Thursday, February 21, 2008

THE BRETHREN by John Grisham


The Brethren is another guilty pleasure from John Grisham. Three judges in prison, known as, you guessed it, "the Brethren," have come up with a seemingly perfect extortion scheme, and they're the most likeable characters in the book. What's wrong with this picture? At some level, I guess I admired their resourcefulness. The book is all about money and power, and the character development is nil. The Brethren's biggest vulnerability is their alcoholic attorney who shuffles their correspondence. Will he betray them and make off with their loot? Who's going to win out—the Brethren or their high-profile victim whose ethics are really no better than theirs, and he lacks their charisma. And, best of all, was Grisham prescient in foreseeing events that occurred after his book came out in 2000?

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