What? John Grisham's The Brethren. What’s it about? Basically, a gay mail scam scheme gone wrong, a presidential election and three former disgraced judges.
Backcover Description: They call themselves the Brethren: three disgraced former judges doing time in a Florida federal prison.
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...
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...
So, is it worth reading? The Brethren starts as any Grisham novel, starting slowly and developing the plot page-by-page. The Brethren are 3 former disgraced judges serving time in a minimum security prison who decide they need to get rich quick and they develop a gay mail scam. But their scam ensnares a wrong victim, a presidential candidate. And thus starts the true plot.
But does the plot work? Only partly. The plot is dependent and seems to focus more on the victim(s) rather than the protagonists (the brethren) themselves. The pace is slow and you wonder where the novel is going. The quintessential John Grisham chase comes very late in the novel but does help in making the proceedings a tad interesing. However, it is too short, too late. The ending is somewhat better and actually complements the plot. Just don't expect the usual top-notch Grisham writing and you might have a good time with it.
Rating: 3/5 (find out about ratings here).
Final Word (Go or no go?): Go!
Where do I buy this? See link below.
