John Grisham is an author that you just can't ignore. His many novels are ubiquitous and are common sights at bookstores in particular at airports and train stations. Grisham's speciality, helped by the fact he used to be a lawyer, is fiction that involves attorneys, courtrooms and government activity. This novel is no different and involves an elaborate spy plot, one involving greedy lawyers and the CIA, that has global implications. Joel Backman is the hero or anti-hero of the novel, depending on whether you can forgive his behaviour and inherent arrogrance. He is a mature broker from Washington who has made a deal to sell spy sattelite controlling software ...  Read the complete review

Its strange, given my love for the genre, that I have never came across John Grisham's work. I am not a complete stranger to the name, seeing as half a dozen of his novels have been turned into fairly questionable films. On holiday this year though, I picked up this book from the hotel library. It was about the only book that didn't come from the Jackie Collins school of romance fiction. Was I pleased with my choice? Having been given a pardon by the outgoing president, Joel Backman is freed from prison six years after he was convicted of trying to sell a program that compromised government secrets. Packed off to Italy, he is given an entirely new ...  Read the complete review

The Plot ----------- Disgraced former lawyer Joel Backman is freed from prison and forced to flee to Italy. Meanwhile sinister agencies, aware of his release, are trying to locate and assassinate him. In recent years, John Grisham has increasingly moved away from the areas he is most familiar with (the courtroom and the American Deep South) in search of new storylines. Whenever he does, these tend to be his weakest books (A Painted House and Bleachers being a case in point). Sadly, The Broker does nothing to suggest this pattern is going to be broken any time soon. Although it’s not as bad as some of Grisham’s other novels, The Broker does ...  Read the complete review