The King of Torts - John Grisham

Advantages: Convincing and gripping read
Disadvantages: None

...recently read a review extolling the virtues of John Grisham. I've known of this author for a while but have always thought him to be a political writer and of no interest to me at all. However, in the doctors a couple of weeks ago I found myself browsing the rack of second hand books they sell for charity and came across King of Torts for an astounding 25p. What better chance to try his work? I snapped it up (along with a few others) and as I had ...
...Grisham starts the book with an account of a murder, another random killing of one black youth by another in a run down area of Washington. The murderer is easily caught and can't explain (even to himself) why he shot the other man, he ends up being a case of Clay Carter who works for the Office of the Public Defender. Clay has been stuck at this job for years, it's dead end and he's starting to loathe the amount of work he's putting in for very ... Read review

Advantages: Readable
Disadvantages: Predictable

...thrillers would really appeal to the horror fan I've always considered myself to be. My avoidance of Grisham was so complete that a book of his I was given as a gift sat unwanted and unopened on my shelf for more than 18 months until I really couldn't find anything else to read recently. Clay Carter is a lawyer working in Washington's Office of the Public Defender, the bottom of the line for lawyers, in that all their clients are people who cannot ...
...to take a step up the career ladder. In a very short space of time, Clay's life goes a little wrong. He gets a murder case, with another indefensible client, dumped in his lap. And he gets dumped in his personal life as well, with his girlfriend deciding to agree with her father that Clay's refusal of the job he'd found was final proof that he has no ambition and isn't right for her. But when life is as low as you think it can go, the only way ... Read review

Advantages: easy, addictive
Disadvantages: weak plot and characters

...Grisham novel. ~John Grisham~ The author was born in 1955, and grew up wanting to play baseball... as you've probably guessed - that didn't work out. So, he went on to become a lawyer, and started writing on the side. After his first novel "A Time to Kill" was pubished, he carried on his writing hobby, and eventually turned it into a career. His other books include "The Firm", "The Client", "The Pelican Brief" and "The Runaway Jury" amongst others. ...
...the Office of the Public Defender for 5 years. It is a low paid job representing any of the accused in DC who can't afford their own attorney. Most of the time, the scum of the city. He takes on the case of Tequila Watson - a black kid, recovering drug addict, who shot and killed another man for apparantly no reason. As he begins to research the case, he finds it linked with another similar incident. He is soon dragged into a conspiracy to cover ... Read review

Advantages: Light, easy reading
Disadvantages: Poor plot, under developed characters, unbelievable threads

...Grisham fan. I enjoy the diversity in his ability to write stunning courtroom dramas as well as modern day tales like Skipping Christmas, that sees a couple struggling to overcome the commercial pressures of the festive season. So, when his latest novel is published in paperback, I’m usually given it as a present or buy it as soon as possible. The King of Torts was published in paperback in December 2003, and I received it as a gift at Christmas, ...
...The central character in this drama is Clay Carter, a “burnt out” lawyer at the tender age of 31, based in political Washington DC. “If Clay Carter had ever been attracted to a career in OPD (Office of the Public Defender), he could not now remember why. In one week the fifth anniversary of his employment there would come and go, without celebration, and, hopefully, without anyone knowing it. Clay was burned out at the age of thirty one, stuck in ... Read review

Advantages: Another addictive book from John Grisham
Disadvantages: No disadvantages at all

...available later in 2003 The latest blockbuster from John Grisham is here. In this book he explores the greedy world of 'Mass Torts' I'm not a lawyer but as far as I can explain a 'Mass tort' is a case against a company or corporation for damages or negligence, for example - suing a drug company if the drug is found to cause illness not disclosed to the patient before they start taking the drug ,where the company knew of the risks in advance of ...
...number of claimants having solicited the client via television or newspaper advertisements, so that the more clients they have against one firm , the more their cut of any settlement will be. Right, now the legal jargon is sorted out back to the story. Clay Carter is a lawyer working for the Office of Public Defenders in Washington D.C..He doesn't earn very much and he doesn't really like the people that he has to represent.His girlfriends family ... Read review