Rating: 
Summary: Okay for Grisham
Review: This book is oaky if you REALLY like the legal issues dealt with in the book and the under current conditions of tort reform in the United States at this point in time. But if you want a suprise twist or a murder or two; this is NOT your book.
Rating: 
Summary: King of Chutzpah
Review: A gruff San Francisco maverick named Melvin Belli was the original King of Torts. Belli made a fortune trying exploding bottle and aircraft crash cases. He was thrown out of the American Bar Association which he likened to being "kicked out of the Book Of The Month Club." J. Clay Carter, Grisham's anti-hero, lacks the litigation skills and court house artistry of the real king but none of the chutzpah. A public defender he does not hesitate to sell out a murder defendant to start of career in what is called "mass torts." The money, the jets, the women, the wine is all there as this thirtysomething kid trades on greed and gullibility to gain incredible riches. I am tiring of Grisham's characters who, in the real world, would be quickly disbarred. This would be a fate a heck of a lot worse than being "kicked out of the Book Of The Month Club."
Rating: 
Summary: Grisham is back!
Review: I am so glad to know that Grisham still has it after reading this book because the Testament, the Brethren and the Summons were horrible. Especially the Summons...I was so disappointed after I read that one. I've always been a Grisham fan so The King of Torts was refreshing. I COULDN"T PUT IT DOWN!!! That has not happened to me with a Grisham in a long time. If you are a fan of Grisham's earlier work I think you will be happy with this new novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Still not satisfied
Review: Like the other reviewers above, I too have read all of John Grisham's books. The last few have left me very disappointed.
You always say to yourself that the next one will be better, back to the days of A Time to Kill or The Firm. In The King of Torts I find nothing sensational in the characters or the plot. This book could have taken so many directions to be suspenceful but it didn't,. You read to the end and you find yourself left way short. So we received a short lesson on mass tort litigation.
What happened to all the characters? Why was Clay Carter chosen...it asks but never answers. Is this an economics book or a mystery? All I now is I am done.. if you want to read this definitely wait for the bargain table at your bookstore. Talk about mass tort lawyers being slime...what about lawyers turned authors who don't take the time to write a good book.
Rating: 
Summary: Relax and Enjoy it !!!
Review: Well worth your time to read it !!! This book grabs you early on and doesn't let go. Grisham has a way of pulling you along, while gaining momentum, until you are at the top of the hill and ready for the big rush of the ride. It's a great story and the characters are, by and large, well developed and endearing. This one really read like a screenplay. Don't be surprised if we see it soon on the big screen. Sure, Grisham ebbs and flows with the consitency of his books. But, can we expect every effort to be like "The Firm","The Pelican Brief", or "The Client"? On my personal list, I rank "King of Torts" in the upper third of his work. It blows away "The Chamber" and "The Partner." I don't suppose I will ever understand people who read Grisham for entertainment and then review the book as if it should have changed their lives. Read "King of Torts", relax, and enjoy the ride that only Grisham can provide. So maybe we won't put Grisham's work in a time capsule along with "The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire" or "War and Peace", but if we include articles reflective of how we entertained ourselves, you better believe JG will be included. There is one consistency you will find in this book that is matched by all JG's other works: You will look forward to the next opportunity to get back to the story. If you are able to put it down at all.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed again
Review: I read this book very quickly, not because it was a real suspenseful page turner, but because I kept thinking that surely the next page would be better than the last - when is something going to happen? This book was so predictable to me - Clay was a struggling PD with a snobbish girlfriend and even more snobbish future in-laws. He became filthy rich, through less than honest means, and embarked on a journey that had a inevitable ending. It was just a matter of time before he began losing everything and I wasn't disappointed in that respect. I will probably wait to buy his next book on the bargain rack or in paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Do you think Grisham is an advocate of tort reform???
Review: National news coverage of the doctors' campaign against tort reform is just beginning. Grisham shows a side of the tort battle where attorneys wage war against pharmaceutical companies. Since neither (attorneys or pharmaceutical companies) can escape public scorn, it feels a little like the bad guys fighting the bad guys. So, it's a stretch to determine who you want to win!
Grisham has an anti-hero, Clay Carver, in the role of legal eagle this time. We're supposed to believe that he's spent the better part of the last 4 years as a public defender, and in a relationship with a wealthy young woman whose parents are social climbers. You really can't get any passion out of his role in the Public Defender's office, nor out of his relationship. All this changes when he is offered the money of a lifetime ($15 million) to quietly settle as yet unknown claims of those who have suffered due to a risky drug. The offer comes from Max Pace - a shady character who plays "fireman" for a drug company and has access to all sorts of information unknown to the public. Shades of "The Firm"!
Given that Clay realizes very early on the problems associated with this much money, and sees a demonstration of how successful tort lawyers spend and spend and never achieve what they seek in life, you would think he would not fall into that trap. But Grisham pushes him in with his eyes closed - even having him buy a Caribbean villa for his expensive mistress (with whom he has nothing in common) and a jet plane. Clay's friends from the OPD that join him in the new work do what we expect HIM to do -- take the early money and run. But he justs keeps his head in the sand and continues to burrow in, deeper and deeper.
Thankfully, as in most Grisham novels, this does not go on for very long, as the book is brief, and the ending is predictable.
I gave the book three stars, which is a star generous, because it held my interest, despite lack of plot and characterization. Grisham's ploy of using fiction to make a political statement about issues affecting the legal profession is always entertaining. But if I were you, I'd wait for the paperback!
Rating:
Summary: Starts off solid, but falls apart fast!
Review: Clay Carter has been a public defender much longer than he cares to admit, and while he dreams of a better life he does not do much to change it, until his girlfriend leaves him and he gets the case of a lifetime. Tequila Watson is a boy of the streets. At twenty years-old with no family to speak of and a criminal and drug history, Tequila lives his life day to day, looking for a score and willing to do anything to get it, so it comes as no surprise when he is accused of killing another street kid by the name of Pumpkin. Clay gets the case and as far as he can see it's open and shut, until he starts investigating and finds shocking evidence that is linked to a huge pharmaceutical company. Clay knows this case could make him an overnight sensation, a king of torts, if he is to win, but everything is not as it seems and Clay may be the pawn in a game larger than he ever imagined. 'The King Of Torts' starts off solid, but then starts falling apart as the plot veers off into different directions. The first hundred pages are very entertaining as the story of Tequila is being developed, but then the plot takes a turn and goes from a legal drama to a financial drama with some thrills thrown in for good measure. As always the writing is first rate, but the changing of plot lines is a big distraction and the financial aspects of the book are not very interesting. 'The King Of Torts' does have a good ending but by that time it's too late John Grisham has been one of my favorite authors, but over the years he has been branching out with his novels and they are just not as good as his earlier work. Mr. Grisham should go back to the formula he is famous for, the formula that was found his best novels...'The Firm', 'A Time To Kill', 'Runaway Jury', 'The Street Lawyer' and 'The Client'. A guaranteed best-seller, 'The King Of Torts' will fly up the best-seller lists, but be warned "it's not one of the better Grisham novels". Nick Gonnella
Rating:
Summary: Save 4 hours of your life!
Review: This is another book that the publishing industry has marketed to make money. Grisham has done much better. While the book is a quick read, it does nothing to engage the reader. Grisham creates characters whose actions are not only unbelievable but also unlikeable. There is no reason for the events that they find themselves entangled. Ensuing chapters read like a blow by blow a year in the life of a tort laywer. No lasting impressions and no redeeming qualities to this work. Save 4 hours of your life!
Rating:
Summary: Typical Grisham
Review: As in several Grisham book, there is a lawyer who really gets going on a case, then finds out there are is a big problem which forces the lawyer to reorganize his life and priorities, then sort of sulk away from law in dismay. I can't help but psychoanalyze Grisham after having read so many similar stories and I wonder if that was somehow his own law experiences finding their way into his work. As to this work specifically, it's good, movie-of-the-week Grisham style. You want to finish it and you'll get the next one, but you never want to read this one again. Give us something better next time. I wish there would be just one Grisham book that I would like to read again.
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