The King of Torts

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Clay, like many other young John Grisham heroes, is losing his idealism about the law as he is ground down by overwork and association with the dregs of humanity. He is demoralized by trying to defend clients who deserve to be behind bars and who cannot be honest even with their own attorneys. He is in love with beautiful, sophisticated Rebecca Van Horn, with whom he has been having sex five times a week. She enjoys that aspect of their relationship but wants a husband who can provide the kind of upper-class lifestyle to which she is accustomed. Her parents regard Clay as a hopeless underachiever. They make him feel unwelcome at the upscale social affairs he manages to crash. His future looks grim. Then a violent incident in the slums of the big city changes Clay’s prospects as well as his entire moral and psychological outlook.

It really took me a while to get into this book. It started out pretty slow, but it was interesting. I kept reading, and I'm pretty disappointed with the novel. Don't take me wrong, I like Grisham's novels, I'm not a big fan, but I enjoy reading his books nonetheless. He is not a master storyteller but he writes enjoyable stuff. While Clay is slowly recovering in the hospital, Rebecca shows up to tend to him, having divorced her husband and estranged herself from her father. Regaining her love helps Clay take calmly the final blow to his career: the jury in Arizona has rejected the Maxatil tort suit, and all the millions which Clay invested in Maxatil goes down the drain. Clay is forced to declare bankruptcy, close down his firm, give up his assets, and surrender his license to practice law. The FBI stops pursuing their case against Clay due to the loyalty of an old friend who refuses to provide incriminating evidence. This is one of those books I can't stop thinking about! I read it for a business law class I'm taking and it is great! Clay tries his best to help his client, plunging into the most dangerous parts of the Washington D.C. slums in search of evidence which may help his case.That said, I loved this story and the writing. It was so good to delve into a really great legal thriller. One day he reluctantly takes on the case of Tequila Watson, a man accused of a random street killing.

The happy ending literally made me want to throw up. Given how phony the love story was it was like a big F.U. to everyone who actually read the book. Grisham continues to impress with his daring, venturing out of legal thrillers entirely for A Painted House There is some bad language and violence but nothing graphic. There are sexual inferences and some lude remarks but again not graphic. Clay finds himself suing a large company for a bad drug-- all with the help of this mysterious man who has befriended him. When he becomes a multi-millionaire overnight, the smell of money and his greed only increase. He is hailed as the "King of Torts" and instantly thrown into the spotlight. He buys houses and jets and big boats. He becomes even more greedy and careless, and ultimately winds up with next to nothing. The Maxatil case collapsed and Clay went bankrupt. "Oh, Rebecca," he sighed, "leave your husband and let's just live on love and goodness and air."This is a good book for those who believe that if they get that promotion, that new house, that new car or whatever it might be, it will satisfy. It won't. Class actions are a fraud, at least the way you and your pals handle them. Mass torts are a scam, a consumer rip-off, a lottery driven by greed that will one day harm all of us. Unbridled greed will swing the pendulum to the other side. Reforms will take place, and they’ll be severe. You boys will be out of business but you won’t care because you’ll have the money. The people who’ll get harmed are all the future plaintiffs out there, all the little people who won’t be able to sue for bad products because you boys have screwed up the law. The biblical principles in this novel are obvious. The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. The rich man went away sad when Jesus suggested he should give up his wealth. Another man stored up wealth in barns but was called a fool when God took his life and he wasn't prepared to meet his Maker. We are told not to love the world or anything in the world. There are numerous warnings about those who choose money over God. Even from a less religious perspective we know that absolute power corrupts absolutely.... Grisham's storytelling genius reminds us that when it comes to legal drama, the master is in a league of his own.' - Daily Record Ever seen those ads on TV where the actor playing the lawyer looks at you straight in the eye and appeals to you," If you or a loved one, has taken this medication...etc. etc., call toll free, you may be entitled to some money…?"

I'm a bad, bad man," he wailed. "I have followed the path of materialism and abandoned the path of righteousness. I have made innocent people suffer." Watson insists that he somehow wasn't in control of his body when he pulled the trigger, a story which Clay tries to dismiss, but can't get out of his mind. But after reading The Street Lawyer and now the King of Torts, I had a hard time giving another of his books much thought. Unfortunately, in a bargain, I had bought many of his books and now I'm going to try and finish the lot (to get my money's worth). John Grisham's The King of Torts, a fast-paced, edgy legal thriller with surprises and twists along the way, answers these and other questions as we follow the rise and fall of one lawyer who gives in to temptation.Most people are chasing money in some form or another. The point that this novel makes is that even when one gains more of it than they know what to do with. They will not be happy. It brings out the consequences in terms of friendships, relationships, health and just generally the emptiness of a life focused on temporary things that will be worthless in eternity. And he is aghast at the brash loud lawyers aggressively filing without knowing too much about the drugs. Yet soon he is one of these boys, complete with a trophy girlfriend, a private jet and flattering media coverage as "The King of Torts." Clay's financial/legal hubris knows few bounds, and soon he's overextended, his future hanging on the results of one product liability trial. The tension is considerable throughout, and readers will like the gentle ending, but Grisham's aim here clearly is to educate as he entertains. He can be didactic ("'Nobody earns ten million dollars in six months, Clay,'" a friend warns. "'You might win it, steal it, or have it drop out of the sky, but nobody earns money like that. It's ridiculous and obscene'"), but readers will applaud Grisham's fierce moral stance (while perhaps wondering what sort of advance he got for this book) as they cling to his words every step along the way of this powerful and gripping morality tale. (On sale Feb. 4) Clay, an experienced public defender, knows where to look for evidence that isn’t easily or readily available. He scours seedy parts of the city to find potential sources and witnesses that might help the case. During his investigation, Clay stumbles upon the records of another man who was convicted of murder. The man had no motive for killing a stranger, and he didn’t feel in control of his body. This makes Clay believe there’s something more disturbing going on than a random killing.