If I wanted a tour guide for Italy or a tutorial on learning Italian, I would not go to John Grisham. Once we get past that nonsense, the book picks up and gets quite interesting. The ending left me wanting for more and wondering if Grisham has a sequel in the process for Joel Backman. 6 out of 10.

Grisham delivered, but only after lagging for a good portion of the book. Being who he is, my expectations are higher, and I know I'm tougher on him because of who he is, but I felt he could have slashed 30-60 pages of foundation and description, and the story would have been better.

I felt like J. G. was too enamored with his research in this one but admit to being intrigued enough with his main character to persevere to the end. I really cared about what happened to the man, which means Grisham did his job. He delivered and pleasantly surprised me with a well-planned though less than climactic ending. I'm still a Grisham fan.

An enjoyable read by Grisham!

Another Grisham hit! The former lawyer-turned-writer proves he is a master of contemporary thrillers. It's stylish, suspenseful, and mind-boggling over how far the intelligence communities will go to have their way.

Grisham wrote how he spent some months in Tuscany (a favorite place of his) during the writing of this book, and gained 10 lbs. (what a way to go, I say). I suspect the person on the cover is the author himself showing us his backside! Can't prove it, and think it's great if that's the case.

The book I reviewing is The Broker by John Grisham. It's a fiction story based on the world of politics, crime and espionage.
t The broker is about Joel Backman who is a broker who has stumble onto a conspiracy about a satellite surveillance system that can corrupt the power in office and the he also try to sell this satellite to the highest bidder in the world for a great profit that will benefit him. What the government does is they incarcerate him for 6 years to make sure that the secret of the satellite doesn't get leaked out then an unexpected presidential pardon release him of his 20 year sentence with the CIA haven different intention they ship him to a oversea country in a military cargo ship, his new home Italy, new identity, no friends besides his CIA friend and mentor Lugi and his Italian instructors.
tI found this book very exciting that man just been released just to be killed what a plot in a book. knowing that this man was able to outwit many people in his new home of Italy and that he was able to withstand whatever the government has thrown at him the ability to adapt to in a new environment was exceptionally impressive in this book new language, customs and tradition learned in merely in a couple of weeks what an outstanding person this Joel Backman is.
tThis book was so descriptive telling every detail that was necessary for you to get an enchanted feeling of the book just like if you was in Italy describing the smell of the food the customs how so different and oddly more polite then American customs.
tThis book reflects many subjects in life how the book talks about the power in government how it’s twisted and how the world is now. that not all what can be done is being done but the people are merely just looking out for themselves cant really compare a matter such big to a simple life style for myself but if I get compare I would say that know days no one can do anything with out someone that is watching them do I'm saying that people are always overview my life how Joel Backman was.
tWho would I recommend this book to that's an excellent question to ask? I would say anyone who likes to read about conspiracy espionage and so what.
tIn conclusion this book is outstanding excellent beyond expectation of what I have pictured. Excellent plot and story line very interesting enjoyable would recommend it to anyone who likes to read. Descriptive one of the best works of fiction I have read so far.
t

Itally for beginners

A wonderful travel guide book about Italy with a main focus on Bologna, its impressive history, architecture and sightseeing tours. A pure inspiration for booking an Italian cooking course or to start to learn Italian. A side spy-thriller story at the beginning and at the end of the book was slightly out of place but it served its purpose: when you finish this book you won't have any doubts that Italy is much better place to live than Washington.


P.S. Especially if you listen to Italian speaking by Michael Beck who proficiently narrated this audio book.


Qual è la tua prossima destinazione per le vacanze?

This is one of those books I picked up to read for technique rather than from a recommendation or particular desire. Well established genre writers are often masters of certain aspects of the craft, and are well worth learning from.

In this case, I didn't expect to read much more than a few chapters. But the opening was fascinating and beguiling and kept me reading. I really admire the way Grisham presents us with a reprehensible character, gets us to follow him because of grim fascination and then bit by bit tricks us into identifying with him and caring what happens. That was beautifully done.

Then we enter act two of the novel. It was here I had my main problem. Approximately half the book is composed of a travel and language guide to Italy. If that is your thing then you will probably love this book. But I found myself skimming over many pages without losing anything of the story. It was either that the author wrote a perfectly good thriller and then decided it was 30,000 words too short and cut and pasted a load of padding from his travel diary. Or he loves Italian language and culture so much that it blinded his judgement of how to write a thriller.

Having said that, you can't please all of the people all of the time as a writer. Nor should you try. And it may be that I am just not the target audience here.

this is so intense, addictive, with a beautiful climax ending. ada beberapa plot hole memang, dan ketidaksinkronan kecil. but, since i found the rhythm, John Grisham never disappointed me.

Picked this off of one of my bookshelves thinking I had not read it and fifty pages in, realized I had, but it is so good, especially in the lovely descriptions of one of my favorite destinations, Italy, that I read it again. I think I enjoyed it even more this time!


Most of this novel is set in Bologna, Italy, and I was reading it while vacationing in Warsaw, Poland, so I found myself absorbed by Grisham's descriptions of lovely Bologna (been to Florence, Rome, Pisa and Venice but not Bologna) while really absorbed by the beauty of Warsaw. Interesting, but the descriptions aren't all - this is the first book of Grisham's that I thought was taut and suspenseful. To be fair, I've only read A Time to Kill, one of the handful of novels that was actually a better movie than book, and The Firm. This novel was far better, about a white collar criminal in federal prison for six years who is fully pardoned by the President, then hidden in Italy by the CIA so that they can see which of his many enemies arrives to assassinate him. Well written and didn't for a minute lose my interest.

Fun, I liked the intro to Italy and tips for not looking like a tourist. I also liked the idea of a pardoned man escaping to Italy to hide (and be used as bait).

Some of the characters were memorable, but for the most part, the plot disintegrated about two-thirds through the book. Great villians were introduced and then abandoned. Suspense grew that there would be an attack on Backman, but it fizzled like a wet firework.

I would love to see Grisham as he was in The Firm, or Pelican Brief, but he has at least improved since The Summons, so I'll give him two and a half stars for trying. He really needs to fire his editor because it's a crime that some of the more glaring plot errors made it to print. Overall a fun book to read. Fairly clean, maybe even a diamond in the rough.

I wrote a review. Can’t find on GoodReads. Strange. Anyway, like I wrote earlier, Grisham picked up a guide book on Italy and half heartedly tried to weave a story around it. Fails miserably. He admits in the Notes at the end of the book that espionage isn’t his forte, if only he had listened to himself! It’s an insipid fair, better left unread. Instead pick up a Le Carré!

To begin with, I'm not really "Finished," as in "I read the whole thing" Finished.

I'm "Finished," as "I am done with this dull as dishwater time suck."

Now that we have cleared that up, let's talk about what's wrong with this book that I abandoned about halfway through.

Everything.

Want me to be more precise?

Imagine a "page turner" where there a whole passages that are Italian vocabulary lessons. I kid you not. You see, the problem is that or "hero" has been transported to Italy by the CIA so (spoiler alert) someone other than the CIA can kill him*. This of course requires our English-only hero to learn Italian because God forbid he be granted a degree of facility with the language before. Nope. We get Sentence in Italian. English Translation. Sentence in Italian. English Translation. Yeah. Riveting stuff.

I was ok with the first twenty, and then the first fifty pages being all premise, setting up the rules on which a exciting plot could be hung. But, alas, half way through and the most exciting thing is the question of whether our "hero" will get to speak English or have to speak Italian at lunch with his tutor.

Now, about that *. Remember this fact: Our hero is removed from prison and transplanted to Italy so one of his many international enemies can kill him quietly and the CIA will not have their fingerprints on the kill. That is like the whole damn premise of this book.

Well guess what happens, about 100 pages in? The CIA quietly arranges to kill another US citizen in London who was NOT in hiding, NOT using an assumed name, NOT having endless Italian lessons, etc. And the guys dies without anyone suspecting the CIA.

Gee, why couldn't they do this for the main guy?

Well, that would have meant poor John Grisham wouldn't get an extended, tax-deductible or expense account sojourn to Italy. Yup. That is what this book feels like. Grisham essentially admits this in the acknowledgements. He says he "threw a dart" at a map to decide where to place our hero in hiding. He also states his eyes were open and that he loves Italy. Yup, John "More Money Than God" Grisham just wanted an excuse to hang out in Bologna for a few months on someone else's tab.

Nice work of you can get it. And he did!

And here's the thing. I love Italy. No, I really LOVE Italy. Heck, I picked up this book because it's set in Bologna and I'm going there in a few months. Gonna read me some Bologna-based fiction, I said. Grisham? He's exciting, I said.

I was expecting something a tad more scintillating than: Marco ordered "Un panini prosciutto e formaggio." A ham and cheese sandwich.

Thank heavens I got this from the library. I didn't waste $12 on this. Just a few hours I will NEVER GET BACK.

Ciao. (Bye)