After a nearly ten-year long break from Grisham, I decided to try one. But The Broker was not nearly as exciting as The Firm or Pelican Brief -- my two favorites and still my yardsticks for measuring legal thrillers.
This one just strolls along, more travelogue of Bologna than thriller. It reads like Grisham wanted to spend a year in Italy; not that he had a particularly clever idea for a novel.
Nothing very exciting happens. The hero half hides, half explores Bologna; spending more time learning Italian than dodging the various international assassins hired to kill him. Then the hero solves his problems. Well, he solves all but one very major problem. And then the book, inexplicably, just ends.
Highly unsatisfying.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Book Review: The Broker
After a nearly ten-year long break from Grisham, I decided to try one. But The Broker was not nearly as exciting as The Firm or Pelican Brief -- my two favorites and still my yardsticks for measuring legal thrillers.
This one just strolls along, more travelogue of Bologna than thriller. It reads like Grisham wanted to spend a year in Italy; not that he had a particularly clever idea for a novel.
Nothing very exciting happens. The hero half hides, half explores Bologna; spending more time learning Italian than dodging the various international assassins hired to kill him. Then the hero solves his problems. Well, he solves all but one very major problem. And then the book, inexplicably, just ends.
Highly unsatisfying.