[Working in the company that I do, holidays are hard to come by. And when one indeed manages to get one, one tends to grab it with both the three hands. :-)
That is precisely what I did on a particular holiday that I got on ‘Holi’ day. I read the reviewed 376-page-book fully and felt satisfied. I wish my boss asked me about my output for the day that day, instead of all the working days he does.
I have always wondered why I have never been gifted with books, when all my family and friends knew that it would be my most cherished gift. Incidentally, this is one of the few books that were ever gifted to me. My friend gifted me this book for the New Year. And, yes, the New Year, along with the book, has indeed brought me luck]
The Author
John Grisham is one of the prominent writers in the contemporary Pulp Fiction arena. His forte is ‘legal thrillers’ and is the undisputed master in it. After majoring in Accounting and graduating in law, he went on to practice law for nearly a decade, before he took to writing.
Though his first book, A Time to Kill was not a great success in its first outing in 1987, his second book, The Firm became the best selling novel of 1991. All of his subsequent novels have become best sellers and six of his novels have been turned into movies. He has churned out one book a year and The King of Torts is his latest book published in February 2003.
The Story
The theme of the book is about how greedy-mass-tort-lawyers “operate” in class action suits filed against big corporations. It exposes how the whole “scheme” of settlement works and who actually makes money out of the deal.
The protagonist of the novel is a certain Clay Carter, a lawyer in the Office of the Public Defender. Clay is a bright law graduate, who dreamt big, but finds himself in the detesting career at the OPD, is on the brink of bankruptcy and with a girlfriend, whose parents treats him like a moron.
The events start when Clay, against his wishes, is forced to take up yet another ordinary and senseless murder case. The defendant of the trial is a teenager, who has shot and killed a man, after taking a drug that has been suspected of causing similar psychotic episodes. However disinterested Clay was initially to take up the case, as he dug more into the facts of the case, he stumbled upon a conspiracy too hard for him to imagine.
Clay soon finds himself in the midst of a moral dilemma. Offered a fortune by the pharmaceutical company who manufactures the above drug in question, Clay succumbs to greed and rises to the dubious position as ’’king of torts’’ - losing his moral temperament and the woman he loves in the process.
The story takes a new turn from there and leads to a different dimension. Clay indulges in wealth and wrongdoing in his newfound fame. This results to the eventual doom of Clay. Clay is left longing for his ‘unsinful’ (if one may coin such a term) days and old love, which is what he gets in the end.
What I liked about the Book
Lightening Pace - The book, like all other books of Grisham, is fast-paced. The pace is addictive and compelling and once I started reading, it was difficult to put down the book. The story never seemed to drag and takes the reader along with the flow. As I said in the intro, I finished the book in one day flat. Zoom…!
Characterisations - The portrayal of characters has been done with a great deal of thought and imagination. Clay Carter is both the hero and the villain of the story. Readers can immediately relate to the feelings of Clay Carter with his going-nowhere job and lack of status. It is obvious to the reader why he falls for the ‘deal’. The character of Max Pace, the professional executioner, is an interesting one. Bennett Van Horn, as father of Clay’s girlfriend Rebecca, is another interesting character.
Elements of sarcasm - I found that the author has sowed seeds of sarcasm in the whole novel, though sparingly. The power of television media, the dialogue-exchange between Clay and Patton French on the need of a private jet, the vulture-like-approach of lawyers whenever they smell blood (read ‘money’), all smacked of subtle sarcasm.
Awareness on class-action litigation - The book, in addition, also educated me on mass tort action. I felt like having attended an introductory session on mass action. The book could also be looked at as a convincing case for legal reforms.
What I disliked about the Book
The Climax / Ending - The climax was a dampener. The build-up was good and the book did hold great promise, but eventually it failed to deliver in the end. The ending also appeared very predictable and contrived to me; with a typical Bollywood touch to it. I believe it was made so to please the average reader, but it defied sense to me.
Story Line - The story line in most part appeared very unrealistic. It kept me reminding about Rajanikant and Bollywood movies, with events happening in the most unbelievable fashion.
Meekness of the characters around the protagonist - All the characters, other than Clay, seemed lacking self-will and were made out as puppet’s in Clay’s hands, to be used as and when he required.
Portrayal of the legal system - Grisham has portrayed lawyers as blood-sucking greedy evil beasts. The legal system cannot be that bad, atleast I hope so.
My Opinion about the Book
The spellbinding pace, the insight into mass action, the sarcasm, all combined together does compensate for the dull ending. And by that measure, the book is definitely worth a read, though by no means is it a classic (or even doesn’t have the stuff to become a bestseller). But let me tell you, Grisham has lost more fans than he made by this book. Lets just put it down as, a book to borrow (or receive as gift) but not to buy.