Rating: 
Summary: Legal Thriller
Review: Author Bio: John Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea in Virginia and Mississippi. He graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, and practiced law for over 10 years. In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990. Some of his books include A Time to Kill, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, and The Street Lawyer. Some of his books have been made into films including The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, and The Chamber. His books continue to top best sellers lists around the world.Annotation: As a young lawyer, Clay is employed at a low-paying public defender's position. He is dating a prominent man's daughter, Rebecca, who is constantly offering him high-paying jobs that he repeatedly denies. Rebecca decides she is sick of his low paying job so she leaves him for someone else. Shortly after, Clay has a meeting that will change his life. Soon he is engaged in mass tort lawsuits, which earn him millions. He is pulled into a whirlwind of money, power, and damaging secrets. Evaluation: I became interested in this book because I had seen the movie version of John Grisham's book The Runaway Jury, and I found it to be very original and exciting. The King of Torts dealt with mass tort lawsuits, which I also find very interesting. The plot was very well constructed, and there seemed to be just enough action to keep the reader interested. The different array of characters made it appealing to different types of readers, and it included elements such as romance, deception, greed, and power. There is also a hint of mystery involved, which even added to the quality. At some points in the novel you can't help but feel bad for the young lawyer Clay Carter, and at other times questions his real intentions and morals. He finds himself among some of the top lawyers in the United States, and in turn, would like to acquire the power and wealth they posses. He gets caught up in his newfound money and power, and suddenly must deal with consequences he could have never imagined would happen to him. I would recommend The King of Torts to anyone who is looking for a suspenseful law story with a couple twists and surprises.
Rating: 
Summary: THOROUGHLY ENJOYABLE!
Review: Not usually one to disappoint, Mr. Grisham has captured his audience once again by giving his readers a glimpse into the lawyer's world of mass tort/litigation. In this tale he creates the engaging Clay Carter, a young lawyer who spends his days toiling away for pennies in the Public Defender's office, defending the poor and downtrodden. By night he romances the lovely Rebecca, his girlfriend of many years who works as a congressional aide but secretly longs for the career of her mother (shopping and charity luncheons). The truth is, Clay does not measure up to the expectations of Rebecca's very rich family...and eventually Clay's apparent lack of desire to better his career and as a result his finances proves fatal to their relationship. Then, out of nowhere Clay is approached by a stranger to discuss
possible litigation involving a pharmaceutical giant--and a bad drug. Hence, he is introduced to the world of mass torts, greedy lawyers, personal jets and more money than he'd ever dreamed... True Grisham fans will find this to be a real page-turner, as Clay learns that nothing comes without a price............. DYB
Rating: 
Summary: Give me a break
Review: Oh no...this is surly not the great John Grisham who wrote this book. Come on. What is going on here. This book is full of trash. Aint written by the Grisham who wrote The Client. Dont waste your money folks.
Rating:
Summary: Grisham's worst, no questions
Review: I won't even get into the boring, predictable and ultimately pointless story. Suffice it to say that a lead character with shaky morals and no redeemable qualities makes for a pretty uninvolving read. A new low for a once great author.
Rating:
Summary: This lawyers morality?
Review: How about the author's morality for taking money for this book? I want my money back!
Rating:
Summary: Greedy lawyers? Say it ain't so, John!
Review: THE KING OF TORTS is less a thriller than a cautionary tale. Clay Carter is a young lawyer slaving for peanuts with the Washington D.C. Office of the Public Defender. Clay once had a promising career with his father's high powered law firm until the Old Man had to give up his law license and retire to the Bahamas after he and his accountant were caught cooking the books. At least the latter had the good grace to commit suicide. Carter is such a loser with no prospects that the snooty parents of his girlfriend, Rebecca, arrange a break-up and her subsequent marriage to an affluent "worm". Things unexpectedly turn around for Clay when he's approached by the mysterious Max Pace, a "fireman" hired by big companies to do damage control on faulty products before they're exposed before juries that are likely to grant crushing monetary awards to victimized consumers. In this case, Pace's client is a major pharmaceutical company which wants Carter to stage manage an out-of-court settlement with the families of a dozen or so drug addicts irreparably harmed by the company's anti-addiction medication. For a paltry few millions of dollars, the relatives are bought off, and Clay himself pockets a couple mil. Max continues to provide Carter with similar opportunities, and the latter is soon one of those legal sharks specializing in mass torts that extort millions (and billions) from major corporations in class action settlements without ever going to trial. In THE KING OF TORTS, the emphasis is on greed with a capital "G". The philosophy of the mass tort shyster is "Find 'em, sign 'em, settle 'em, take the money and run". At first, you might think the book is a judgmental morality play by author-lawyer John Grisham. But, except that the author seems to hold such lawyers in low esteem for rarely practicing law in an actual courtroom and for the pure greed of their modus operandi, he also appears to regard such bottom dwellers as a useful break on the excesses of corporate America. His portrayal of Carter is decidedly sympathetic, and the reader can't but like the character. Clay's generous to a fault with the employees of the private law firm that he establishes; he continues to care deeply about Rebecca; he takes good care of his exiled Dad. As tens of millions of dollars in fees pour in, Carter also spend millions - on homes, a yacht, a private jet, a Porsche, and a Trophy Girlfriend/Model named Ridley. Early on, you realize that Carter's bubble is going to eventually burst, and the fun of the book is anticipating how this is going to come about. And when the two FBI agents walk into his office one day, you can't but mutter "Uh, oh". Since Clay is basically a decent guy, one can perhaps rationalize his 17-month dalliance with self-destruction as something the Devil made him do. Indeed, Pace, dressed in black jeans, black T-shirt, and black pointed-toe boots the first time he meets our hero, could credibly be regarded as representing Evil. THE KING OF TORTS is not a white-knuckle thriller, but it is great good fun, especially if you're the CEO of a company that's been taken to the wash.
Rating:
Summary: Just don't understand . . .
Review: Personally, I thought this was one of John Grisham's best works, so I'm a little taken aback at some of the negative reviews. My favorite all-time Grisham is "The Firm," but "King" follows a close second. I'm not sure about some of the "facts" but I do know that Mr. Grisham writes compelling characters, plots, and settings, and has few equals. Would also recommend another great read, though along totally different lines: "The Bark of the Dogwood" by J.T. McCrae.
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Summary: I finally just gave up
Review: Are you sure John Grisham wrote this book? It was so unlike his other books. It was so boring I started skipping pages to get to the "good part". Trust me - there isn't a "good part".
Rating:
Summary: Greedy writer takes the money and runs
Review: I was hugely disappointed with this book. I had read a few of Grisham's early books a number of years ago which I enjoyed and recently thought that The King of Torts would be the sort of thing I needed for the beach. Boy, was I wrong. Where Grisham's earlier work (such as The Firm, The Client and The Pelican Brief) were fast paced legal thrillers with nice plot twists, The King of Torts is a moderately paced story about a greedy lawyer with no plot twist. I kept waiting for something to happen - and it never did. Talk about feeling cheated. I'm not sure that Grisham tried very hard with this book. I get the impression that he belted it out rather quickly. He certainly doesn't seem to have spent as much time developing the plot as with his earlier books. Here the main character (Clay Carter) has a major lawsuit handed to him on a plate by the mysterious Max Price. And then when Max Price has served his purpose of short circuiting the plot, he simply drops out of the picture. Why not have the main character do his own investigation to find the case? Why not have Max Price be an old friend of his estranged father or somehow linked to another character in the story? In fact, why not make more of Clay's father as a character. Why not make more of Clay's relationship with his girlfriend? There are plenty of opportunities for Grisham to make this story more complex and interesting but he seems to have missed them all. Not particularly satisfying. Even at his best Grisham is a rather formulaic writer of pulp fiction - but at least you know what you're going to get. Or at least, you should. What was so disappointing about this book is that I didn't get what I was expecting - a decent thriller with a plot twist to enjoy on the beach. Perhaps the irony is that the The King of Torts is a story about a lawyer who gets greedy, doesn't worry about it and then takes the money and splits. What is actually going on is that the author and publisher are churning out pulp to a public that deserves better, not worrying about it before they take the money and split.
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Summary: It happens too frequently
Review: This book is frightening as one reads how often companies are sued by lawyers hoping to finally "make the big bucks" It was a real page turner/
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