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Summary: A novelized examination of mass tort litigation
Review: In *King of Torts,* Grisham presents three different ways in which the victims of mass torts are (or could theoretically be) compensated. (A mass tort is a wrong committed against a very large group of people, such as the marketing of a defective product that injures a lot of its users.) He describes first a fantasy system in which the wrongdoer uses a compliant plaintiffs' attorney to persuade victims to skip the courts and take temptingly large sums of money in exchange for signing releases and confidentiality agreements. Next Grisham describes something more along the lines of what actually happens today, with the plaintiffs' attorneys uncovering defective (or possibly defective) products, gathering together large classes of plaintiffs (the victims), commencing class-action lawsuits against the wrongdoer, and then negotiating a settlement in which each of the plaintiffs receives a moderate amount while their attorneys take an unseemly, large cut. Finally, Grisham describes "the old-fashioned way," with the plaintiff's attorney bringing to trial a lawsuit on behalf of one victim of the mass tort.Each of the approaches is shown to have its downside, and not one is presented as clearly the best. Grisham's sympathies appear to lie with the "old-fashioned" approach, although the fantasy approach is the one that, in the novel, results in the largest payout to the largest group of victims. Grisham's presentation of the three hypothetical mass-tort systems is framed in a perfunctory story employing typical Grisham elements. The protagonist is a young, cocky, underdog lawyer with a taste for leggy blondes and fast cars (a sort of cross between Atticus Finch and your basic frat boy); he has run-ins with stuffed shirts, slick big-firm lawyers, and bureaucrats; he struggles to find love with a "good" girl while alley-catting with a "bad" girl; he is alienated from his somewhat embarrassing father; etc., etc. The conclusion is mercifully swift, with no effort to tie up the numerous loose ends that the reader doesn't care about anyway. As fiction, this is poor stuff. As journalism, it may be of interest, giving a painless but spotty introduction to certain aspects of the legal system. But if that is the kind of information you are after, there are much better books available, such as the works of the scholar Lawrence Friedman.
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Summary: A Must Buy for Grisham Fans
Review: So Grisham is back to writing about what he is best at....Lawyers.The King Of Torts is no different from any of the earlier "Lawyer" books that he has written.The formula is the same-Young Bright Lawyer-Strike Something Big-Makes Big Money.Now "The King Of Torts" does not end the story here.In fact the story sort of begins here.
Grishm's writing style is amazing,the main protagonist Clay Carter is the "King of Torts" actually another term for a greedy Lawyer,and yet you sympathise with him.The book is "unputdownable" because somwthing is always happening or going to happen and you are always wondering what could happen.Its not a thriller by any means but its got that addictive quality about it.
Grisham fans go get your copy now,and If you are not one go get it and you will become a Grisham fan.
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Summary: "No Fee, Unless Successful"
Review: "The King of Torts" is a fast paced, enjoyable read of the meteoric career rise of Jarrett Clay Carter II, Attorney-at Law. Trained in criminal defense law at Washington DC's Office of the Public Defender, Carter stumbles into the world of high priced mass tort lawyers when a defendant's random street crime is attributed to a wonder drug's hidden side effects. Having had enough of low pay and indigent clients, Clay signs on for the ride with the "big boys", deposits the contingent fees and never looks back. Grisham paints a good picture of the excesses associated with successful plaintiffs lawyers, but he does a disservice to the system whereby contingent fee services allow playing field equality for injured victims of corporate shenanigans. The system isn't perfect as Grisham shows us, but no one would ever believe for an instant that Clay Carter, ex-public defender would become the King of Torts in just six months. In any event, Grisham can write. He moves you through the story with deftness and good characters. Of course, Carter's dad is a disbarred attorney living on a sail boat in the Bahamas; of course, Carter's love interests are the daughter of a wealthy DC scion and a Russian model; of course, Carter takes his staff to Paris for a celebration; of course, Carter buys a Gulfstream jet to visit his plaintiff lawyer pals for dinner; and of course, Carter gets himself into a heap of trouble.
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Summary: Too rich, too pretty
Review: We've all seen tv ads for lawyers soliciting asbestos victims. King of Torts is about the legal specialty of soliciting large groups of people who have been hurt by a product Several of the cases in this story are prescription drugs gone wrong. One of the drugs induces tumors in its victims. Another, if you can believe this, causes some of its users to go out and kill strangers. That pill is a bit hard to swallow. But I don't think it is utterly farfetched to the point of impossibility, considering that all of the children who shot their classmates in school were on prescription drugs at the time, a fact only mentioned in passing in the papers and media, but a fact that deserves BOLD CAPITALS when you are asking why kids kill. Those drugs, including ritalin and its close relatives, come with warnings that they may cause homicidal or suicidal tendencies. So the bad prescription drugs in King of Torts are not that farfetched. Our hero, lawyer Clay Carter, is not on a crusade to punish corruption, to punish those who knowingly sell dangerous prescription drugs to the public. Rather, he is on a crusade to make hundreds of millions of dollars for himself. And of course you have your obligatory romance. And the girls are, of course, knockouts. What goes up (financially) eventually comes down. In other words, the story is formulaic. But so is pretty much every other story out there, and almost without exception, every movie you see. Next time, John, give us a love interest who is a worse than average looking girl with a weight problem, keep the rich folk the hell out of it, and let's have some people we can identify with. Anyway, the story does carry you along. I read it in just a few days. I just wish it was a little more real, a little more relevant to my life, and a lot less focused on the obscenely wealthy and the beautiful. Screw them. Who wants to read about them.
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Summary: It's Grisham - entertaining and not mentally taxing.
Review: Mr. Grisham clearly has an agenda and a message he wants to convery with this book. Which is okay, because the story is still interesting and he doesn't beat the reader over the head (too much) with his clear dislike of mass tort litigation and the attorneys who handle those cases. I really enjoy reading Mr. Grisham's books. For the most part - particularly the earlier books - they were mostly legally accurate, but still interesting (which CANNOT be said for the movies made from the books). I'd like to see him return to the courtroom in his next book, where he really is at his best, like in A Time to Kill and The Rainmaker. The King of Torts was an entertaining summer read. I don't feel I wasted my time reading it, but I'm not sure if someone asked me in 6 months that I'd be able to remember the storyline.
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Summary: A Classic Grisham
Review: After he strayed from the normal path with Skipping Christmas and A Painted House, Grisham returned with vengence to write a nail biting suspense novel that brings him back to the days of The Firm and The Pelican Brief. Keep'em comin!!!
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Summary: Very Good and Original
Review: I'm a John Grisham fan, but his latest legal thrillers have tended to be formulaic-you could pretty much figure the outcome. The King of Torts departs from his usual, small-guy-takes-on-the-system-and-flees-the-country story. In this, he sheds light on the dark side of the legal profession, with money-grubbing lawyers combing the marketplace for mass tort legislation. And they don't do it out of a sense of justice, they do it because the money is there. I had always had this beef with the tobacco legislation. Nobody wants kids to smoke, but the real truth is that in the end, the money goes to the lawyers. The same is with the attacks on the pharmaceutical companies and so forth. Watch, out Big Food!! Anyway, Grisham doesn't let lawyers or big companies off the hook and he further educates the common man on the inner workings of the legal system. I have learned more about the law reading Grisham than anything else. This is a great book and it doesn't have the usual ending or twist that he likes to include in his legal plots. It's original, witty, humorous, and drives home a poignant message. You'll enjoy this at the top of your stack of books, resting on your nightstand.
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Summary: Disappointed again
Review: I have been a long time fan of John Grisham but the last few books that I've read of his, King of Torts included, have just seemed like he got tired of writing and ended it. One of the things I always liked about Grisham was his ability to come up with twists and unexpected endings that were totally unpredictable. King of Torts was very entertaining up to the last few chapters of the book but the ending was a huge letdown.
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Summary: Can this be John Grisham?
Review: I've read all of John Grisham's books and was severely disappointed with this one. There was no character development, I never could figure out if I liked or even disliked Clay Carter because I didn't know him--or any of the other characters. The book read (or listened, as I did audio) like transcripts--I even found myself re-checking the jacket to make sure this was listed as fiction. There was no conflict until the last of 8 tapes--and I can't say that I cared once it arrived. I had much higher expectations when I got this book, I've really enjoyed all Grisham's other books, even the 'unusual for him', Painted House and Skipping Christmas.
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Summary: Grisham trades in Mississippi roots for enjoyable tale.
Review: After a stint in discussing non-legal matters, John Grisham returns to the genre that made him famous. The aptly names 'King of Torts' deals mainly with both the legal and political aspects of tort law, something he briefly touched upon in his excellent The Runaway Jury.
Gone are the local Mississippi lawyers and judges, as Grisham continues to digress further from his own roots; in their place are presidents, fortune 500 CEOs, and the top lawyers in the country.
Although Grisham has not lost his knack for storytelling, and King of Torts is certainly a compelling and exciting read, this book lacks the heart and sympathetic emotion provoked by his previous works. There is no loveable child or even adult wronged by the cruel world; the audience is torn between disliking and feeling empathetic towards the main character. Instead, Grisham presents a grim look into the world of not only tort law, but also social conditions, politics, and greed.
Though the story, when contemplated apart from the book, is quite implausible, Grisham does manage to present it in a believable way. Although the King of Torts could certainly be written in more elaborate prose, it makes a good read that audiences should enjoy.
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