Rating: 
Summary: Classic Grisham - great read - real page turner
Review: The King Of Torts is somewhat different from John Grisham's standard lawyer books. Rather then tracing the struggles of a hopeless hero, this book follows a richly successful lawyer through a series of successes only to find out that success can be difficult to manage. John Grisham's best talent is for creating heros you really like and he has done so here. I would easily recommend this book to any one.
Rating: 
Summary: A page turner but not very good
Review: Over the years I have marveled at how John Grisham has been able to keep cranking out one page turner after another. At first he was the new, hot author of the legal thriller. Then he tended to become both preachy and predictable. Nonetheless, he kept cranking out very readable books. In the last few years he has ventured away from his Memphis city roots, and his familiar theme of hero on the run. Now he is back with King of Torts, and once again it is an immensely readable book, a book that can be finished in a very short time.
But, we are once again being preached to as has happened before in his novels The Runaway Jury and The Chamber. Now he has tried to bring his writing style to tort reform, a topic to which there are really no easy answers.
As a practicing attorney I find it completely unfathomable how Grisham's lead character can stumble upon a huge tort settlement, let his own client go to prison in the process, and then continue on his merry way. More than 350 pages are needed to tackle this topic, and Grisham tries to hard to preach of the evils of personal injury and tort attorneys, and forgets that in order for there to be such attorneys there has to be a bad product. Sure we have bad products in this book, but the true evil is not the product but rather the attorneys who are trying to quickly gobble up fees at the sake of their clients. He creates a character who in just a few short months turns his back on all his ideals and all he has believed in. Does this happen, sure! But nobody has risen and fallen in the legal profession as quickly as Clay Carter. A few years ago I stopped reading Grisham because he was too predictable and then he came back with some better efforts delving into different areas of the law such as The Testament and The Summons, plus his recent non-legal books. I had hoped for a better treatment of the topic than what I got in King of Torts. It is highly readable, it is a page turner, but in the end you do not have any connections with the characters and I am still trying to figure out his simplistic ending to the book ... I am sure his legion of fans will love this book, but for me it really lacked character development and was highly unbelievable.
Rating: 
Summary: The King of Boring.
Review: Mr. Grisham should begin writing under a pen name. His latest are a far departure from his typical coutroom thrillers. The King of Torts is a simple exercise of debits and credits as the lead character gains and loses his fortunes.
Rating:
Summary: John Grisham's King of Torts
Review: Having read all of Grisham's books, and saying I am a fan, I will say that this is definitely not his best work, but also not his worst (The Summons comes close to that!) However, I will say that Grisham writes in such a way that you cannot put the book down until you are finished (I finished this one in one day.) In regards to this particular book, I would not call it a legal thriller. Clay is never in danger of losing his life, only his license. I must say that there are very few characters in this book that I liked, only some of the peripheral ones. Clay starts off as a likable character, but once greed gets ahold of him he becomes another slimy lawyer, one who doesn't care about anything or anyone except how much money he can make, or how many toys or people he can buy. He doesn't even redeem himself in the end, only runs off with a married woman and declares bankruptcy so that all the people that he legitimatly owes money to can't collect. One thing this book does do (and I'm not sure if it's intentional) is that it very clearly shows how (most) lawyers are quite adept at breaking (or bending) the law to fit their own morals, and how they really don't give a hoot about their clients, only about how much money they can squeeze from them. In this story this is best demonstrated by how Clay and his cronies handle the Dyloft and the Cement Company cases. Ultimately what matters to the lawyers is not how much money the plaintiffs' get, or whether it is sufficient to cover their damages, but how large the lawyers' fees turn out to be. What did I like about the book? It's well written, and gave me an idea how these class action lawsuits work. The characters, while not particularly likable, are interesting. And it gives you a peek into a lifestyle which includes private jets and vacation homes in the Caribbean. So would I recommend this book to a friend? Maybe if their expectations weren't too high.
Rating: 
Summary: A nice return
Review: I was worried that after The Brethren and The Summons we were starting to see a pattern of decline in Grisham's writing. Like most, this was not my first Grisham thriller and I remain a fan of his novels.
I was pleasantly surprised by the King of Torts. The protagonist, Clay Carter, defies the easy to embrace and formulaic characters we were starting to see too often. His complex motivations and behaviors make for a interesting read that challenges the reader to consider their own ethical dilemmas.
I'm not certain if it was by writing more in-depth character studies like A Painted House that caused this change but hopefully we can expect more of the same.
Rating: 
Summary: Like the King of Torts, Grisham should give the money back
Review: It has been some time since I've read a Grisham book, partly because they have consistently declined in writing style and plot. So I decided to try him again. My mistake. Like the books protaginist, Grisham ripped us off by making this a best seller based on his past success. Not based on this book with its poorly developed main characters. Each was a stereotype with no demension. The plot disappeared quickly and became predictable. This book is not worth reading on the beach. Skip it.
Rating:
Summary: Waste of time
Review: I usually don't write online reviews, but after reading such a horrible disappointment, I felt it was my duty to try and dissuade readers from wasting their time! I usually enjoy Grisham thoroughly for his fast-paced, interesting storylines, and I was excited to get this new release so quickly from the library. However, after the first 30 pages (which were quite good, namely because I was interested to learn more about Tequila), the book became a diatribe on mass tort. Grisham used the entire book to explain the technicalities of this type of law, and in an attempt to entertain his readers, he threw in a weak, utterly predictable storyline. The only characters who were slightly likeable barely make a dent in the story, and the annoying ones get too much attention. I kept hoping something interesting would happen, that a slight twist would make all the mass tort babble worth it, but the book ends just as you think it would. I have never been so aggravated at myself for wasting my time and giving Grisham the benefit of the doubt! I will definitely be more hesistant the next time a book of his comes out.
Rating:
Summary: Would not recommend
Review: Not a very exciting book.
Rating:
Summary: Big Money
Review: THE KING OF TORTS by John Grisham
Big Money
Plenty of work for a Public Defender, more than enough without murder thrown in, he attempted to avoid it but he didn't dodge fast enough. Clay Carter had taken the murder case reluctantly. The defendant had shot anther man in the head without a known reason. Which was possible in Washington D. C. Not much of a case, he was guilty and admitted it, but this murder turned into something bigger when Clay was carefully investigating it. He was approached by a so-called 'fireman' who was employed by a large pharmaceutical firm to put out the fire of a large upcoming case. To control, what it knew to be a loser for them the pharmaceutical company literally gave the 'fireman' the authority to offer Clay more than he ever had dreamed of to take a case against them, the large pharmaceutical company for the benefit of the company. They figured that $40 million was a bargain settlement. The drug would have cost them a lot more for one defendant if a good lawyer got the correct jury and they would have to worry about the other five potent defendants. Clay was talked into quitting his job and setting up an office. He was offered enough money to qualm any conscious objections. To try and summarize the case: the pharmaceutical company had illegally tried a drug on humans in Washington D. C. It would allow a drug addict to be cured of his addiction in a few months. It worked well except in a few cases where it turned the addict into a killer. The defendants were the nearest relatives of the people killed by the drug addicts who had taken the drug. Imagine them having someone offer to get them a few million dollars for doing nothing. The pharmaceutical company wanted to settle the case with all defends and get it off the books. They never worried about the drug addicts who had taken the drug. They would spend their time in prison. Sound strange, but not so strange when you start talking about the amount of money involved. It will be Clay's first case of mass torts which can make a lawyer rich overnight. He would have about 10 clients and he would legate each for $4 million. They would win their case, the pharmaceutical settled out of court and his share, as the lawyer fees was 30 percent, which would be $10 million. Actually, Clay had only six defendants, but they worked it out to get him the $10 million. That started Clay career as the King of Torts. There were plenty of companies who were making mistakes that had an adverse effect on their clients. (I'll throw one in here that's not in the book, illegal insider trading in a stock on the market.) On one case Clay had over 2500 people. He could settle for less for each defendant and still make a fortune with his one third of the total. He never had to spend a day in court. The cases were all settled out of court. Clay quickly learned to spend money in large sums on mail, advertising, TV etc' to find involved people who were clients and convince them to become defendants. On some cases the defendants did not get enough to make it worthwhile, but the lawyer(s) still made one third of the total for all the defendants, which was a good sum. The only problem was Clay had a conscious. This is a good book Mr. Gresham knows his subject. Its well worth buying for the education in money making, and spending.
Rating:
Summary: One of Grisham's Best
Review: Grisham is not going to win any prizes for literature, but when he tries, he can sure win a prize for page turners. This one was better thought out than most of his recent efforts. He clearly knew how he was going to end it before he started writing which is not always the case with Grisham. While there may be literary flaws in his character development, the book proceeds at a lively and generally logical pace. It also sheds some light on the problems associated with the "class action" mentality in our legal system these days.
It is what it is, and it is an excellent read.
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