Sunday, June 04, 2006
The Broker by John Grisham
One of three things happened to Grisham with this book.
1. He hit a dry spell. I suppose that after thinking of every conceivable plot involving corrupt lawyers and politicians, he simply took a drive on the dry side. Everyone has them, so I can give him a mulligan on this one. After all, no one hits a home run every at bat.
2. He has run out of gas. See above. Except this...if this is what we can expect from Grisham from now on, he needs to stop typing out mediocrity and go back into the courtroom to find some new material.
3. He mailed it in. When you have sold a gazillion books and made more cash than you can spend, it is only human nature to let your standards slide a bit. Understandable, but not excusable.
What ever the case, the latest installment from the Courtroom Master is well below his standards to say the least. It varies slightly from the usual formula in that he delves into international espionage. Actually, I read an interview with him where he said that he threw a dart at a map, went to Italy for a couple months of "research" (translation: vacation), and set the novel there. That much becomes painfully obvious as much of the book reads like a travel log and Italian language lessons.
So, here's my message to Johnny G-man...
Dear John,
I'm a longtime devoted follower and reader. However, I'm not a brainless lemming who's going to follow you into literary mediocrity. You're much better than this.
If you just duffed this one, here's your mulligan. If you think this was a good novel, then you seriously need to hire an editor who will look you in the eye and say, "This is crap: redo about half of it and resubmit it." If the tank is empty, then make like Mitch McDeere and take the money and run to the Caribbean. No one wants to watch a 50 year old player stumble around the outfield (or read anything he's written.)
Consider yourself warned.
Rating: 1 star.
