I’m currently reading…The Brethren
October 8, 2007
I must confess that I went off Mr. Grisham a few years ago.
Every book was the same: some plot that inevitably centred around a long, drawn-out legal drama.
And so I’ve had this book sitting in my bookcase for about three or four years, and only re-discovered it last week. I picked it up and decided to give it and its author another chance…
…and so I’m currently reading The Brethren by John Grisham.
Was the book good enough to re-kindle my love for John Grisham?
The answer is a resounding yes!
Three inmates at a minimum security prison – all former judges known collectively as The Brethren – are determined that they will finish their incarceration much richer than when they started.
They start a scam: pretending to be a vulnerable, young gay man who is looking for a more mature man for ‘friendship’. They advertise in the back pages of magazines and lie in wait for wealthy, older men who are often in the closet and have much to lose from being ‘outed’. Once snagged, blackmail is the name of the game.
At least, it is until they snare a powerful politician and the CIA gets involved…
…I liked how the two sub-plots connected, although it was disappointing to be able to work out where the story was going from quite early on in the book. His cynicism of the world of politics and international security was contagious, and made it hard not to wonder how widespread such dubious scheming really is. I mean, how else does one explain a certain George W. Bush being elected to the highest position in the United States? Twice?!
Grisham made this a difficult book for me to put down, and I enjoyed it immensely.
As always, it’s available on Amazon.
