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sarahanne8382's review against another edition
4.0
I liked it, but I can see why I've started The Partner about a dozen times and never finished it. Maybe it's because I'm reading a book about romance novels for one of my classes (and thus in the mood for a good romance novel), but I just didn't feel very fulfilled by this book. Don't get me wrong, I loved the story & found it very suspenseful, but part of what makes Grisham's writing so supsenseful is that he's so sparse in his character descriptions, leaving evidence for their motivations to the minimum. Maybe I'm just too "female" but I like getting a little more emotionally involved in the lives of the characters I'm reading about.
For those of you who have no idea what the story's about: A lame duck President is convinced by the veteran CIA director to grant a pardon to the man involved in THE political scandal of his day. The man they release, "The Broker," has been unwilling to share his secrets with the government, so they release him & help him hide away in Italy while simultaneously leaking his whereabouts to the right people in the hopes that knowing who assassinates The Broker will unravel some of the mystery surrounding the sensitive information that sent him to jail in the first place. How will The Broker manage to evade his would-be assassins & get his sensitive information into the right hands?
For those of you who have no idea what the story's about: A lame duck President is convinced by the veteran CIA director to grant a pardon to the man involved in THE political scandal of his day. The man they release, "The Broker," has been unwilling to share his secrets with the government, so they release him & help him hide away in Italy while simultaneously leaking his whereabouts to the right people in the hopes that knowing who assassinates The Broker will unravel some of the mystery surrounding the sensitive information that sent him to jail in the first place. How will The Broker manage to evade his would-be assassins & get his sensitive information into the right hands?
gailm's review against another edition
3.0
Espionage - Not read this author before, will read more of his books from now on
mtnmomma's review against another edition
3.0
I struggled to stick with the book in the beginning. It was a but slow to begin for me.
The picture of Italy painted by Grisham's words in this book kept me interested and I became excited wondering what happen when he returned home. Well, where the brief excitment ended.
The ending was extremely uneventful to me. This is the second book from Grisham that has left me underwhelmed. I'm a fan of this author but this was not one of his better books.
The picture of Italy painted by Grisham's words in this book kept me interested and I became excited wondering what happen when he returned home. Well, where the brief excitment ended.
The ending was extremely uneventful to me. This is the second book from Grisham that has left me underwhelmed. I'm a fan of this author but this was not one of his better books.
buaslbutterfly's review against another edition
4.0
This book was another John Grisham classic. Parts of the book did get a little winded with all the history. Those were maybe not the most exciting fast action pace of the book. I enjoyed learning about the various buildings in Italy and Europe.
spiffmo7's review against another edition
3.0
another typical no-brainer grisham book. simple, yet entertaining.
gbliss's review against another edition
1.0
To begin with, I'm not really "Finished," as in "I read the whole thing" Finished.
I'm "Finished," as "I am done with this dull as dishwater time suck."
Now that we have cleared that up, let's talk about what's wrong with this book that I abandoned about halfway through.
Everything.
Want me to be more precise?
Imagine a "page turner" where there a whole passages that are Italian vocabulary lessons. I kid you not. You see, the problem is that or "hero" has been transported to Italy by the CIA so (spoiler alert) someone other than the CIA can kill him*. This of course requires our English-only hero to learn Italian because God forbid he be granted a degree of facility with the language before. Nope. We get Sentence in Italian. English Translation. Sentence in Italian. English Translation. Yeah. Riveting stuff.
I was ok with the first twenty, and then the first fifty pages being all premise, setting up the rules on which a exciting plot could be hung. But, alas, half way through and the most exciting thing is the question of whether our "hero" will get to speak English or have to speak Italian at lunch with his tutor.
Now, about that *. Remember this fact: Our hero is removed from prison and transplanted to Italy so one of his many international enemies can kill him quietly and the CIA will not have their fingerprints on the kill. That is like the whole damn premise of this book.
Well guess what happens, about 100 pages in? The CIA quietly arranges to kill another US citizen in London who was NOT in hiding, NOT using an assumed name, NOT having endless Italian lessons, etc. And the guys dies without anyone suspecting the CIA.
Gee, why couldn't they do this for the main guy?
Well, that would have meant poor John Grisham wouldn't get an extended, tax-deductible or expense account sojourn to Italy. Yup. That is what this book feels like. Grisham essentially admits this in the acknowledgements. He says he "threw a dart" at a map to decide where to place our hero in hiding. He also states his eyes were open and that he loves Italy. Yup, John "More Money Than God" Grisham just wanted an excuse to hang out in Bologna for a few months on someone else's tab.
Nice work of you can get it. And he did!
And here's the thing. I love Italy. No, I really LOVE Italy. Heck, I picked up this book because it's set in Bologna and I'm going there in a few months. Gonna read me some Bologna-based fiction, I said. Grisham? He's exciting, I said.
I was expecting something a tad more scintillating than: Marco ordered "Un panini prosciutto e formaggio." A ham and cheese sandwich.
Thank heavens I got this from the library. I didn't waste $12 on this. Just a few hours I will NEVER GET BACK.
Ciao. (Bye)
I'm "Finished," as "I am done with this dull as dishwater time suck."
Now that we have cleared that up, let's talk about what's wrong with this book that I abandoned about halfway through.
Everything.
Want me to be more precise?
Imagine a "page turner" where there a whole passages that are Italian vocabulary lessons. I kid you not. You see, the problem is that or "hero" has been transported to Italy by the CIA so (spoiler alert) someone other than the CIA can kill him*. This of course requires our English-only hero to learn Italian because God forbid he be granted a degree of facility with the language before. Nope. We get Sentence in Italian. English Translation. Sentence in Italian. English Translation. Yeah. Riveting stuff.
I was ok with the first twenty, and then the first fifty pages being all premise, setting up the rules on which a exciting plot could be hung. But, alas, half way through and the most exciting thing is the question of whether our "hero" will get to speak English or have to speak Italian at lunch with his tutor.
Now, about that *. Remember this fact: Our hero is removed from prison and transplanted to Italy so one of his many international enemies can kill him quietly and the CIA will not have their fingerprints on the kill. That is like the whole damn premise of this book.
Well guess what happens, about 100 pages in? The CIA quietly arranges to kill another US citizen in London who was NOT in hiding, NOT using an assumed name, NOT having endless Italian lessons, etc. And the guys dies without anyone suspecting the CIA.
Gee, why couldn't they do this for the main guy?
Well, that would have meant poor John Grisham wouldn't get an extended, tax-deductible or expense account sojourn to Italy. Yup. That is what this book feels like. Grisham essentially admits this in the acknowledgements. He says he "threw a dart" at a map to decide where to place our hero in hiding. He also states his eyes were open and that he loves Italy. Yup, John "More Money Than God" Grisham just wanted an excuse to hang out in Bologna for a few months on someone else's tab.
Nice work of you can get it. And he did!
And here's the thing. I love Italy. No, I really LOVE Italy. Heck, I picked up this book because it's set in Bologna and I'm going there in a few months. Gonna read me some Bologna-based fiction, I said. Grisham? He's exciting, I said.
I was expecting something a tad more scintillating than: Marco ordered "Un panini prosciutto e formaggio." A ham and cheese sandwich.
Thank heavens I got this from the library. I didn't waste $12 on this. Just a few hours I will NEVER GET BACK.
Ciao. (Bye)
pachypedia's review against another edition
4.0
Solo me hace falta una palabra para este libro: aburrido.
robinqw's review against another edition
2.0
Eh. It was OK. I thought it wrapped up all too neatly in the end.