Could not put this book down on the #roadtothenorthendpooldeck! Great story and love the ties to Italy - reminds of playing for pizza, another Grisham. Awesome Grisham I’d recommend to anyone!

I wasn't really sure what I wanted to read a book this month. I kinda just looked at the mystery genre and picked out a book that I thought would interest me. It's funny how books are the one thing that we do judge solely based on the cover sometimes. Anyways, The Broker by John Grisham certainly didn't disappoint.

It starts out by with sitting President Morgan, who is on his way out after a historically bad campaign, pardoning the notorious Joel Backman, sentenced to years in prison for stealing of classified documents. This was done due to the advice of the Director of the CIA, Teddy Maynard. While Morgan simply wanted to spite America for his horrid campaign, Teddy had other ideas. He wanted to relocate Backman, leak his location, and try to get another country to kill him. Much of the book is spent covering Joel's transition to Italian (the country to which he is relocated) life, including a name change to Marco Lazzeri. As this goes on, however, many subtle hints are dropped as to what Joel's past holds. When the CIA finally leaks Joel's whereabouts to other countries, the climax happens. I can't give spoilers and I had a whole great explanation of what was going to happen next with the whole why the CIA wants to kill Joel, why they can't do it on their own. But no spoilers, so I'll have to settle for a nice little READ THE BOOK AND ALL WILL BE REVEALED.

Grisham's way of hiding much of both Joel's past and the CIA's plans really drew me in. I wanted to know what they were planning for Joel, and why they were even doing this in the first place. It turns out they really wanted to know who owned that satellite.

What didn't appeal to me as much was the amount of time spent on Joel's assimilation into Italian culture. While I do think it was necessary for both the overall story and the buildup to the climax, it was kind of boring for me. That was really my only problem, and I didn't think it was worth taking a star off a perfect rating. Clearly, this is a masterfully written 5 star book.

"Blah blah???"
"Blah blah blah!"
"Blah blah blah..."
"Blah."
"Blah blah blah blah blah blah."
*sighs*
"Blah blah blah blah."

This book was terrible. I couldn't finish it.

"The Broker is smart, quick and fun. Time will slip by ... It has 'Major Motion Picture' written on every page." - Rocky Mountain News

I stopped reading at page 208 because I said to myself that I am not going to let time slip by while reading this book. I replaced the above dialogue with blahs because after a while I just stopped caring about what was being said as most of it was inconsequential chatter between disposable characters. Hardly thrilling.

***Tough Move Guy Voice reading the summary of The Broker***
"... Then, the CIA will do what it does best... sit back and watch."

As of yet, there has been no major motion picture based on a page from this book.

Este livro foge um pouco ao estilo mais marcado de Grisham. O tema não versa completamente sobre o mundo dos tribunais, mas sim sobre a vida atribulada de um advogado que tenta vender um segredo industrial de um grupo de jovens paquistaneses. A vida de Backman, conhecido como “o corretor”, vira um inferno e passa pela sua detenção num estabelecimento prisional, durante seis anos. Após um indulto presidencial é deslocado para Itália mas a sua cabeça encontra-se a prémio sendo perseguido por agentes secretos das maiores potências mundiais.

Originally posted at: http://lasrmystery.blogspot.com/2012/...


He might have pled guilty, but that doesn't mean he was.

Okay, so why would an innocent man plead guilty if he wasn't? That's what The Broker is about. There are a very few auto-buy authors for me. John Grisham is one of those authors. Once I sit down to read one of his books, I'm there for the long haul. I never know what will happen next and can't wait to find out how it happens.

Joel Backman did a lot of bad things. He brokered deals, moved money, oh and he had these disks. What are on those disks? That's what everyone wants to know. Joel managed to get his hands on a satellite system, but he refused to give it up fast. So the government intervened. Someone will off the man who has the secrets, right?

I knew going in this would be a tale full of twists and turns. I wasn't let down. There were times when I thought I had this story figured out and I was totally off. I love that in a book. I also got really involved in the story. I wanted to make sure that certain secondary characters were treated with dignity, and made it out alive. I can't say what all happened, but I am one satisfied reader. Joel might have done those bad things. He might have swindled some money and made promises no one can keep, but his evolution through the book made me root for him. I wanted to see him get his happily ever after. I thought about him and the secondary characters long after I had to put the book down - because I fell asleep. I wanted to keep reading but my eyes didn't cooperate. That's a great thing.

If you want a book that's got twists, turns and a plot you won't forget, then this might be the book for you!

This book is about a power broker named Joel Backman. During his time as a high ranking attorney in Washington, three young, but brilliant, Pakistanis discover a surveillance satellite that has technology that is decades ahead of everyone else. The Pakistanis find a way to take over the satellite and manipulate it to work for them. Joel Backman decides to help them sell the program but when all three are found dead and no one accepts responsibility for the killings or the satellite, Joel becomes worried for his life. When the CIA arrest him for past crimes, he quickly pleads guilty and serves time.

After serving 6 years in prison, the President gives Joel a full pardon in the eleventh hour of his presidency. It looks like Joel will get out early and earn 14 years of his life back. But the catch is he has to move out of the country and take on a whole new identity. Backman agrees with this idea because he is still worried about the people who killed his three young partners. He takes up his new life in the small Italian town of Bologna as Marco Lazerri. He spends the majority of his time learning the culture and, of course, the language. What he doesn't know is that the CIA planned the pardon from the beginning. They pardoned Backman and then leaked the information of his new identity to the possible countries that would've had motive behind the killings six years earlier. They figure that once the broker's location and new identity is "discovered", the actual owner will exact their revenge on Backman by assassination. Backman is the cheese in the mousetrap and the CIA does not worry if he gets eaten so long as they can locate the mouse.

I enjoyed reading this book. It was hard to follow in the beginning but really picked up after the first 75 pages. It has a lot of suspense and twists. The location gives the author an opportunity to share his love and knowledge of Italian history, architecture and food. I would recommend it if you have read other novels by John Grisham, but it is a harder read and takes a lot of time to finish.

Having decided to read all of John Grisham's novels starting with his first published and working my way up, I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey each and every book has taken me on. It has also been very interesting to follow his writing, from book to book, and see his growth as an author. This book was one of those that I had not picked up yet, so I was reading this for the first time and it definitely did not disappoint.

I have to admit that I do struggle with stories based on political themes, especially if those are not in the country I am living in, but with this novel it really didn't matter too much. Everything was told in a way that explained to me what was going on, without being preachy, and made it easier for me to understand what was going on.

What I loved about this story was the main character Backman, following his story and watching him as he navigates his way through situations that he was being placed in. You also have the character of Teddy Maynard who while I was reading this I was thinking that I recognised this characters. Once I had finished reading, I checked out the character and indeed I had come across this character before in The Brethren! I love it when you have things like this occur in books.

A intriguing and thrilling suspense that I would certainly highly recommend, especially if you like political thrillers.



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Debs :-)

Everyone who's ever read any Grisham knows that he has the world's most convenient plots. Things that wouldn't occur under any other circumstances happen in his books. To make the suspension of disbelief even harder for me, I've worked in the U. S. legal field for 40 years, in both civil and criminal litigation. Thus, I know how it really works.

I'd actually given up reading his books when during The Runaway Jury I said to myself four times "Like that would ever happen!" But I have a very good friend who continues to read his books and who promised me that, because the plot of this one is not about a law firm, I'd like it. Hmmm.

Well, I found a hard back copy for a dollar and figured at that price I had nothing to lose. Still, it took me more than 8 months to finally pick it up during a bout of insomnia in the hopes that reading a bit of it would send me back to sleep. No, it sent me back to bed muttering about convenient plots.

As usual in his plots, some of it made little sense, even when he provided an explanation. Some of the characters were cookie cutter. However, there were some strengths in this book. It was a quick read (if not exactly page turning). There were nice descriptions of Italy and historical information on Bologna and some of the cathedrals and other sights. The ending was considerably more realistic than he usually serves up, a refreshing change from old.

So, if you find a cheap copy and have a few hours to while away, read The Broker.

What else can you expect from John Grisham? Fun read, passed the time just fine. As with all of his books, it fulfilled my purpose of escaping into a book.

Great holiday read. I felt he rushed the ending.

Мудреная шпионская история, где ни хрена не понятно - кто, зачем, почему именно в Италию?, но читать ужасно интересно.

Еще мне очень нравится, как Гришэм незамысловато называет свои романы, я такое уважаю, почитаю что-нибудь еще. Даже вот четверочку поставлю.

Mi è sembrato che l’abbia scritto mentre stava facendo altro. La seconda stella è alla carriera.