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The King of Torts

The King of Torts

List Price: $31.95
Your Price: $20.13
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Lowest of the Low
Review: I am sick of this very ordinary lawyer making millions by posing as a writer. I've read most of Grisham's books, but he lost my respect long ago. My wife brought "Kink" of Torts home from the library, so I'm not out the money. Because Grisham is one of the ten most influential people in the publishing industry, his money talks, and his publishers continue to create small mountains of his books at B&N entrances. This idiocy continues because enough readers are suckers for inane plots with shallow characterization and absolutely horrible endings. If you have any self-respect, you'll pass on John Grisham entirely and read a book by a writer with real talent and story-telling ability.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Could not finish
Review: This book was very trite. Got about half way through and gave up. Have read several of authors books and this is worst yet. Pretty sure I have given up on him.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: BY FAR the worst Grisham Book to date
Review: I USED TO BE a Grisham fan. I realize Grisham is an activist, and tries to instill his political views into his books. I am normally willing to overlook this, because John Grisham has always had the inate ability to "draw you in." You simply can't put his books down. This book has that same ability for 430 pages. While the plot was typical (Lawyer + Money + Greed = Self Crisis), his writing was catchy, cute and addictive. However, the last 40 pages make up what is the worst ending to any book I have ever read, no exaggeration. Not only is the ending predictable, it's depressing as well (a common theme among his recent works). It's as if he deliberately thought up the worst thing that could happen to the protagonist (short of death), and that's what happened. It was one of the scenarios I predicted he might have chosen for an ending, and sure enough, there is was. Grisham's message was simple and predictable (It was really a hidden political message): If you're greedy, bad things will happen to you. In summary, his writing style has improved, but this is overshadowed by his political activism and predictable plots and endings. He's going to have to write another GOOD book before I give him any more of my money. I have already wasted money on his last three, I will not get burned again.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Not as good as his others.
Review: I am a John Grisham reader and fan. Normally I enjoy his novels. I did not particularly like this one. Primarily because the main character, a public defender turned tort lawyer, is greedy, shallow, and ridiculously naive. Unlike other Grisham novels where the hero is trying to fight society's wrongs (or at least the Firm's), this book's plot is about screwing the little people (even ruining an entire small town) to make millions and buy jets. I found the whole concept rather disgusting and the hero got off way too easy in the end.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A good read...
Review: A public defender is given the chance to settle a class action lawsuit before it gets known publically. He then is given the documentation for another case against a major drug manufacturer. He wins and ends up enormously rich, but then greed takes over. He goes for a third case, but ends up burning through money at an incredible rate. Meanwhile, the FBI and SEC are looking into his background, and he's facing malpractice from the second case when it turns out the drug was even worse than expected (and the settlement is peanuts). A good look at greed and what it can do to you.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Worst Grisham Book to date
Review: I have read every Grisham book written, that I know of, and enjoyed almost every one of them, which is why I was so surprised when I found myself hating this book. I was bored to tears and disgusted with every page. I am used to Grisham books with fascinating plots, intrigue, and deception countered by ingenuity and strength of character. King of Torts was missing everything...

The main character is empty. He is supposed to be the protagonist, but he is just a shell bouncing from one person to the next and taking whatever advice they give him, getting himself into more and more trouble with each step. He is even described as smart toward the beginning of the book, but he is not. I wonder that he actually went to law school and passed! How could anyone so obtuse pass law school, not to mention the bar?! And how am I supposed to like someone so unscrupulous?

The plot - where is it? I'm still waiting for something to happen and I finished the book two days ago. I found myself racing through the pages as quickly as possible to get to the part where something happens - it never did. There was no build-up, no climax, no resolution. Grisham relied solely on introduction and conflict for the entire book, and it got old very quickly.

Most importantly, who is the antogonist in this book? There isn't one, unless you count the protagonist or defer to some intangible such as greed or money. Anytime the protagonist is also the antagonist, you had better have a very complex, intelligent, riveting character as the main character. This book has no such character.

If you have read all of the Grisham books, I recommend finding another author this time. If you have not read all of Grisham's books, go back and read one of his other books - you will enjoy it much more than this book.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: like a modern day Midas tale.
Review: Before I begin, I should admit that I am one of the few readers out there who has not read a Grisham novel and I picked this book on a whim. This is the first book I've read from this genre of the "legal thriller" and I was impressed with the author's storytelling. This was a modern day tale of a guy who was tempted by quick wealth and greed. Inherently the main character, Clay Carter, is a good man at heart, yet he stumbles into the overwhelming temptation that accompanies sudden wealth; fast car, nice house, etc. The book doesn't wait to get your mind going as it hits the ground running from page one.
You can identify with Clay in that he was at about mid-career and 31 years old. He was at a transition in his life and lots of changes were happening, personal changes, and a guy shows up to Clay and offers him a chance of a lifetime. The lucrativeness of the mass tort cases blew me away and for me it proved informative. I was also blown away at the sheer hedonism of what people with money will buy to make them feel adequate. Forget the spending that you see movie stars like J-Lo make because that wealth doesn't even come close to what the tort lawyers in this book spent their money on; that whole part of the book was inebriating. It's really a moral tale though and in the end everyone gets what they deserved. The plot seemed "cookie-cutter-like", a format that would appeal to a large mass market audience, but the narration and the topic of torts was interesting which brought in characters from very different points of view and the author did a good job of bringing attention to the plights of various minor characters who were involved in Clay's cases in one way or another. Frankly, I didn't really expect that many people would actually not like this book. Some of the reviewers here gave average or poor ratings but I think that they were probably offended by the hedonism described in the book and they couldn't take another get rich quick wondergenius and his pompous windbag "friends".
Nevertheless, this book is a good read and good for someone looking for a change of pace in reading a different genre of fiction. You'll come away from this book with a newfound perspective of tort law and how much of an impact it can have in our lives.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Had potential but overall was a disappointment
Review: Having read "The Firm" and "The Rainmaker" as well as a couple of his other books, I was getting excited that Grisham had put together another classic that would have twists and unexpected events unfolding that made you laugh or cheer for the underdog. In this book the main character, Clay Carter, was characterized very well as a noboday working for the OPD about to get the break that only people dream of. Instead of developing as a character, along with all the other losers that came on the scene, he stayed a loser who did everything predictable when over $110,000,000 bucks fell in his lap. His romantic relationships were shallow as well and at times shameful. I kept waiting for the turning point in the book where Clay Carter would find his way and become someone I could like but it never happened. After I gave up on him I was hoping that something fun and exciting would happen, at least, but nothing. He simply ends up filing for chapter 11 (which is where I should have stopped reading...), gets assurance from distant friends that they will help him get through it, and of course he gets his girl back - someone named Rebecca who is absent 3/4 of the book married to someone nobody knows???

I'm a person who feels guilty ready anything other than technical books, so I am not a literary critic. I just found the book boring and uneventful. The only surprise to me in this book was that there wasn't any.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: KING OF SORTS....
Review: Once upon a time, a man named John Grisham sold copies of a little book called" A Time to Kill" out of the back of a pickup truck. Hoping to sell some copies, Grisham did more than that as he quickly became one of the best selling authors of all time. Part of his success I belive was the fact that he didn't have the media, or anything to hype his book at the time, but only a plot that would forever be remembered.

Now Grisham doesn't need the aide of a pick up truck. He has the media. He has all the time in the world to pump out a novel, because he knows that there is a audience always waiting. This is where Grisham's newest legal thriller comes into play.

The King of Torts, a novel about mass tort lawsuits, quickly delivers the goods. When we first start reading we learn of a young, unde paid laywer, Clay Carter that just wants to make his place in the legal system. After a case is given to him, we learn of a murder case that can go so many ways with its page turning details. Unable to put the book down the plot suddenly takes a turn only to leave us thinking .....well thinking what happened here? Suddenly a murder case turns into a bigger case just because of a phone call from the middle of nowhere. Now the main character gets his big break, but the reader doesnt as the first couple of chapters soon become a faded memory. Especialy since the rest of the book dwells nothing on a murder case but the rich and posh life a laywer can live. I'm sorry but personal jets, a sad love life, and money can buy this fan of Grisham.

So what am I trying to say? Grisham it seems has lost some of his good ways to write a plot. It seems to me that most of his first books always started and ended strong. Then lately there has been Torts, and others that seem to lack the page turning ability. After half of the book you start to wonder what is going on but as a true fan you finish the book. It seems as if Grisham is pumping them out faster than he can think of a plot that can keep the reader like the Firm and others were rich in.

Read King of Torts if you are a hard core fan. If not, pass. If I have to wait till Grisham is forgotten and starts selling books out of the back of his truck I will. If that happens again at least I'll know an effort was made to sell something more than a title.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A Tort-uous Trip
Review: A frustrated 30-year old public defender, intimidated by his girl friend's rich parents, opts to chase the big bucks offered by a shady character representing a major pharmaceutical company as a tort (class action) lawyer. Millions of dollars, yachts, a Gulfstream, a trophy model and 17 months later his bubble crashes and bankruptcy completes the circle. Grisham has an ax to grind and over 450 pages, he manages to savage the tort system. Unfortunately, the chartacters are merely pawns in forwarding his editorial trip, and the reader suffers.


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