The Partner

Rating:
Summary: ENTERTAINING BOOK BUT A WEAK LAST 50 PAGES
Review: Following up his idea first used in The Chamber, Grisham works by playing on the reader's ambivalence toward the main character. All of Grisham's strong points are present including his interesting account of Patrick's flight and Patrick's lawyer's remarkably humorous handling of Patrick's ex-wife's suit against him. As the book progresses, Patrick becomes more and more sympathetic and the people he screwed become more and more deserving of it. It is a very entertaining book. The few flaws in the book I would point out however are: 1) Ala Mitch Mcdeere, Patrick's brilliance is a bit unrealistic. 2) The last segment of the book tells the story in such a vastly different way than the book originally implied that it gets confusing and inconsistant with the earlier chapters. 3) The very end is completerly unnecessary, and Grisham would have been better off ending the book five pages sooner. Nevertheless, the book is fun to read, which is really all that matters when it comes to fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Some improvement
Review: As a native Mississippian, I feelduty-bound to read every book John Grisham produces. FINALLY he has written something with intrigue and suspense comparable to The Firm and The Pelican Brief. Those of you who muddled through The Chamber, The Rainmaker, and The Client, read this one before you give up on Grisham.

Rating:
Summary: ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
Review: Having trouble sleeping? Try The Partner. The only reason I finished it is because I paid good money for the book. Other than that, it was one of the worst books I've ever read. The characters were poorly developed and the plot was a complete bore. And I saw the Eva twist coming early on. I'm just glad I waited to buy it in paperback because I sure would have hated to waste $20-plus on this one.

Rating:
Summary: One of Grisham's best. I couldn't put the book down.
Review: This book was excellent. I couldn't put the book down. Every page brought more suspense. If you like Grisham's other books, you'll love this one.

Rating:
Summary: very good stroryline ending was not expected or appreciated
Review: I am i very loyal John Grisham fan in fact the 10 years since my graduation his books and all of his books are the only books Ive read; but I felt cheated by the ending his other books did not leave you with a bad taste in your mouth this one did.

Rating:
Summary: One of my all time worst
Review: John Grisham's appeal remains a mystery. I have waded through four of his books, primarily because people have recommended them to me. You think I'd learn. John Grisham has to be one of the worst popular authors today. Why? Where do we start. First could be his characters, all of which talk as though they were attorney's turned best selling authors. There is no attempt at creating different people with different ways of speaking. Everyone from the youngest kid to the oldest person speaks in the same tongue. His lack of real profanity may build an audience, but doesn't quite jibe with the supposedly slimy characters in his books. Secondly, he has zero idea how to build suspense. In the Partner, the suspense is all artificial. Since the story already happened, we are waiting to hear what actually happened from the main character, Patrick Lanigan. The fact is that he could have told everyone what happened in about 10 pages. Grisham is trying to write the Sting here, but in the end, the reader is the only person who gets screwed. The end of the chapter is just that, an end, not a spur to begin reading the next. No conflict. Grisham's attempts at plot driving conflict are as one reviewer put it, more random events than cleverly plotted puzzles. His characters get out of scrapes more by coincidences or convenience than any action they initiate. And finally, assinine endings. It always seems as though Grisham feels that an ending in which the main character succeeds are somehow wrong. If we wade through such trash as this we shouldn't have to learn that the character winds up getting screwed. His comic book descriptions. Much like comic books in which the characters say things that seem to be obvious, such as, "Oh no, Nuclear Man is throwing his cosmic rays at me, I will feel tremendous pain if I don't dodge them and reflect them off my micro mirror", Grisham feels the need to describe how everyone in the book is thinking or why they are reacting the way they do. If he were a decent writer, the reactions would be obvious. But Grisham fails to create a mood, a setting, a feeling, or anything approaching something that readers can sink their teeth into. So what is the 2 rating for? The cover was attractive.

Rating:
Summary: A gripping tale of a diabolical plot & interesting twists.
Review: This was my first Grisham Book and the interest which "The Partner" has generated has made me yearn for more of his books, but I haven't made up my mind which book to read next - The Firm, The Client or The Rainmaker. Would look up the reviews or wait for suggestions on Internet ... (Jayant Sinha, INDIA)

Rating:
Summary: Where was the climax?
Review: Where was the climax of the book? Can anyone tell me? It just kind of putt-putted along and then it drops off the chart at the end. Was Grisham trying to put a "moral to the story" at the end or what? While my wife and I are sick of the "guy and girl run off to the Cayman islands" at the end of most Grisham novels, this ending stunk. In no way did Grisham ever prepare us for the end. If he was going to end it that way, he should have made the "Pluto Group" something that Patrick had never heard of. That's what I expected and it had by heart beating a bit harder. But when it didn't happen, he had not laid the groundwork necessary to end the book like he did, in my opinion. Overall, this was the worst Grisham book. "A Time to Kill" is my favorite by the way.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, lousy ending
Review: The book was great. I was really disappointed with the ending. It ended when it should have, but to wrap it up as quickly as Grisham did, with no closure (at least I thought there was none), it stinks! I'll buy the next one, though. Fix the ending, John. Don't do that again.

Rating:
Summary: Grisham has another page turner, but the ending was TV
Review: I like Grisham's work but this reads like it has a TV script in mind, including the unmotivated surprise ending.