The King Of Torts

Written by John Grisham

Narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris

The Office of the Public Defender is not known as a training ground for bright young litigators. Clay Carter has been there too long, and, like most of his colleagues, dreams of a better job in a real firm. When he reluctantly takes the case of a young man charged with a random street killing, he assumes it is just another of the many senseless murders that hit D.C. every week.

As he digs into the background of his client, Clay stumbles upon a conspiracy too horrible to believe. He suddenly finds himself in the middle of a complex case against one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, looking at the kind of enormous settlement that would totally change his life, that would make him, almost overnight, the legal profession's newest king of torts.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House UK Audio
• Release date: Jul 7, 2005
• ISBN: 9781843452010

Reviews for The King Of Torts

[es135_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Once again, John Grisham makes the normally dry/tedious genre of legal fiction into an inventive and thrilling read. I was surprised by the amount of insight given to the profession of a tort lawyer. This one will probably divide readers, the whole conspiracy can be kind of unbelievable, but I was completely entertained.

[alincolnnut · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

John Grisham offers another legal thriller in "The King of Torts." Like several of his previous efforts, this one features a young lawyer thrust into a legal scene beyond his years and experience. Unlike previous books, the setting for this one is the big money, high-stakes arena of large class-action suits, set in the nation's capital.Overworked and underpaid DC public defender Clay Carter finds himself assigned to defend an alleged murderer who is almost assuredly guilty. In the course of investigating the background of his new client, however, Carter asks questions that a high-powered, and unnamed, pharmaceutical company hopes to bury.In this intrigue, Carter is given the means and the information to arrange a small class-action settlement, worth millions of dollars, provided he opens his own firm, specializing in such lawsuits. This he does with aplomb, spending lavishly to present himself as such a lawyer, including hiring dozens of lawyers to investigate and pursue new cases. In short order, Carter finds himself fabulously wealthy and in way over his head.Like Grisham's best work, the legal components are smart and gripping, if a tad far-fetched. Unfortunately, there is also a subplot of romantic entanglements with two women that strains credulity and feels forced. It's not good when certain relationships between Carter and his close associates seem warmer and more loving in a few sentences spread throughout the novel then the purported romances which stretch for pages.That criticism aside, the novel clearly falls under the category of "good Grisham": tightly paced, exciting, surprising at points, with an adequate conclusion.

[folkeb_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Grisham completes another thrilling legal work of non-fiction with his 2003 novel, The King of Torts. Clay Carter is a defense lawyer who works for the Office of Public Defender (OPD), in Washington D.C. While his dream has always been to work for a major law firm, he is restricted to serving as criminals who cannot afford their own lawyers. He gets stuck with a seemingly routine murder trial of a black teen. However, Clay gets a mysterious phone call from a Max Pace who claims that he can easily make Clay millions of dollars. It turns out that the murderer was under the influence of a pharmaceutical drug that has been causing violent outbursts around the country. Pace claims that his company will pay Clay $10 million if he can get all the victims to settle at $5 million a piece. After this has successfully been completed, Pace gives Clay another assignment; a case worth millions of dollars based on evidence, that unknown to Clay, was stolen. This novel gives clever and creative insight to a relatively unknown branch of law: mass tort cases. Grisham cleverly weaves an intricate web of fact and fiction, that captures the readers attention and refuses to let go. Michael

[jrtanworth · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The plot is rather predictable and the characters not very carefully developed. The book is worth reading however for its description of the class action tort process. I thought about it again today when a settlement was announced for the 10,000 9/11 cleanup workers possibly affected by the toxic dust and debris they came into contact with or breathed.

[readingwithtea · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Maybe it’s because I’ve read some “high class” literature now (although I’m still hardly “well-read”), but some of this novel felt shallow and predictable. It was obvious from the minute J Clay Carter II (I still can’t believe what some parents inflict upon their children) started to make astronomical amounts of money that at some point it would all fall apart.Enthralling, fun and the right thing happens in the end.It feels like heresy to categorise John Grisham as "fluff", but really...

[docwalt10 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I found myself fully involved in the book. Grisham's development of the characters keeps you emotional involved. I found myself getting really mad, at the greed of Clay Carter. But also sympathetic, to how he got swept up in the emotions of the money and power it brought.

[jarratt_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm anti big government, but I gotta give the Georgia Public Library system props for providing audio books online which is how I "read" this book. It'd been a while since I'd read Grisham and I enjoyed "The King of Torts." The way Grisham takes his main character, J. Clay Carter, from a desperate lawyer with DC’s Office of Public Defenders representing crackheads and thieves to extreme success in mass tort litigation was quite good. There’s a fine line between an attorney doing what’s best for his clients and one who’s pushing the envelope of what’s right or fair based on his fees. And Clay falls right into that trap.I wasn’t so taken with the love interest subplot as it seemed rather tacked on to add the “romantic” element to the story. But that’s not enough of a reason to bypass this book. Read it. You’ll enjoy it!

[ini_ya_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Not a thriller. But very interesting.

[michaeldwebb · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Nobody told me this would happen! I guess its a sign of getting older, but the younger me would never have been able to enjoy mindless fluff like this. Devoid of any form of meaningful character development, this is just a well written, incredibly shallow page turner with a story that a small child could follow.

[reading_fox · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Grisham on the Class Tort system, which is fairly unique to american legal practise. One of his favourite topics and picked up again here. In some respects this is almost a reworking of Hardy's The Mayor of Casterbridge into modern america. The language is simpliefied but the plot bares many resemblances. Clay Carter II is a Public Defender, ie one of the lowest of the US lawyers ranks, helping those on government wages who can't afford anybody else at all. One day he is assigned to an untypical streets murder, a guy in rehab just shoots a stranger for no reason at all, not even a streets reason. Suspicious Clay investigates a little, but before he can get very far he is contacted by a mysterious source claiming insider information. THis source promises vast payments if everythign is kept quiet. And so Clay's meteoric rise to fortunes and fame begins. Case follows case and Clay can't but help make money even when he's spending fortunes on his law firm and women. Until, of course, things start going wrong.This isn't Grisham at his best, because there isn't actually any courtroom scenes at all. However the prose rolls along at pace, and Clay is quite a rounded character struggling to reconsile his sudden fortune with his past life, and of course then there is the women he loves and the women he's with.Fun adn entertaining, but ultimately trite.

[kendrarenee · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

well-written. this guy is good at plot, very good.

[harpua_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is the first Grisham book I've read. I just never envisioned myself as reading Grisham, however, when I picked up a dozen Grisham books cheap at a thrift store, I thought I might as well give one a try. This one was pulled at random from the pile so I'm not sure if I picked a good one to start with or not, but overall I was pleasantly surprised. It held my interest long enough to finish and it wasn't much of a chore to get through. Not really my style of book, but I'll be back to try more Grisham in the future.On to the story. This was a novel that got me emotionally involved unlike many.....and I'm not really sure why. I was rooting for the main character, yet hated him as well. It fascinated me to see how the class action lawyers functioned (if it really functions like this) and yet how dirty the whole process was. Grisham really spun a tale that brought to light the seedy side of law and the greed that sudden masses of money can bring. For the most part this was well plotted, yet a few threads were left hanging and the novel just seemed to wrap up too quickly and cleanly.Not too bad thought and an enjoyable read, so I'll try some Grisham again in the future.

[polutropos_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Greed kills. Another first-rate Grisham, satisfying from beginning to end.

[livana_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A solid John Grisham book. I made the mistake of reading this one and "The Street Lawyer" back-to-back, and because Grisham's books are all based on lawyer stories, I get them both confused!The story is good. The main character is not very sympathetic. I never rooted for him and was a little disappointed about the end. But overall, an enjoyable read.

[ague_3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

7. This may be John Grisham's worst book, which means it's pretty good. It's about class action lawsuits and selling your soul for money. Torts is about suing someone in a civil court, such as suing a drug company. I think Grisham decided to experiment with his writing style a little bit in this book and lost, as it's not written as well as some of his others. However the story is great and it's fascinating to see how lawyers work and think.

[drjhkellogg · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another good one from Grisham.

[nderdog · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another tale, told in true Grisham style.This is a story about a lawyer who has a case for the ages dropped in his lap, and how he deals with it. Fame and fortune quickly overwhelm him, but can he hang in there with the big boys and keep his grasp on everything he ever dreamed of?

[jaylabelle · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Historical tale of violence, adventure and undying romance...

[bookheaven_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Pretty boring but it gets better at the end.

[edwardsgt · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this during a six week stay in Vancouver, when the Vioxx court case was being widely reported. It was very interesting to see that a number of US law firms were advertising on US TV, keenly trying to sign up people to participate in their class actions on Vioxx. The book describes in some detail this kind of class action law suit against drug companies, which earns the law firms large fees, but in which the participants rarely receive more than a few thousand dollars after law fees have been deducted. It really was a revelation to me and, like most Grisham books, has a strong sense of authenticity and accurate research. An interesting moral tale for our times, as well as being a good thriller.

[msbeautiful · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Avg. legal thriller, not his best

[rainycamp · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

OK, I generally like Grisham. This isn't his best, but it's a pretty good story. One of those books that's a good choice to read on an airplane.

[jbd1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Meh. Typical Grisham, takes about two hours to read.