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Fiction. Suspense. Thriller. HTML: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 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. 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. BONUS: This edition includes an excerpt from John Grisham's The Litigators..… (more)
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Again, Mr. Grisham has not disappointed me with this story. In the Brethren the author took me on a journey into a political campaign, and how the government can control an election. The characters of the three judges' and their activities were believable.
The "Brethren" are three ex-judges who have been incarcerated in a minimum security federal prison for a variety of avaricious crimes. While in prison, they
A subplot, that becomes mixed with the affairs of the Brethren concerns Teddy Maynard, director of the CIA, who, appalled by the fall of communism and the concomitant reduction in military spending, conspires to find a candidate of suitable malleability, whom he can groom to be the next president. Aaron Lake, handsome, widowed, a light drinker, with no political baggage, seems the perfect choice. Just to be on the safe side, though, Maynard has Lake followed everywhere. By instigating terrorist actions at the appropriate time, and collecting huge amounts of money from weapons manufacturers who stand to reap huge profits from Lake's sole campaign promise: to double the defense budget; Maynard assures that Lake soon has a commanding lead over the vice-president, the previous front runner. Maynard will stop at nothing, including orchestrating a murder, to realize his dream of controlling the president.
While following Lake, Maynard's agents discover he has a PO Box hidden away. They "borrow" the mail - notice the CIA has already been involved in several gross violations of the law, all in the name of national security - and discover to their horror that their "perfect" candidate is conducting a surreptitious correspondence with a young man looking for a wealthy male gigolo. We know that the young man, Ricky" is really the creation of the Brethren. The Brethren, always careful, learn who "AL" really is, and see a huge windfall in the making. What better extortion candidate than someone running for president. Soon they realize that there is a third party involved, a very powerful group of men, but they are determined to make the most of the situation. The ending, which I won't reveal, is less a blockbuster than a revelation of Grisham's sordid view of the world.
In romance writing, there's a rule that if the hero and heroine could settle things by one long and honest talk, then your conflict is not adequate. In the same vein, Lake's little predilection could have been solved early on without any of the ensuing drama, after the reader buys into the (not-terribly-credible) world JG describes. This is a rookie mistake and it was definitely distracting.
And again with the sailing/desert island fantasy! Enough, I beg you, JG!
Is it possible that this book was ghost-written? A few times recently I've noticed such disparities in the quality of books by well-known authors, esp. those who are publishing frequently. And I've heard rumors (eg Koontz)...somehow I wouldn't have guessed JG would do it though.
In Grisham's most satisfying book since "The Runaway Jury," "The Brethren" is a page-turner merging the story of these three disgraced judges with a partially rigged presidential election. Merging a tale of sex and politics, with the very active involvement of the CIA Director, the story moves at a fast clip, filled with twists and turns.
Unlike some of Grisham's other books, this one is less tied to the intricacies of the law. In fact, the main catalysts for the story are decidedly out of legal bounds, focusing on manipulation and extortion. The characters are economically drawn, in the style of a thriller, with perhaps only an alcoholic attorney as an intriguing, three dimensional personality.
Still, the book is entertaining and absorbing. If not Grisham's best, and it's hard to imagine that he'll ever top "The Firm," it is still an excellent book, a unique thriller with ominous overtones that heighten the suspense.
I found it to be quite a scintillating tale following the unfolding of the