The office of the public defender is not known as a training ground for bright young litigators. Clay Carter has been there too long and, like most...
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Mar 11, 2008
Shannon
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booooooooooooring and tedious. Very disappointed with this book from Grisham. While I learned a little about Tort Law, I also could have learned same from an internet site. The story was long, repetitive and boring. Showed the greed of tort lawyers without allowing the reader to really get to know any of the characters. I’m not sure why I even bothered finishing this one. Better hit me with something better next time, Grisham, or I just might stop reading you.
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Jul 27, 2008
Beth
rated it:
Why do I keep doing this to myself?
Every Grisham I read seems to get worse and worse and this was the worst --- unless of course you like to read about privately owned jets, earning millions of dollars, winning class action suits that bring in billions (yes, I'm not exaggerating), fast cars, and slimy lawyers. The relationship aspect is at the beginning and end of the book. My suggestion is to read the first three chapters and then skip to the end (unless you enjoy laundry lists of the p More...
Every Grisham I read seems to get worse and worse and this was the worst --- unless of course you like to read about privately owned jets, earning millions of dollars, winning class action suits that bring in billions (yes, I'm not exaggerating), fast cars, and slimy lawyers. The relationship aspect is at the beginning and end of the book. My suggestion is to read the first three chapters and then skip to the end (unless you enjoy laundry lists of the p More...
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Jun 02, 2008
Caralee
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As usual, this book it well written. Grisham tells the story of the meteoric rise and subsequent fall of the newest, hottest lawyer in the DC area. The problem that I found with this book is that I simply didn't care about any of the main characters in this book. The main character's greed and foolishness is shocking, and by the end of the book I found that like him, I was shrugging at 9 million dollars. But still, I found the characters uninteresting or distasteful. It was more out of a se
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Apr 02, 2009
Nolan
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This is one of the most captivating studies in human nature I’ve read in quite some time. I highly recommend it.
Clay Carter is a hard-working guy at the DC public defender’s office. He’s been there five years as this book opens, and he’s about to get a murder case in spite of his experience at ducking them. This turns out to be anything but a routine street drug murder in what is arguably the most simultaneously tragic and triumphant city in the nation.
Young Tequila Wa More...
Clay Carter is a hard-working guy at the DC public defender’s office. He’s been there five years as this book opens, and he’s about to get a murder case in spite of his experience at ducking them. This turns out to be anything but a routine street drug murder in what is arguably the most simultaneously tragic and triumphant city in the nation.
Young Tequila Wa More...
Mar 01, 2009
Trevor
rated it: 
I’ve never knew much about law cases, but John Grisham made me feel as if I was a lawyer in Washington, D.C. myself. Clay Carter, a lawyer for the firm OPD, is a man struggling to make money at the law firm he works at. “The beginning salary for an OPD lawyer was 36,000 dollars. The most senior lawyer, a frazzled of man of forty-three, earned 57,600 dollars and has been threatening to quit for nineteen years.” When given an unbelievable opportunity, the story tells about how he handles himself w
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Mar 26, 2008
Alan
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I bought this book in the Portland, OR airport and finished it by the time I reached Orlando with a stopover somewhere. It was this or Sky Mall Magazine. What attracted me to the book over the others in the airport was that I'd requested The Innocent Man from my library after having read a good review of that book, but was on a waiting list and didn't have it to read on the trip. I guess I should have bought the latest Danielle Steele or Stephen King from the airport shop instead.
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Oct 14, 2011
Michelle
rated it: 
Several years ago, I read everything John Grisham wrote. I guess, though, burnout set in, and after I read The Brethren, I was done with Grisham. I liked The Brethen enough. I guess. I just can't say that I remember it very well. In any case, I was tired of legal thrillers. Other than An Innocent Man, which doesn't really count because it is a true story, after all, I haven't read a Grisham novel for well over ten years.
And this was decent. But I'm thinking of stories like The Partn More...
And this was decent. But I'm thinking of stories like The Partn More...
Jul 05, 2011
Judy
rated it:
Once again, I can't warm up to the main character, a young lawyer who is a public defender and after 5 years is given the shady opportunity to set up his own law office and settle cases quietly for an unknown drug firm. After this, he settles cases for over $100 million but soon runs through this amount with his Gulfstream jet, home in Georgetown, advertising for new clients, boat for his father, house in the islands (where his Georgian (as in Russia) model sets up housekeeping and redecorating
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May 06, 2011
Kathy
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 02, 2011
June
rated it:
Have been a fan of John Grisham's legal books for a long time, - the beginning of his writing career - and throughly enjoyed each book. That includes his non-legal books, but "The King of Torts", was not an overly interesting or fun book for me. The numbers and legal jargon, the long meetings, and the shallow relationships were tedious. I found myself skipping pages of the overly descriptive business - greedy and ugly - gatherings of lawyers plotting to swindle and ruin as many as they
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Feb 10, 2011
Starliam
rated it:
Con questo romanzo John Grisham ci presenta una realtà legale americana sconosciuta ai più: gli avvocati esperti in cause per danni alla collettività. Si occupano di trovare e reclutare persone che possono aver ricevuto danni usando farmaci, vernici o altri prodotti: poi viene intentata una causa collettiva alla ditta produttrice o alla casa farmaceutica. Poichè nessuna azienda vuole finire in un processo che può concludersi con un verdetto di colpevolezza, le varie aziende si accordano per un r
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Nov 04, 2010
Mweene
rated it:
This book left no impression on me whatsoever. What kind of a name is 'Clay' for a main character? This guy simply had no substance to him and he certainly did not deserve to be the hero in this book. Not that he was ever in danger of some other character stealing the lime light from him. Not a single person in this book was worth the trouble, not one.
Sure it shows us just how greedy lawyers can be but come on now, surely we don't have to read such a boring book to find this out. My die ha More...
Sure it shows us just how greedy lawyers can be but come on now, surely we don't have to read such a boring book to find this out. My die ha More...
Aug 29, 2010
Kavyen
rated it:
The office of the public defender is not known as a training ground for bright young litigators. Clay Carter has been there too long and, like most of his colleagues, dreams of a better job in a real firm. When he reluctantly takes the case of a young man charged with a random street killing, he assumes it is just another of the many senseless murders that hit D.C. every week.
As he digs into the background of his client, Clay stumbles on a conspiracy too horrible to believe. He suddenl More...
As he digs into the background of his client, Clay stumbles on a conspiracy too horrible to believe. He suddenl More...
Jul 23, 2010
Jerry
rated it:
A really lousy book: rags to riches to rags, the end!
We've read every Grisham offering, including his two non-legal- thrillers, and find most of his novels to be good or great, a couple just so-so. For the first time, we'd rate this one at the bottom of the barrel. It has virtually no plot: a down-trodden public defender falls for a get-rich-quick scheme involving settling a few cases with some murder victims (due to bad drugs), for which our hero, Clay Carter earns like $15 mil More...
We've read every Grisham offering, including his two non-legal- thrillers, and find most of his novels to be good or great, a couple just so-so. For the first time, we'd rate this one at the bottom of the barrel. It has virtually no plot: a down-trodden public defender falls for a get-rich-quick scheme involving settling a few cases with some murder victims (due to bad drugs), for which our hero, Clay Carter earns like $15 mil More...
Mar 03, 2010
Ann
rated it:
I discovered John Grisham's books when I realized that I did not have a book on hand to read ... I didn't have time to go to the library and found a pile of Grisham books in my son's bedroom that had been sent to him while he was deployed overseas in Iraq. I picked up this one and dove in and was hooked ! This story begins with a young lawyer who is stuck in a dead end job with the Office of the Public Defender representing losers in court and scratching out a living. He is somehow picked out
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Mar 08, 2008
Vicki
rated it:
I almost always enjoy a good John Grisham book and love to read them on an airplane as they make the time go by so fast. This was one of my favorites as it gives an inside look at the huge class-action lawsuits and how they can affect the lives of those involved, especially in the legal field. There is so much money to be made, it leads to unscrupulous behavior and should be a warning to us all. It was informative as well as entertaining and that rates five stars from me.
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Sep 30, 2010
Benjamin
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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May 13, 2008
Brandi
rated it:
Seriously...did Grishham fall asleep at the end? No spoilers, but it seems like for the last few chapters he was in a big rush to finish the book and just made everything end real abruptly. Especially considering that the rest of the book was quite long and drawn out....
This was the first book by Grisham that I've read thus far, and I'm not sure that I am jumping in to read more... Maybe I should have started with a more popular...better...book.
This was the first book by Grisham that I've read thus far, and I'm not sure that I am jumping in to read more... Maybe I should have started with a more popular...better...book.
Jun 23, 2011
Mohamed
rated it:
This story depicts the life of Clay Carter, a young public defense lawyer who worked in Washington DC. For the past five years of his career, he worked himself to death in his dead end job. Most of his clients were apparently guilty and his cases usually settled out of court before trial. He had just been appointed to defend another murder suspect in an apparently random shooting.
One day as he was walking to his office, he was approached by a man who called himself Max Pace. Max desc More...
One day as he was walking to his office, he was approached by a man who called himself Max Pace. Max desc More...
Jan 03, 2011
Sharon
rated it:
One of the few big-name authors whose work I still find both consistent and enjoyable is John Grisham. In "The King of Torts," he brings us inside the world of mass litigation (you know, the type provoked by those "If you or a loved one has contracted Chinese jungle rot, please call this 1-800 number" ads on television).
Public defender Clay Carter is looking at yet another murder case file when he is visited by Max Pace. Pace gives him an "inside track" More...
Public defender Clay Carter is looking at yet another murder case file when he is visited by Max Pace. Pace gives him an "inside track" More...
Aug 13, 2011
Patrice
rated it:
John Grisham writes easy-to-read books about male lawyers, their female mates and their increasing amount of drama concerning their job.
Stephen King writes easy-to-read books about creepy, weird and/or supernatural occurrences and the people (and their mates) that are affected by them, often set in Maine.
As I was reading this, I realized how similar the two writing styles of King and Grisham felt to me. Both write in a familiar way across many of their books, ensuring tha More...
Stephen King writes easy-to-read books about creepy, weird and/or supernatural occurrences and the people (and their mates) that are affected by them, often set in Maine.
As I was reading this, I realized how similar the two writing styles of King and Grisham felt to me. Both write in a familiar way across many of their books, ensuring tha More...
Feb 26, 2009
Miriam
rated it:
Another audiobook for another long drive. At least this one came from a thrift store. This book is about class action law-suits against the pharmaceutical industry. There is a plot (sort of) but most of this book is spent explaining class-action lawsuits along with their benefits and consequences (YAwn). Occasionally there are descriptions of scantily clad paralegal hookers and a bisexual underwear model which I think are supposed to spice things up a bit, but that didn't do anything for me.
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Sep 04, 2010
Philip
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John Grisham writes about Law thrillers, but I tend to believe he actually has much distaste for the genre. I've read through a couple of his books and have notice several similarities amongst his main characters: in the beginning, they tend to be young, idealistic folks wanting to practice their love for the Law as much as any would-be civil servant would. Halfway along the story, they become permanently disillusioned and frustrated by the dark practices they've been involved in, and by the tim
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Jan 01, 2012
Frederick
rated it:
I listened to this on CD on the way to a meeting in Davidson, NC.The story of J. Clay Carter. He is a lawyer in a low level public defenders office in Washington DC. His job is to defend low life criminals. He is approached by someone who eventually turns out to be a mobster. This guy offers to set him up as a product liability attorney specializing in class action lawsuits against large corporations. Using the mobster's inside tips, he becomes filthy rich. The whole thing begins to turn sour wh
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Jan 26, 2011
Jrobertus
rated it:
as I've said before, Grisham is a wonderful story teller. His pacing is great and his characters interesting. Here we focus on the rise and fall of Clay Carter. He begins as an under paid public defender who investigates the strange violence of a young doper. He is approached by a "fixer" who steers him into a world of class action law suits that make Clay a transient "King of Torts" with money beyond his wildest dreams. Then the wheels come off. Clay is not always a sy
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Aug 06, 2009
Ralph
rated it:
It really took me a while to get into this book. It started out pretty slow, but it was interesting. I kept reading, and I'm pretty disappointed with the novel.
The novel follows a man named Clay Carter - a lawyer working for the Office of the Public Defender. His job is going no where, his girlfriend and her parents are after him to "make something of himself" which translates into "make our daughter rich." It seems like his life is going no where.
Then More...
The novel follows a man named Clay Carter - a lawyer working for the Office of the Public Defender. His job is going no where, his girlfriend and her parents are after him to "make something of himself" which translates into "make our daughter rich." It seems like his life is going no where.
Then More...
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Jan 14, 2011
Tigger
rated it:
Not one of Grisham's best, in my opinion.
I couldn't bring myself to even finish the book - which is very rare for me - and just skipped right to the end so I could see whether Rebecca (the ex-girlfriend of the main character, poor government lawyer turned rich-tort-lawyer Clay Carter) comes back.
The plot just plodded along, there was little suspense and most of all I had very little sympathy for Clay, who had seen so much in his work at the OPD and yet was greedy, foolish an More...
I couldn't bring myself to even finish the book - which is very rare for me - and just skipped right to the end so I could see whether Rebecca (the ex-girlfriend of the main character, poor government lawyer turned rich-tort-lawyer Clay Carter) comes back.
The plot just plodded along, there was little suspense and most of all I had very little sympathy for Clay, who had seen so much in his work at the OPD and yet was greedy, foolish an More...
Apr 01, 2011
Carol
rated it:
Grisham is a wonderful story teller. His pacing is really good and his characters generally interesting. In this one we focus on the rise and fall of Clay Carter. He begins as an under paid public defender who investigates the strange violence of a young druggie. He is approached by a "fixer" who steers him into a world of class action law suits that make Clay a transient "King of Torts" with money beyond his wildest dreams. Then the wheels come off. Clay is not always a sym
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Jul 30, 2011
Corey
rated it:
The ending of this book really disappointed me. For being about mass tort litigation, it did a good job of keeping me interested and I read it quickly, but the ending was so unsatisfactory.
SPOILER ALERT (if you care about those)
After he had built himself up so much doing shady things, it started to crumble. When he started to fall, I really wanted to see him fall. I wanted him to have to deal with it. I wanted to see him fall hard because I felt that's what he deserved. But More...
SPOILER ALERT (if you care about those)
After he had built himself up so much doing shady things, it started to crumble. When he started to fall, I really wanted to see him fall. I wanted him to have to deal with it. I wanted to see him fall hard because I felt that's what he deserved. But More...
Sep 09, 2010
Pattyrflg
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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