I’d say 4.5 stars. This is one of the better books in the late 90s/early 00s from Grisham. I had read this before and remembered the basic premise, but forgot the good details from the story.

My only complaint about the story is how Lake was absolved/kept out of the troubles he created. I would have liked to see what would have happened had he tried to solve the problems before Teddy got involved and waved his magic wand.

This was different from most of Grisham’s stories since it didn’t involve any of the courtroom machinations and only involved lawyers in a roundabout way.

Grisham does a good job with political stories. The Appeal is another novel of his where he deals phenomenally with the politics of the law. I’d enjoy it if he wrote those stories more often.

I believe that this my first John Grisham book (I may have read one a long time ago). Ending is anti-climatic.

although there is no description about the story that much, the way the story went was great. no mistakes in the error department but the ending should have been a bit better.

Thought this was a great Grisham book, though a bit predictable, it was well-written, suspense-driven, fast-paced, a book that kept my interest and made me want to read more.

I consider myself a Grisham junkie. His books are my guilty pleasure. I usually read one after reading a series of heavy titles to give my brain a break. This is my least favorite Grisham title that I've read to date, and maybe because it's so dated. Written in 2000, it feels wildly un-PC and out of touch with current society. Perhaps the greatest takeaway for me is seeing how dramatically different the subject of homosexuality has come to be viewed in 21 short years.

Great book. Wished the ending wasn't so predictable.

Over the course of my life, I have read several John Grisham novels. I have generally found them engaging, entertaining, and illuminating. I completed The Brethren some time ago and have found myself ruminating on this book for a while, which I believe is something I should do way more often. On the one hand, the concept of three incarcerated former judges performing their judicial responsibilities while wards of the state are intriguing. Granted the jail in this case is a minimum-security federal facility, more a detention resort if you will, but I found almost every character unbearably unlikeable. More to the issue is that I had never read this book, nor about this book, and I find the overtly homophobic plot troubling. Within the first few pages, a gay inmate is portrayed in clownish parody and from there it gets worse. These judges are the main characters. They have employed a catfish scheme designed to embarrass closeted men and threaten to out them if they refuse to accept the blackmail. I, immediately thought, “Who gives a $#!+?” Maybe at the time this was written, there was a huge stigma, but I thank God that we have moved passed such behavior (to a certain extent.) Once I began to understand the framework that was being constructed, it is very easy to determine where the author is going when the subplot of a national election is introduced. This was pretty bad. I read every word and feel lessened by the experience. So, if you respect my opinion and want to read a Grisham novel (there are some good ones) this is not it. Avoid this one.

Another marvelous work from John Grisham. It started slow for me, but it grabbed me later on and didn't let go.

A story of three incarcerated judges in a Florida prison that posted a fake ad on a magazine advertising that they were young gay guys looking for pen pals.

Having many victims with this scam, they eventually got a big fish in the person of Aaron Lake, the favourite for the United States presidential race, and things go haywire.

A bit anticlimactic at the end, but loved it nonetheless.

I have to admit that I am a Grisham fan. This one was fantastic. I enjoyed the plot twists and the suspense. A truly great book.

A good start, an average plot, a poor ending. One expects more from the writer of 'The Chamber'.

A very interesting read that, to me, seems very politic heavy. There are elements of the legal system in here with Judges who are imprisoned handle cases where they are also they also have a side 'business' which not many know about apart from a set few, including a lawyer who does is their 'runner'.

Being honest, it did take me two goes to actually start this novel but that is more my fault rather than anything else. I do not normally read the descriptions of novels as I much prefer the author to take me on the journey and tell me what the story is all about rather than reading a 'briefing of it'. I had not fully appreciated that this would feature a lot more politics than I would normally like to read - it is not one of those types of stories that I would naturally gravitate towards. The first time around I think I reached just over the 50 pages and then set it aside and that was back in January this year. I decided to give this one another go now as I really want to read more of John Grisham's books and this was the next on the list (I am reading them in publication order). This time I knew what I was getting into, took my time and really got stuck into the story. This second time, I really enjoyed it once I got used to the political system in the US (I am from the UK).

This story has a very interesting plot that can still mostly be applied today although I would like to hope that society is a lot more open about certain issues now than it was back in 2005 (this was originally written in 2005). The main plot is you have three judges who exploit vulnerable males in a money scam. Each of these males have a secret that they would not want their family to find out.

A really great political legal thriller that centers around social issues.



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Debs :-)

The usual entertainment, a very fast readable book.
Some parts looks like Jeffrey Archer, including the happy end, although I didn't like that the three crooks escape well and healthy and Trevor, the lawyer (a much more innocent fellow) is killed by CIA. Another strange facts: Lake's letter to Carol, which by mistake reaches to Trumble, and Spicer's handwriting known, although he hasn't written to the victims.