Selected Product:
| The Broker
Paperback
Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Delta
Release Date: 2006-09-26
ISBN-10: 0385340540
ISBN-13: 9780385340540
List Price: $13.00
Average Customer Rating:
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Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com
In his final hours in the Oval Office, the outgoing President grants a controversial last-minute pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison. What no one knows is that the President issues the pardon only after receiving enormous pressure from the CIA. It seems Backman, in his power broker heyday, may have obtained secrets that compromise the world’s most sophisticated satellite surveillance system.
Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country in a military cargo plane, given a new name, a new identity, and a new home in Italy. Eventually, after he has settled into his new life, the CIA will leak his whereabouts to the Israelis, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Saudis. Then the CIA will do what it does best: sit back and watch. The question is not whether Backman will survive—there is no chance of that. The question the CIA needs answered is, who will kill him?
From the Hardcover edition.
Disappointment
| Customer Rating: | Most of John's books are good. I loved the Firm. This one was a huge disappointment. Slow moving. I read the whole book waiting for something exciting to happen and it never did. Totally anti climatic.
Only good part was the experience of seeing the character adapt to Italian life. |
Italian Ticket Broker?
| Customer Rating: | In the waning days of an unpopular presidency, the director of the CIA makes an unusual request. He seeks a pardon for a much-hated former Washington insider who went to prison without revealing important secrets related to a mysterious spy satellite system. The pardon is not recommended because the pardonee has finally shared his knowledge, successfully worked his political network or regained use of his former millions, it's to see who ends up putting a bullet in his head. Joel Backman is the former broker and he's the bait. The mystery is not only whether he'll figure out what's going on before he gets executed, but whether his life is worth saving.
The Broker, while supported by a decent blurb of a storyline, is probably John Grisham's least interesting novel - at least for those seeking a legal thriller. The story begins with Backman being whisked away to Italy for what he believes will be witness protection type program. Despite the promise of danger, the next several hundred pages, rather than moving the plot forward, read like an amateur travelogue. Through Backman and his tutors we spend the next several months learning about the culture of Italy and the beauties of Bologna. Maybe some would disagree, but I don't pick up a Grisham novel to learn about the more considerable care with which Italian men dress themselves or to read someone's Italian language practice.
Ultimately, the plot moves forward very slowly and without much in the way of interesting twists and/or turns. Likewise, the characters are never fully fleshed out, in fact several appear to be introduced only as plot decorations. A particularly egregious example is the President's right-hand man who is introduced and dispatched in several sections which appear to have no connection whatsoever with the rest of the novel. In terms of "legal thriller action," there's really not much here to like, other than the fact that, like all of Grisham's books, this one is easy to read. Grisham, as usual, gives us some local color, but in this case fails to deliver a story. |
Suspense si, Tortellini no
| Customer Rating: | | Joel Backman, a Washington power broker with a dangerous secret, goes to jail to stay alive. Unexpectedly pardoned by a discredited lame-duck President, he finds himself in Italy with a new identity and a new kind of prison, where he doesn't know who is watching him or why. As he uses his wits and his political skills to stay alive, his survival becomes entangled in the interagency rivalry of the FBI and the CIA, and draws the attention of Chinese, Israeli and Saudi intelligence. John Grisham still knows how to write a suspense story, complete with a high-speed chase and high-stakes international intrigue. Unfortunately, as Backman studies Italian and learns the local customs, Grisham finds it necessary to describe everything from grandfathers to toilet paper in both languages and linger over the menus in trattorie and elegant restaurants. There are even lectures on the major tourist attractions of Bologna. That the Asinelli Tower was built in the 12th century and is 97.2 metres tall has nothing to do with who is following Backman or why. If Grisham had omitted the difference between tortellini and tortelloni, this would be a better suspense story-and at least 50 pages shorter. |
I thought it was great!
| Customer Rating: | From the first page I couldn't put this down! The whole realm of witness
Protection was very intriguing! |
Never received
| Customer Rating: | | The product was never received. After writing to the seller and receiving a response, it was my understanding that there were circumstances that prevented this transaction from being completed. This being said is why I rated the product at the lowest level. |
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