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timdesimone's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
dunnadam's review against another edition
3.0
Possibly my last Grisham.
I had read this before and remembered hating all the characters. I hated them less this time around, I actually kind of wanted the Brethren to get away, they became anti-heroes. I was more disturbed then by homophobia, I guess I'm more immune now.
Grisham is great at setting, South Florida shines in the book, I could smell the sea air.
I pictured the lawyer Trevor as actor Ken Marino from Party Down and Veronica Mars.
Good enough, at times overly simplistic, and I am now confident nothing in Grisham's genre will move me to new heights and I have better time fillers.
I had read this before and remembered hating all the characters. I hated them less this time around, I actually kind of wanted the Brethren to get away, they became anti-heroes. I was more disturbed then by homophobia, I guess I'm more immune now.
Grisham is great at setting, South Florida shines in the book, I could smell the sea air.
I pictured the lawyer Trevor as actor Ken Marino from Party Down and Veronica Mars.
Good enough, at times overly simplistic, and I am now confident nothing in Grisham's genre will move me to new heights and I have better time fillers.
rembrandt1881's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
0.5
This might be one of the most cynical and silly novels I've ever read. Grisham is known for his pulpy legal thrillers and sense isn't always the thing that you're going to get and unfortunately in this book a lot of it gets tossed out of the window at random times and I'm not sure why.
Sometimes when characters are done well, you can see how some logic can be ignored. The characters in The Brethren aren't that. Everyone is so cynical and self serving... But only to a point. The most obvious and simple solution to the main problem in this novel is ignored as being 'too complicated' but avoiding it is way more difficult, involves way more people and is just silly.
Okay here are the spoilers because to me, this one has to be put out there. If you're a reader like me, it might help you to avoid this. For others they might not care about plot spoilers if the characters are worth it, but they're not. The only real solution is to kill the judges, the brethren. You have the CIA director who is manipulating an election, allowing an embassy to be bombed to get military funding and three judges who ensnare his chosen candidate with a blackmail scheme about his sexuality. It would be too easy to transfer them to different prisons and lock them in the hole or just kill them. They have the scantest piece of evidence at one point and could be easily destroyed or debunked. For all of the power this character has, trying to figure out the scam is pointless.
The lawyer on the outside who gets brought in my the CIA after the catch the scam, then double crossed them and doesn't follow through. There is no good reason why he does this. Then he ends up dead. Not a faked death so he can live his life. He hasn't escaped two sides that would both get him hurt. He just gets killed. It's annoying. It's loathsome. It's poor writing.
They do so much work to figure out how the scam works to let the judges go, it they kill the one accomplice outside of the jail and the guy still gets elected on a single issue but the real criminals get away. There is no lesson. There is only cynicism. And the book is pretty long but it's just a lot of meandering that comes to nothing .
Sometimes when characters are done well, you can see how some logic can be ignored. The characters in The Brethren aren't that. Everyone is so cynical and self serving... But only to a point. The most obvious and simple solution to the main problem in this novel is ignored as being 'too complicated' but avoiding it is way more difficult, involves way more people and is just silly.
The lawyer on the outside who gets brought in my the CIA after the catch the scam, then double crossed them and doesn't follow through. There is no good reason why he does this. Then he ends up dead. Not a faked death so he can live his life. He hasn't escaped two sides that would both get him hurt. He just gets killed. It's annoying. It's loathsome. It's poor writing.
They do so much work to figure out how the scam works to let the judges go, it they kill the one accomplice outside of the jail and the guy still gets elected on a single issue but the real criminals get away. There is no lesson. There is only cynicism. And the book is pretty long but it's just a lot of meandering that comes to nothing
heykellybutler's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Diverse cast of characters? No
1.0
This has got to be the worst John Grisham book of all of them, right?
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gaslighting, Xenophobia, Racism, Misogyny, Islamophobia, Hate crime, Death, Outing, Homophobia, and Confinement
Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, Violence, War, and Body shaming
lucyscanlon's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
_zia_christina_'s review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
elbell1012's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 rounded up
OH MAN this book made me so mad. Maybe anger is the emotion John Grisham was trying to evoke here, maybe we are supposed to feel bad for Aaron Lake or sympathize with Trevor or the Brethren for some reason, maybe this and maybe that. At the end of the day I just did not like this book. That's not to say it wasn't well written, just not a personal favorite.
We spend this book hopping between 7-8 different characters, none of whom I would call a protagonist. We have Aaron Lake who was bought to run for President by the CIA. He runs on a corrupt campaign and has his people buy votes. Lake finds himself caught in a scam targeting gay men run by the Brethren (3 judges in a federal Florida prison). We get the perspective of these judges in prison and their lawyer, Trevor, who runs letters and wires money drawn in by the scam to foreign banks. I'm not sure why, but Grisham loves to make at least one character a raging alcoholic in his books, this books lucky winner is Trevor. Not a fan. AND the ending pissed me off. Not only are these judges pardoned and able to leave the country with 2 million dollars each from the United States government, but they also continue the scam from another country. GAHHHH, no punishment whatsoever.
The entire premise of this book is inspired by a very real scam that still occurs in 2023, so I suppose it holds up in the respect. Despite that, the fact that we have have a straight man writing homophobic characters and trying to portray gay people(and ultimately failing at doing so) doesn't sit right with me. I feel the lgbt characters of this book fall into stereotypes and remain one dimensional, with not much thought or care given to them.
OH MAN this book made me so mad. Maybe anger is the emotion John Grisham was trying to evoke here, maybe we are supposed to feel bad for Aaron Lake or sympathize with Trevor or the Brethren for some reason, maybe this and maybe that. At the end of the day I just did not like this book. That's not to say it wasn't well written, just not a personal favorite.
We spend this book hopping between 7-8 different characters, none of whom I would call a protagonist. We have Aaron Lake who was bought to run for President by the CIA. He runs on a corrupt campaign and has his people buy votes. Lake finds himself caught in a scam targeting gay men run by the Brethren (3 judges in a federal Florida prison). We get the perspective of these judges in prison and their lawyer, Trevor, who runs letters and wires money drawn in by the scam to foreign banks. I'm not sure why, but Grisham loves to make at least one character a raging alcoholic in his books, this books lucky winner is Trevor. Not a fan. AND the ending pissed me off. Not only are these judges pardoned and able to leave the country with 2 million dollars each from the United States government, but they also continue the scam from another country. GAHHHH, no punishment whatsoever.
The entire premise of this book is inspired by a very real scam that still occurs in 2023, so I suppose it holds up in the respect. Despite that, the fact that we have have a straight man writing homophobic characters and trying to portray gay people(and ultimately failing at doing so) doesn't sit right with me. I feel the lgbt characters of this book fall into stereotypes and remain one dimensional, with not much thought or care given to them.
quinnster's review against another edition
3.0
Started out really strong and then just kind of fizzled out. The ending was so blah that i had to check to see if my ebook was actually missing chapters!
shesalwaysreading's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
An easy-to-follow read from Grisham. Recommended to me, but otherwise never would've picked this up on my own. It was fine - I did the audio but of course it was dated. Heck, the storyline is a little dated too in terms of politics, law, and technology.
emerygirl's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked the story line of this book. I liked the duplicty of the presidental candidate and the protrayal of the sneakiness of politics