The Brethren | John Grisham | Great Premise, Bad Ending

The Brethren | John Grisham | Dull Playout of the Book's Brilliant Opening Scene

books:

The Brethren

	The Brethren John Grisham Island Books, 2000 - 464 pages average customer review:based on 1026 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

They call themselves the Brethren: three disgraced former judges doing time in a Florida federal prison.

One was sent up for tax evasion. Another, for skimming bingo profits. And the third, for a career-ending drunken joyride.

Meeting daily in the prison law library, taking exercise walks in their boxer shorts, these judges-turned-felons can reminisce about old court cases, dispense a little jailhouse justice, and contemplate where their lives went wrong.

Or they can use their time in prison to get very rich -- very fast. And so they sit, sprawled in the prison library, furiously writing letters, fine-tuning a wickedly brilliant extortion scam ... while events outside their prison walls begin to erupt.

A bizarre presidential election is holding the nation in its grips -- and a powerful government figure is pulling some very hidden strings. For the Brethren, the timing couldn't be better. Because they've just found the perfect victim...

for more information click here

Great Premise, Bad Ending

I liked a lot of this book but was disappointed in the ending. It had a unique plot that was really interesting and fun that held my interest throughout, but it left a really bad taste in my mouth at the end.

Karen Arlettaz Zemek, Author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"

Dull Playout of the Book's Brilliant Opening Scene

If John Grisham had stopped this book after the opening scene, in essence writing just a short story, he would have done his best work. It's breathtaking.

Unfortunately for Grisham, he decided to make a novel to follow that brilliance. The novel falls far short of the promise of that beginning.

I won't tell you about the beginning because that would spoil your pleasure, but do consider stopping there.

These are the plot premises in the book:

1. Two judges and a justice of the peace are incarcerated in a minimum security Federal prison. What would life be like for these former "law upholders?"

2. Felons need money when they get out. How can they earn some while in prison?

3. Felons and wardens need non-violent ways to resolve disputes in prison. How might this be done?

4. How can a presidential election be manipulated to determine the country's foreign policy?

5. How could a bunch of crooks threaten a presidential candidacy?

A lot of the answers depend on the presumption that the world is full of stupid older men with lots of money who want to have hot, young boy friends.

This book will appeal most to those who enjoy conspiracy theories about government action and inaction.

As a crime story, I've read a lot better.

But do enjoy that opening scene.

for more information click here