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The King of Torts
 
 

The King of Torts [Abridged, Audiobook] [Audio CD]

John Grisham , Dennis Boutsikaris
2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (492 customer reviews)
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Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Grisham continues to impress with his daring, venturing out of legal thrillers entirely for A Painted House and Skipping Christmas (the re-release of which this past fall was itself a bold move) and, within the genre, working major variations. Here's his most unusual legal thriller yet--a story whose hero and villain are the same, a young man with the tragic flaw of greed; a story whose suspense arises not from physical threat but moral turmoil, and one that launches a devastating assault on a group of the author's colleagues within the law. Mass tort lawyers are Grisham's target, the men (they're all men here, at least) who win billion-dollar class-action settlements from corporations selling bad products, then rake fantastic fees off the top, with far smaller payouts going to the people harmed by the products. Clay Carter is a burning-out lawyer at the Office of the Public Defender (OPD) in Washington, D.C., when he catches the case of a teen who, for no apparent reason, has gunned down an acquaintance. Clay is approached by a mysterious stranger, the enigmatic Max Pace, who says he represents a megacorporation whose bad drug caused the teen--and others--to kill. The corporation will pay Clay $10 million to settle with all the murder victims at $5 million per, if all is accomplished on the hush-hush; that way, the corporation avoids trial and possibly much higher jury awards. After briefly examining his conscience, Clay bites. He quits the OPD, sets up his own firm and settles the cases. In reward, Pace gives him a present--a mass tort case based on stolen evidence but worth tens of millions in fees. Clay lunges again, eventually winning over a hundred million in fees. He is crowned by the press the new King of Torts, with enough money to hobnob with the other, venal-hearted tort royalty, to buy a Porsche, a Georgetown townhouse and a private jet, but not enough to forget his heartache over the woman he loves, who dumped him as a loser right before his career took off. Clay's financial/legal hubris knows few bounds, and soon he's overextended, his future hanging on the results of one product liability trial. The tension is considerable throughout, and readers will like the gentle ending, but Grisham's aim here clearly is to educate as he entertains. He can be didactic (" `Nobody earns ten million dollars in six months, Clay,' " a friend warns. " `You might win it, steal it, or have it drop out of the sky, but nobody earns money like that. It's ridiculous and obscene' "), but readers will applaud Grisham's fierce moral stance (while perhaps wondering what sort of advance he got for this book) as they cling to his words every step along the way of this powerful and gripping morality tale.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

“Rousing . . . Another pedal-to-the-metal crowd-pleaser.”—People

“Offers everything one expects from Grisham . . . delivers with a vengeance.”—The Seattle Times

“Satisfying . . . a lot of fun . . . When you finish it, you’re ready to dash on to the next Grisham.”—Entertainment Weekly
 
“A thrill ride of twists and turns.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer


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Customer Reviews

492 Reviews
5 star:
 (68)
4 star:
 (121)
3 star:
 (112)
2 star:
 (86)
1 star:
 (105)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
2.9 out of 5 stars (492 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3.0 out of 5 stars Of Kings, Torts, Short and Falling Short, Nov 20 2003
This review is from: The King of Torts (Hardcover)
3 Stars, I rated it. Why, because in spite of it all, I enjoyed the process of reading the book. It's the book as a whole that I hated.

I was travelling with a colleague on a business trip when she was reading this, and she told me not to bother. Not to be daunted, I picked it up.

She was right. I wanted to shoot myself at the end of the book. But that's the point - at the END of the book.

The book is gripping... very gripping. The first few pages fail to grab, but eventually you're hooked.

I found myself getting progressively euphoric, as Carter made his millions... and progressively depressed as things started falling apart. That's a power Grisham has - of involving the reader intimately.

But this book proved something I've suspected for a while. Occassionally, and more and more of late, John Grisham has a serious writer's block when it comes to ending.

His endings are like what some people have said to me about Pearl Jam's music (Which I didn't like hearing - I love Pearl Jam).

They never really end... just kind of stop being.

And this ending was a prime example of that... at some point, the Author's Note begins, and you're left thinking "HUH!?!??!"

"HUH?????!!!? I wanna burn this book" is not a good way for a book to leave you.. and hence, only 3 Stars for a book that, till about 75% of the book was a 5-Star.

Because the book left me with "HUH!??!?!?!"

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1.0 out of 5 stars Boring-Predictable, Aug 15 2003
By 
A Reader (Huntington Beach, California United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The King of Torts (Hardcover)
I've been disillusioned with John Grisham for quite some time now. His latest books have just not measured up to the earlier ones, which feature thrilling plots and characters that you care about.

This isn't one of those earlier books.

Frankly, the minute that Clay Carter "sold his soul" for 15 million dollars (in the first few chapters of the book), I could predict the plot and the character development in two seconds. And I was pretty dead on.

The rest of the book is a dreary bore; attempting to give the reader a lesson in ethics, integrity, and doing the right thing. The problem is that Grisham is using Clay Carter, who has just taken 15 million for participating in a massive cover up with a big-wig pharmacutical company. With that small problem stuck in my mind, it was totally impossible for me to note or care when Clay suddenly decides to make it all better or do the right thing. Which was basically how I felt about all of the characters, from Clay's shallow, materialistic ex-fiance (real love-give me a break) to Clay's boring, narcissistic father.

Take it from me: skip this one, go back and read "A Time to Kill", "The Firm", or "The Rainmaker". It will be time better spent.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Legal Thriller Based On Greed, Nov 7 2008
By 
Douglas P. Murphy "Author, The Griffon Trilog... (Charlottesville) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
I found this book particularly interesting because I work in health care. Health care has spawned the side industry of health-related legal settlements. Class action lawsuits have taken this industry to a whole new level, and this book exposes the mechanisms of this legal area with Grisham's usual attention to detail and to the meticulous unfolding of the story. When thousands of people are physically or emotionally harmed by medications, products,etc. and hundreds of millions of dollars are mobilized, who benefits and why? Luxury jets, palacial homes, yachts, Caribbean getaways, mistresses populate this landscape. The view leaves one nauseous. The book has excitement and suspense and moves swiftly to the end.
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