editors. Had a lesser known writer submitted a manuscript with that first line, it would've been rejected out of hand! What happened with this one? Were they asleep at their desks? Or were they hypnotized by the millions their employers would make off of Grisham's fan base? Neither is good. It takes a better writer and a better first sentence to get my attention and my money. Amazon's scale should be 0-5 stars, not 1-5. I'd rather give this book 0 stars.
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