Customer Reviews

The Broker

5 star:		(107)
4 star:		(138)
3 star:		(123)
2 star:		(126)
1 star:		(151)

 

 

As someone who hasn't enjoyed Grisham's writing since the late '90s, I really didn't have high expectations for this book. I don't think any of us read his novels looking for any kind of enlightment, but instead we only want an intelligent, fun ride. To that end, The Broker is a success.

Unlike some of his more recent books, this one sticks to his old formula - a sympathetic character, intrigue, and a "chase" leading into a good ending. The only thing that drags the book down is that Backman's time in Italy reads at times like a pastoral novel. I'm all for character development, but we learn more at times about the country than about Backman.

I still look back on early efforts like A Time to Kill and The Firm as being Grisham's best. This doesn't reach that level, but it's certainly a welcome improvement from recent material.

So you've read this is Grisham's return to legal thrillers after inexplicable diversions like Bleachers. Hate to tell you - it's anything but.

We shoot off the docks with grand Hollywood-style razzmatazz involving the CIA, the president of United States, and the dubious pardon of a certain high-stakes deal agent sent to Europe as a sitting duck for assassins to get him. Makes you buckle up for some breathless action.

Then just a few dozen pages later this whole sensational setup goes thud as our protagonist (and Grisham) get smitten with Italiana. We take long languid walks through Bologna's porticoed sidewalks and piazzas. Read ornate descriptions of the city's basilicas, towers, frescoes, marble crypts. There's even time to learn the legend surrounding the naked bronze statue of the Roman god Neptune at the Fontana del Nettuno from the 1500s.

Our little broker is savoring the food, the language, the history. Problem is, we're not because nothing's happening.

As a storyteller Grisham is in full bloom, which would've been super if only he had a story to tell. Recommended for italophiles, rest of us should seek our thrills elsewhere.

John Grisham's readers have come to expect fast-paced action, a riveting plot and decent characters in his works. Unfortunately, in The Broker, he fails on all three counts. Grisham's last six books or so have been hot and cold, and The Broker can best be described as tepid.

Former powerbroker and hotshot DC attorney, Joel Backman, is serving a 20 year jail sentence for selling military secrets. He found himself in possession of a sophisticated satellite software program, and tried to sell it to various countries. As an inept and unpopular president gets ready to leave office, corrupt CIA director, Teddy Maynard, bribes the president to pardon Joel Backman (only 6 years into his jail term). He plans to plop Backman down into a foreign country under CIA watch, and then leak his whereabouts to those countries wishing Backman dead.

It is here that The Broker becomes the Italian travelogue and coffee diary. Backman is relocated to Bologna. With the help of a private tutor, he starts learning the language. He learns nouns...he learns adjectives...he learns adverbs...he learns verbs...he learns verb tenses, etc. You get the picture. Then he goes out for sumptuous meals, which are described in great detail (all at government expense, of course). Then he starts seeing the sites. He tours churches, cathedrals, towers, etc. and we get the history and description of each. And finally, he stops for a cup of coffee, cappuccino or espresso at least 5-6 times a day. Without all this "stuffing," the book could have been 50% shorter.

The climax to The Broker is very unsatisfying and the ending rather weak. Grisham leaves things a bit open-ended and we can only hope that it's not because we'll be seeing these characters again. There weren't many that were very likable. Hopefully Grisham will let them rest in peace.

So read The Broker if you're a Grisham fan, but don't expect one of his better works.

Or even a 'negative star' rating.

I've never written a review of a book on Amazon, positive or negative, but after having suffered through 100+ pages of repetetive descriptions of ordering food in restaurants in Italian, I decided I had to.... if only to hopefully save someone else the time spent reading this pile of tripe.

There is no intrigue, there is no plot, there is no humor.... I'm still not really sure what the book was really supposed to be about, other than a vehicle to show off Mr Grisham's rudimentary knowledge of Italian.

I've also never burned a book before, but it's cold outside and I'm determined to get some benefit from the thing.

Where's my matches......

Why did John Grisham think he can write about his holiday in Italy and his Italian lessons and somehow fool us into thinking this is a political thriller? Does he really think we're that stupid?

If you want to read monotonous page after page of "The Italian for car is macchino" and "This Italian castle was built in 1428..." then by all means buy this book. But if you are expecting some thrills and anything more than a basic plot, don't waste your money.

I, for one, shall be returning this book to the bookstore. What a waste of time and money. The arrogance of Grisham! No book has ever made me angry like this before. Shameful!

This is definitely a step backwards for this author. The story is thin and the characters are difficult to embrace, just the opposite of his earlier works which were rich in plot and had characters that compelled you to keep reading. Even with his early departure from "law" novels, such as "A Painted House", he maintained a certain intensity that made me a huge fan.

This latest book leaves me feeling flat.

I cannot help but wonder whether he wrote this book prior to his rise to fame and fortune.

Sofar I liked all Grishams. This one however is horrible. The main character tells us for half the book how he was aimlessly wandering around Bologna trying to learn Italian and then he is suddenly attacked by a genetically engineered Chinese assassin who can turn a coke can into a bomb (having two PhD's) ... among all other people trying to kill him just because the CIA wants to know who will.

At that point in time I threw the book into the dustbin. How ridiculous can a story get ...

Mr. Grisham: can I have a few more along the lines of the 'The Firm' or 'The Client' or 'The Rainmaker'?

If you are looking for a suspenseful spy novel, this is not it. "The Broker" starts off intriguingly enough, with CIA pressure on a departing president to issue a full pardon for former lawyer and power broker Joel Backman. Backman, it seems, holds secrets to a mysterious and powerful satellite surveillance system whose origin is in question. He was hired by those who discovered the satellites (and who developed software to manipulate then) to sell their program to the highest bidder. When the government began investigating and others who were involved in the scheme turned up dead, Backman pled guilty to federal charges of possessing classified military information. Now, six years later (and fourteen years early), the CIA hopes that by releasing Backman and sitting back to watch who ultimately kills him, they will learn more about the source of the satellites, or at the very least, who Backman tried to sell his secrets to. Backman is released in the middle of the night and smuggled into Italy with a new identity, supposedly for his protection, though his whereabouts will eventually be leaked.

The problem begins in Italy. The story essentially stops; it's hardly action-packed. There are long walks, sightseeing, Italian tutoring sessions, visits to cafes, and long Italian meals. But one typically reads Grisham for suspense or drama, and it was missing here. I could have skipped entire chapters without losing any of the plot. There are subplots regarding Backman's communications with his son and a supposed romance with one of his Italian tutors, but I didn't buy either. In fact, I somehow missed the romance aspect altogether. I can only assume that we are supposed to believe it was a romance, since at the end of the novel Backman calls her "special" and we learn that he plans to return to Bologna to see her. Perhaps this is because I never felt invested in any of the characters. There was no character development to speak of, and I'm not even sure why some of the characters were there.

There were other subplots and loose ends that were never tied up. What of the Chinese assassin? What of the cash for pardon scandal? These threads went nowhere and were not resolved, or even addressed at all, in the pat ending.

There are shades here of earlier Grisham works. He's done the "man (or woman) on the run" bit before, in novels like "The Partner" and "The Pelican Brief." I don't believe this story was as well executed as either of those. I used to love Grisham and have read nearly everything of his. The Broker was a fun story and I had no trouble finishing it, but it's not one of his best. I can't say that I'd strongly recommend this one, especially if you are looking for something in the action and suspense genre. As a more leisurely story, it's a pleasant enough read.

Grisham must be starting to get like S. King - mailing it in for the check. This book has the same buildup for lame climax as the last 10 King novels. If you liked The Firm, or any of the other Grisham "chase books", you'll be disappointed by this one. Can I have my money back?

I have read all of Grisham's books, with the exception of Skipping Christmas. Obviously, I consider him an exceptional writer. Unfortunately, he has written a few substandard novels, including The Broker. The problem in each of these cases is that he lets the reader down with a ho hum ending. I felt this novel had a pretty good pace, but the ending was terrible...a real let down! It left me with the impression that he had written the required number of pages, so it was time to end the story. And he did. Come on, John. You can do much better.