Customer Reviews

The Broker

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The Broker by John Grisham - if the cover is to be believed - was once a New York times bestseller which boggles me completely since this was such a bad novel. But taking a step back I see how it is easy to mistake this book for an intense thriller. One: the piece in question is written by John Grisham a widely acclaimed writer. Two: the plot summary makes the book sound like the perfect spy thriller.

The main character Joel Backman has just been granted a last minute pardon from the president and the CIA whisks him off to Italy. Why? Because before he was arrested Backman was the most powerful lobbyist in Washington and during his career he compromised the world's most advanced satellite system. This led to his subsequent arrest; his jail time working as both punishment and protection. Protection from some angry people not only in the US but also in other countries. Now the CIA intends to keep Backman in Italy, leak his whereabouts to several foreign governments, and see who gets him, hopefully answering some of their own questions about the satellites.

Sound ominus and exciting? That's exactly what I thought when I first bought it. But boy was I wrong. The plotline has as much bang as a wet firecracker. It is also frequently illogical and un-realistic. Grisham, known for his lawyer stories, warns readers that espionage novels are not his speciality. The only problem is he tells us this in the afterword. If only he warned me in the introduction!!!

Two moderately good things come out of this mess. One is the main character. Even though he glosses over physical appearance, he makes Backman a very charismatic character. Witty and intelligent I began to like him despite his slimy background as a lobbyist. I also give Grisham props for his research of Bologna, Italy the main setting for the story. History, landmarks, streetnames, he knew it all. Besides Backman and Bologna though Grisham fails miserably to bring anything else to life.

My Verdict: Don't under any circumstances buy this book unless your a hardcore collector of Grisham books. Or maybe you want a narrative guide of Bologna, Italy.

I think The Broker is an improvement from the last few Grisham's titles which gave me the impression that he was already past his prime. On the other hand, considering the number of titles that he produced within the last few years, sometimes I was sometimes questioning whether some to the books were indeed written by him, or maybe they were just bearing his name to help selling them. In some way The Broker brought us back the old Grisham . I have again spent a few sleepless nights with the book in bed (I am a slow reader). It is definitely worth your time.

In the Author's Notes at the end of the book, Grisham states "If something in this novel approaches accuracy, it's probably a mistake". Purchasing this book in hardcover was my mistake.
He admits that his background is not in tecnology or espionage, and that he did not do any research when writing this book. This laissez faire attitude toward his craft greatly shortchanges his readers. Other writers (Jeffery Deaver and Greg Iles come to mind) spend a great deal of energy researching their subject matter and it comes through in their work. What Grisham has done here is an amteurish hack job.

I have been a fan of Grisham for years, but this book was simplistic and boring. Part of what has made Grisham a bestselling author is his ability to create sympathetic characters (be they scoundrels are outright criminals). In The Broker he has failed to create a chracter who is even interesting. By the end of the book I suspect most readers will not even care what happens to the Broker.

If you are looking for a good spy novel try Robert Ludlum.

Thrilling, February 19, 2006
Reviewer: Pius Mambo from Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The Broker is an exciting, action packed fiction and page-turner of the top class. I found it as enjoyable as most of his previous titles. I enjoyed this book as a good thriller which left me on the edge of my seat. The characters are masterfully depicted, and so too is the plot. John Grisham's portrayal of international conniving, espionage, conspiracies, betrayal, corruption in government, mystery, suspense, murder and sex are the ingredients that put this book amongst his best. With the fastness of the pace, any reader will certainly finish the book before he/she realizes it. As someone who lived in Europe and Italy in particular, John Grisham's tItalian setting was perfect. I also loved the way he wrote about food in the book.

The fact that international espionage is not his field, I give credit to Grisham for making this story remarkably believable. Even though it wasn't entirely credible, it had a lot of credibility. I recommend this book to any thriller fan.I also recommend: TRIPLE AGENT DOUBLE CROSS, THE BOURNE IDENTITY, USURPER AND OTHER STORIES,DISCIPLES OF FORTUNE

I have read a number of John Grisham books which were all lawyer/legal thrillers. The books that I have read (The Chamber, The Runaway Jury) I found very good with a great plot line. Reading The Broker though has changed my opinion. Like many have said, this book is really a tourism book for Italy (which is a wonderful place). Grisham uses alot of book space to describe Italy and how Backman gets around. He finally, near the end of the book (it has to end after all), he spends very little time in describing the escape to the US and the eventual deal that was made. In my opinion, 85% of the book was about Backman's life in Italy, and 15% was about whether Backman will live (with assassins at the ready. My recollection is that there wasn't even near misses).

Them's my thoughts.

In the Author's Note for this book, John Grisham observes that his background is law . . . and not satellites or espionage. In addition, he admits to being a technophobe when it comes to electronic gadgets. Be aware of this information before deciding if you want to read this book or not.

The Broker is a book about high tech satellites, espionage and involves advanced use of all kinds of electronic gadgets. Those are clearly the weakest parts of the story . . . for the reasons stated above.

You can also read the book as a variation on the old television series, The Prisoner. The book works better that way. A lame, lame-duck president is encouraged by a Machiavellian CIA director to pardon Joel Backman, a traitorous deal maker. The CIA wants to see who kills Backman as a way to solve some old mysteries.

From that premise, the story mostly moves to Backman's perspective as he is unexpectedly removed from a very unpleasant solitary confinement into being shepherded around Italy in a process of assuming a new identity . . . as an Italian. You will struggle with Backman as he learns Italian (and pick up a lot of phrases and words yourself) and follow him through the tourist sites and back streets of Bologna. You will probably also get some ideas for Italian foods you'd like to try. This part is the most appealing aspect of the book.

From there, Grisham puts a target on Backman's back and the thriller part of the story begins. I found that aspect of the book to be well below average. Grisham would be well advised to follow the advice of those who tell writers to stick to what they know.

As compared to most page turners, The Broker is perfectly acceptable. If you are looking, however, for a book that captures the early Grisham style and appealing story lines, this isn't it.

First book that I have read from Grisham, not bad, but I am looking forward to reading more from him

Arthur Morgan is a lame duck president. He lost every state save Alaska. His dream is to retire there, get a nice place and ignore the press forever, however before escaping away he wants to take a long languid vacation in the Caribbean, he just has to clean up a few details in his last days in office. And some of those details are last minute pardons. Some he's selling, a sleazy and very illegal practice and one he is granting as a favor to the CIA.

The CIA's wheelchair bound director wants former power broker, lobbyist Joel Backman freed. Backman had plead guilty to treason when he was caught trying to sell the software that would control a series of spy satellites that the US intelligence community didn't know anything about. They don't even know who the satellites belong to. Backman has served six years of a fourteen year sentence. The CIA wants to spirit him out of the country, give him a new identity, leak the info to foreign intelligence services and wait and see who comes to kill him. Once they can identify his killers, they'll know who the satellites belong to.

However the CIA spends a couple months pretending to be Joel's friend, hoping he might talk. They set him up in Italy, give him a tutor, teach him how to be Italian. But their plan backfires, because Backman gets on to them and uses his new found skills to slip away from his handlers. Now he is on the run and a man on the run is something that Grisham is superb at. Though the tension isn't has high as say in the PELICAN BRIEF or even in THE LAST JUROR, it is slow building and Mr. Grisham's description of the food, the culture and the Italian language put me right in the story, so that the slow parts were so entertaining that they just sort of slipped on by. By the time I finished, I almost felt Italian. This is just a super story, by an extraordinary writer, who isn't afraid to change his pace on occasion. You can't go wrong with this one.

Review Submitted by Captain Katie Osborne

Our book club recently read three books by Southern authors. Southern U.S. authors, that is. The first was a light read titled SECRET LIFE OF BEES and it was easy and fun. The second was BARK OF THE DOGWOOD and it was a page-turner, but quite disturbing--funny, too. Last, but not least, was THE BROKER. At first, I was a little skeptical about the book when it began with the pardon; however, the further I read into it, the more I couldn't put it down! THE BROKER begins with President Arthur Morgan granting a last minute, controversial pardon to convicted felon Joel Backman. Joel was a former lawyer who went to federal prison after his law firm collapsed after a conspiracy with a spy satellite. Joel gets moved to an obscure place in Italy to hide from an assassin and to protect himself from getting killed. In Italy, Joel gets helped by Marco Lazerri, who is a native Italian and almost like a tour guide. With the plot taking place in another country than the US, John has created a unique novel in The Broker. As the book progresses, Joel meets a lot of new people and gets to know the country of Italy like the back of his hand. He begins to show people around in the city and drops his fear of getting killed. I will not go any deeper into the book so that I can save the suspense for you to enjoy.If you enjoyed Grisham's THE FIRM, then you'll warm to this book also. Would also recommend the book MIDDLESEX and LIFE OF PI for something COMPLETELY different.

Being an avid John Grisham fan, I picked up the very first copy of The Broker that I could get. Power, politics and espionage are key to the central theme of the storyline and John Grisham has interwoven them beautifully. He takes the reader to various locations and the way in which he describes them, you can tell that John Grisham himself had gone to those places and did not pick up random information from any travel book. The build-up of the story is fascinating and the character of Joel Backman, is very well thought-off and finely executed. In the end though, the book fails to deliver on what it had initially promised. After going through the last page, I was left with a sense of "unfinished business"... John Grisham leaves the story open for the reader's imagination to go on a tour... but, it seems that the ending was finished off in a hurry and rather than imagining, you are just left pondering over how the book ended so soon, on such a note. As the title of the review says, could have been so much better... but still a good read.