The King of Torts: A Novel Mass Market Paperback – January 31, 2012

Good book . Many twists and turns. Very intertwining and couldn’t put it down. Already searching for my next Grisham book.

This is a rather unique Grisham book. At first, it seems like everything is going the protagonist's way. But beneath it all is the palpable sense that Clay's bubble is doomed to burst. It just keeps swelling larger and larger until the reader is almost cringing. How far will he fall? How bad will it get? From which direction will it come? Clay is an everyman upon whom enormous wealth and power is thrust virtually overnight. Suddenly he's the biggest shot in law in Washington D.C. His smiling face is in Time and the New York Times. While Clay enjoys his sudden lucre, what tickles him more is to realize that the nouveau riche parents of his ex-girlfriend (who thought he was a loser in a dead-end job) must be hating his launch into high society.Readers can see that his upswing has to come to an end. They will shudder at the way he bleeds money, wasting it on frivolous things like, oh, a private jet and a house in the tropics for his trophy girlfriend.This is risky stuff for Grisham. Having the main character's story arc suddenly plummet near the end may not be to every reader's liking. But Grisham is writing about truth -- about hubris and pride and being blinded by sudden fame. It's easy to step back and say "I wouldn't behave that way," but [millions of] dollars can do strange things to anyone!Watching the crash is sort of like watching a car accident. It's horrible, but you can't look away. This is powerful writing and a refreshing change of pace for Grisham. I enjoyed every moment of it -- though it had my nevers on edge the whole way through.

I always like John Grisham books. It helped me pass the time on a recent trip.

This is a difficult tale to characterize. At times, it is energetic and at others not credible. Tragicomedy? Little of the positive value of the American tort system shines through the grubby attorneys mass producing class action cases in this yarn wherein consumers are benefitted by law suits against dangerous drugs, manufacturing defects, or commercial skullduggery a la Wells Fargo. This effort by Grisham does not seem likely to become a movie script.

THE KING OF TORTS is John Grisham doing what John Grisham does best (and what he used to do more regularly) - present a compelling legal thriller which reads quickly and delivers a solid message. Granted, Grisham rarely rises to the level of "literature" (maybe once, in A TIME TO KILL) and he does not go so in depth with his characters or plot lines as, say, Scott Turow, but he is the undisputed master of the quick-hit legal thriller. Yet some of his recent offerings - THE TESTAMENT, THE STREET LAWYER, THE SUMMONS - have been devoid of the power punch that his mid-90s works had (I left out THE BRETHREN from that critique as I thought it was excellent). Well, THE KING OF TORTS returns to the level of, say, THE RUNAWAY JURY or THE CHAMBER in delivering both a quick and thrilling story and a message about something wrong with the American legal system. Without ruining too much of the plot (there are some excellent twists along the way), THE KING OF TORTS follows the rise of a lawyer who had been toiling as a Washington D.C. Public Defender before stumbling into a multi-million dollar venture as a mass tort lawyer suing companies for faulty drugs. Grisham allows the reader to share the thrill of all the new money that lands on the main character - before slowly pulling open the curtain on some serious institutional and ethical problems with this type of lawyering. There are some very memorable characters in this book - most notably a colorful expert mass tort lawyer who befriends and partners with the main character - but the tone of the book follows Grisham's usual depth (nothing too involved) and at time, Grisham (as he has always done) paints characters in black or white - this is a guy you hate; this other person is a saint. Still, that is a formula that always worked well for him, and most happily, THE KING OF TORTS is a return to the "social consciousness" aspect of his writing (taking on the death penalty in THE CHAMBER; the tobacco lobby in THE RUNAWAY JURY) - notably absent in THE SUMMONS - he forces the reader to ask, does all the litigation against big business really HELP the citizens injured by those businesses? Does it just help the lawyers? Both? Are legal reforms which cap jury award a good thing? A hurtful thing? And on THAT topic, Grisham paints in grays, leaving the reader to ponder the right answer. (Other lawyers may read this book as a blueprint on how to make $100 million in one year without working to hard... though I think that boat has sailed). THis book is an excellent commentary on a recent/current legal fad, as well as a return to what is my favorite aspect of Grisham's writing. Grisham fans will be happy that the author is back to peak form.

Not since The Firm had I torn through a Grisham book like I did with KOT and yet I finished feeling unsatisfied. There is no doubt that J.G. is the King of page turning action; however, one small plot twist at the end does not keep this book from being predictable.Would I have been excited about King of Torts as I was about The Firm, Pelican Brief or A Time to Kill if I had read this first, I think I would have. We have been spoiled by the freshness of his earlier books and let's be honest, his latest works have been of the same quality yet are no longer fresh. It's tough for Grisham to surprise us anymore because of the number of books he has written and how he has trained his readers to truly expect the "unbelievable," the "unexpected," and the customary trip to the Caribbean-do you think he has to travel there for background information all the time, must be nice!Is it just me or is Grisham just a little more didactic in this tome than in his previous works? I think he did an excellent job with the main character and you could see the greed and ethical conflict boiling below the surface (like father, like son) as J. Clay Carter II decided to plunge into the depths of mass tort law. Grisham does paint a vivid picture of the slide from "doing good" to "doing well" and character development has always been this author's strength.In the end, this book is worth 4 or 5 hours of your time and even though you know where the book is going, you don't mind it when you know it is Grisham taking you there.

Probably the best book I’ve ever read! This has everything-funny, intimate, drama and suspense. If you enjoy books about the law, this is for you!

As always with Grisham novels, the story telling is absolutely first class. This is a real page turner with some excellent characters and twists. A real rise and fall storyline. Thoroughly enjoyed.

Ich liebe die Art, in der Grisham schreibt. Schon nach den ersten paar Seiten war ich gefesselt und konnte das Buch kaum noch weglegen. Die Geschichte ist für einen Europäer faszinierend, da es hier solche Klageverfahren um so hohe Summen nicht gibt.

The King of Torts is once again a brilliant page tuner by John Grisham. The plot is little complicated for the laymen like us who is not well-verse with the law world. However, you won’t be disappointed at all. John Grisham once again proves himself that he is a great story-teller and I am glad that he became a best-selling author than a lawyer. The mind-bending twists and turns gives you such an ecstasy that you would not want to put down that book. It is that good. I finished the book within a few days as the legal things take time for me to understand but I am a fan of John Grisham’s book.So far one of the best legal thrillers to read!

una più che apprezzabile lettura.

This isn't a new novel by any means, but I came to Grisham's stories late, and am still catching up. Each has been an interesting experience, and showed the author's excellent plot and story line skills.The King of Torts was intriguing as a character development story, first and foremost, showing the move from sensible to far-out personality and spending habits, and what can happen with money becomes just a commodity. Is it accurate in that respect? Yes, based on my observations: the silly things the lead gets into (deciding which private plane is big enough to make a statement, for example) have been echoed many times in people I know. As a character development cycle investigation, this book is a great example of greed corrupts!But more than that, the story moves along beautifully. As with many Grisham novels, I didn't want to stop reading. In the end, that's the mark of a truly great story teller, and is consistent with Grisham. A great story, good characters, some interesting plot twists, and a message underneath it all! Most important is the effortless narrative: this is a fun novel to read. And that's why we buy books.