In The King of Torts, John Grisham takes on the tort lawyers, attorneys who file large class action suits that brings massive payouts from corporations.
A few of those dollars make it into the plaintiff’s wallets, but huge amounts go to the lawyers who represent them. Clay Carter is a public defender close to burn out and disgruntled by his lack of a career. A mysterious man in black then comes to him with inside information on a drug that causes people to commit murder, and if Carter sets up his own law firm, he can win huge payouts with this information.
This sets Carter on a furious path to wealth and the moniker ’’King of Torts’’ as the man in black continues to feed him inside information on different companies. In typical Grisham fashion, there in no gray area and there’s a clear delineation between good and evil, lots of thrills, and a predictable ending. The King of Torts has gathered mixed reviews, probably due to each reviewers preference, or lack thereof, for Grisham’s literary style.
Tone of story - Dry-cynical - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story: - 1980’s-1999 - present (2000-2010)
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Legal Thriller? Yes
Legal Plotlets - civil suit to get justice
Main Character
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - a lawyer creature
Age: - 20’s-30’s
Eccentric/Mental: Yes
Eccentric: - obsessed
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events? Yes
How much violence does he/she use? - none
Ethnicity/Race - White/American
How sensitive is this character? - middling sensitive to others’ feelings - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters
Physique - average physique
Main Adversary
Identity: - Male - Female
Age: - 40’s-50’s - 60’s-90’s
Profession/status: - a lawyer creature
Eccentric: Yes - obsessed
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in: - almost none - a moderate amount
Motive of antagonist - money/treasure - jealousy
The antagonists are: - lawyer creatures
How sensitive is this character? - hard edged - mean, arrogant
Sense of humor - Cynical sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - very athletic - average physique
Setting
City? Yes
City: - New York - dangerous - Washington D.C.
Misc setting - fancy mansion
Style
Person - mostly 1st - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment - moderately detailed references to deaths
How many deaths? - 0 (not a murder mystery) - 8 or more
Sex Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references - descript of kissing - descript. of breasts
Unusual forms of death - perforation--bullets
Unusual form of death? Yes
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog - significantly more descript than dialog