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The Brethren | 
 enlarge | Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Island Books
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
Buy Used: $0.01
You Save: $7.98 (100%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  1026 reviews
Sales Rank: 24383
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7 x 4.6 x 1.5
ISBN: 0440236673
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780440236672
ASIN: 0440236673
Publication Date: December 26, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Shipping: International shipping available
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Amazon.com Review
John Grisham's novels have all been so systematically successful that it is easy to forget he is just one man toiling away silently with a pen, experimenting and improving with each book. While not as gifted a prose stylist as Scott Turow, Grisham is among the best plotters in the thriller business, and he infuses his books with a moral valence and creative vision that set them apart from their peers. The Brethren is in many respects his most daring book yet. The novel grows from two separate subplots. In the first, three imprisoned ex-judges (the "brethren" in the title), frustrated by their loss of power and influence, concoct an elaborate blackmail scheme that preys on wealthy, closeted gay men. The second story traces the rise of presidential candidate Aaron Lake, a puppet essentially created by CIA director Teddy Maynard to fulfill Maynard's plans for restoring the power of his beleaguered agency. Grisham's tight control of the two meandering threads leaves the reader guessing through most of the opening chapters how and when these two worlds will collide. Also impressive is Grisham's careful portraiture. Justice Hatlee Beech in particular is a fascinating, tragic anti-hero: a millionaire judge with an appointment for life who was rendered divorced, bankrupt, and friendless after his conviction for a drunk-driving homicide. The book's cynical view of presidential politics and criminal justice casts a somewhat gloomy shadow over the tale. CIA director Teddy Maynard is an all-powerful demon with absolute knowledge and control of the public will and public funds. Even his candidate, Congressman Lake, is a pawn in Maynard's egomaniacal game of ad campaigns, illicit contributions, and international intrigue. In the end, The Brethren marks a transition in Grisham's career toward a more thoughtful narrative style with less interest in the big-payoff blockbuster ending. But that's not to say that the last 50 pages won't keep your reading light turned on late. --Patrick O'Kelley
Product Description
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. And 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. And so they sit, sprawled in the prison library, furiously writing letters, fine-tuning a wickedly brilliant extortion scam ... while events outside their prison walls begin to erupt.
A bizarre presidential election is holding the nation in its grips -- and a powerful government figure is pulling some very hidden strings. For the Brethren, the timing couldn't be better. Because they've just found the perfect victim...
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1021 more reviews...
 Depends on the Reader September 20, 2008
The Brethren is an interesting book in some ways. A government agency tries to control a Presidential election. With a man who they believe has no skeletons from his past. At the same time 3 Judges who fell from high society on separate crimes at different times are trying to get rich using an extortion scam. It wasn't that good of a book in my opinion but it depends on the reader. This book was not a particularly good read to me.
Only Vaguely Legal Thriller Provides only Vague Thrills September 4, 2008
Three former judges are spending their retirement in a federal prison. Though this is a far from optimal situation for the judges, they make the best of it - by running mail scams. Unfortunately, one of their nets catches a big fish with dangerous friends.
The Brethren is, perhaps, John Grisham's least interesting and least thrilling book. As my brief (but actually quite thorough) description may indicate, the plot is thin. Three judges run a mail scam and an important person becomes involved. The important person's friends take measures against the judges. Unlike many of Grisham's books, there are very few plot complications - lengthy ruminations, perhaps, but little action. That is to say, very little happens. This being a Grisham book, one might expect some interesting, if hackneyed, characters or some faux-Southern color. You're not going to find it here, though. Just prison cells, generic Washington D.C. scenes and characters who are as reprehensible as they are bland. With a plot shortage and no characters worth taking an interest in, this novel cooks up a tasteless mush with its overheated prose. Definitely one you can skip unless you're a Grisham completist.
 mediocrity revealed at last August 28, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Grisham's novels are highbrow trash and this one, the Brethren, finally shows him for what he is: not worth the price of the book at all. He has made millions with his stories but this one is not at all captivating or fetching. He should go back to sitting in the southern sun.
Dull Playout of the Book's Brilliant Opening Scene April 8, 2008
If John Grisham had stopped this book after the opening scene, in essence writing just a short story, he would have done his best work. It's breathtaking.
Unfortunately for Grisham, he decided to make a novel to follow that brilliance. The novel falls far short of the promise of that beginning.
I won't tell you about the beginning because that would spoil your pleasure, but do consider stopping there.
These are the plot premises in the book:
1. Two judges and a justice of the peace are incarcerated in a minimum security Federal prison. What would life be like for these former "law upholders?"
2. Felons need money when they get out. How can they earn some while in prison?
3. Felons and wardens need non-violent ways to resolve disputes in prison. How might this be done?
4. How can a presidential election be manipulated to determine the country's foreign policy?
5. How could a bunch of crooks threaten a presidential candidacy?
A lot of the answers depend on the presumption that the world is full of stupid older men with lots of money who want to have hot, young boy friends.
This book will appeal most to those who enjoy conspiracy theories about government action and inaction.
As a crime story, I've read a lot better.
But do enjoy that opening scene.
Great Premise, Bad Ending October 8, 2007
I liked a lot of this book but was disappointed in the ending. It had a unique plot that was really interesting and fun that held my interest throughout, but it left a really bad taste in my mouth at the end.
Karen Arlettaz Zemek, Author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"
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