...
Show More
A different plot than Grisham typically writes but certainly within his wheelhouse. Intriguing but (mostly) missing the legal thrill.
Ease Reading-Find Your Next Favorite Book
The Brethren
...
Show More
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. ...
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. ...
440 pages, Paperback
First published February 1,2000
This edition
- Format
-
440 pages, Paperback
- Published
-
December 27, 2005 by Delta
- ISBN
-
9780385339674
- ASIN
-
0385339674
- Language
-
English
Characters More characters
-
Teddy Maynard
...
-
Aaron Lake
...
About the author
...
Show More
John Grisham is the author of fifty consecutive #1 bestsellers, which have been translated into nearly fifty languages. His recent books include Framed, Camino Ghosts, and A Time for Mercy, which is being developed by HBO as a limited series.
Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.
When he's not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.
John lives on a farm in central Virginia.
Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.
When he's not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.
John lives on a farm in central Virginia.
Readers also enjoyed
Community Reviews
Rating(3.9 / 5.0, 99 votes)
5 stars
28(28%)
4 stars
32(32%)
3 stars
39(39%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
99 reviews All reviews
...
Show More
Loved this one. Funny and cleverly written.
...
Show More
From inside Trumble, a minimum security federal prison, three former judges calling themselves 'The Brethren' organise a legal advice and inmate 'social trial' system. Their main occupation however is running a mail extortion scam, they have carefully and meticulously set it up to make a great deal of money for a few unfortunate victims.
Outside, in the real world a CIA heavy is planning to back a political candidate in order to increase military spending. It is a beautifully organised campaign that has people excited and backers lining up to fund it. It also has the perfect man to lead it, Aaron Lake is a career politician with not a single blemish on his life or career. He is the perfect candidate.
And then, the Brethren choose the wrong target...
We all know John Grisham don't we? He is an institution and even if you have not read a lot of his novels, you are bound to have seen one of the movies made from them. It had been a long time since I had read a thriller, so it took me a while to get into the mindset and the writing style. But once I had, I enjoyed reading it considerably. The plot is solid, with good scenarios and well it is a well developed novel. I have been reading a lot of indie recently, so reading a professionally edited, professionally written, well printed and produced novel was a bit of a holiday. The characters are.... well written, if a tad bit generic. It took me a while to get them sorted in my head, especially the inmates. They were described so much in the third person and it took me about half the book for the individual differences to really kick in. That was ok, you didn't really NEED to tell them apart at first, and there were not that many other characters so it did not really interfere with the story.
In all it was a fun novel, which I enjoyed and I will remember the author next time I am looking for a very Americano style, well written, thriller.
Outside, in the real world a CIA heavy is planning to back a political candidate in order to increase military spending. It is a beautifully organised campaign that has people excited and backers lining up to fund it. It also has the perfect man to lead it, Aaron Lake is a career politician with not a single blemish on his life or career. He is the perfect candidate.
And then, the Brethren choose the wrong target...
We all know John Grisham don't we? He is an institution and even if you have not read a lot of his novels, you are bound to have seen one of the movies made from them. It had been a long time since I had read a thriller, so it took me a while to get into the mindset and the writing style. But once I had, I enjoyed reading it considerably. The plot is solid, with good scenarios and well it is a well developed novel. I have been reading a lot of indie recently, so reading a professionally edited, professionally written, well printed and produced novel was a bit of a holiday. The characters are.... well written, if a tad bit generic. It took me a while to get them sorted in my head, especially the inmates. They were described so much in the third person and it took me about half the book for the individual differences to really kick in. That was ok, you didn't really NEED to tell them apart at first, and there were not that many other characters so it did not really interfere with the story.
In all it was a fun novel, which I enjoyed and I will remember the author next time I am looking for a very Americano style, well written, thriller.
...
Show More
Decent read by Grisham, but definitely not his best. The Brethren are three judges all serving time in a Florida Federal prison outside of Jacksonville for various scandalous deeds. One story arc concerns them and their "Angola" scheme (something like this did happen in Angola prison) to extort money from rich, closeted gay men. They took out an ad in some magazines, claiming they were in their 20s and looking for older men to be pen pals with. They had a picture of some guy to send the 'marks', and gradually try to reel them in by threating to expose them to their wives, etc. Their conduit to the outside is a sleazy drunk lawyer who pockets a third of their ill gotten gains.
The other story arc concerns the director of the CIA and the man he picks to be the next president. The CIA guy is an old Cold Warrior and is worried about Russia making a come-back. I should mention that this was first published in 2000. The director of the CIA picked a relatively unknown congressman from Arizona (Aaron Lake), promised him lots and lots of money, plus some rather unpleasant disasters in foreign lands (bombings, what have you) if he will run with a promise to double the defense budget. The disasters would promote a rally around the flag impulse for the American public and get Lake elected.
First off, there are no real characters to root for here; every one is sleazy and corrupt. Lake comes off the best, but still, he has no real moral values and is willing to be a CIA stooge to get elected president. The judges are terrible people and the various CIA agents are as amoral as their boss. Secondly, The Brethren has more than a whiff of homophobia and all the characters involved obviously despise the 'perverts' they extort. Hard to believe this was published in 2000! Finally, this must be the most cynical novel I have read in some time. Politics is all just about money and favors; elections can be bought, even the presidency. Not one of the characters has a stick of moral fiber.
I should say, however, that this novel is also a bit prophetic. We did get a Republican elected in 2000 and yes, he ramped up the military spending, started a few wars, etc. The federal budget surplus was also given away to tax cuts to the rich; both of these events were somewhat foretold here. This is a fast paced read, but for all that, rather boring as well. You know somehow there will be a connection between Lake and the brethren (pen pals...) leaving the big question of how the CIA will manage it when they find out. I was wavering between 2 and 3 stars on this one, but decided on 2, due to the horrible, amoral characters and the blatant homophobia.
The other story arc concerns the director of the CIA and the man he picks to be the next president. The CIA guy is an old Cold Warrior and is worried about Russia making a come-back. I should mention that this was first published in 2000. The director of the CIA picked a relatively unknown congressman from Arizona (Aaron Lake), promised him lots and lots of money, plus some rather unpleasant disasters in foreign lands (bombings, what have you) if he will run with a promise to double the defense budget. The disasters would promote a rally around the flag impulse for the American public and get Lake elected.
First off, there are no real characters to root for here; every one is sleazy and corrupt. Lake comes off the best, but still, he has no real moral values and is willing to be a CIA stooge to get elected president. The judges are terrible people and the various CIA agents are as amoral as their boss. Secondly, The Brethren has more than a whiff of homophobia and all the characters involved obviously despise the 'perverts' they extort. Hard to believe this was published in 2000! Finally, this must be the most cynical novel I have read in some time. Politics is all just about money and favors; elections can be bought, even the presidency. Not one of the characters has a stick of moral fiber.
I should say, however, that this novel is also a bit prophetic. We did get a Republican elected in 2000 and yes, he ramped up the military spending, started a few wars, etc. The federal budget surplus was also given away to tax cuts to the rich; both of these events were somewhat foretold here. This is a fast paced read, but for all that, rather boring as well. You know somehow there will be a connection between Lake and the brethren (pen pals...) leaving the big question of how the CIA will manage it when they find out. I was wavering between 2 and 3 stars on this one, but decided on 2, due to the horrible, amoral characters and the blatant homophobia.
...
Show More
De această dată subiectul abordat e diferit de cel cu care ne-a obișnuit Grisham. Dacă până acum aveam procese și strategii, de această dată tema e crearea, menținerea și protejarea unui nou președinte. Multe aspecte descrise le vedem și pe la noi, dar parcă e altceva când citești despre ele.
...
Show More
This book is very dated in terms of flat, fear-based national security politics, but it's OK because the entertaining part is in the other plot line. I enjoyed the prison scheming and the shady lawyer liaison. This is a forgettable book that is perfect for plane trips or when I'm burned out and want to read without thinking.
...
Show More
This is an enjoyable light read for when you have had your fill of theoretical non-fiction. It's a good story and nicely written in John Grisham style. I still feel that he is basically Jeffrey Archer's not-quite-so-good brother. Not bad though. Was a great holiday read that I will never read again.
...
Show More
Really enjoyed this one. It kept you guessing what would happen next. One of John Grisham's best.
Leave a Review