The Broker
Written by John Grisham
Narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris
3.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
In his final hours in the Oval Office the outgoing President grants a full pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison. It's a controversial move, but what no one else knows is that the presidential pardon comes as a result of enormous pressure from the CIA. They claim that Backman may have obtained secrets that would compromise the world's most sophisticated satellite surveillance system.
Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country in a military cargo plane; he is given a new name, a new identity, and a new home in Italy. Eventually, once he has settled into his new life, the CIA will leak his whereabouts to the Israelis, the Russians, the Chinese and the Saudis. Then the CIA will do what it does best: sit back and watch. The question is not whether Backman will survive - there's no chance of that. The question the CIA needs answered is: who will kill him?
More audiobooks from John Grisham
The Tumor: A Non-Legal Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related to The Broker
Related audiobooks
The Survivor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Cotton FBI - NYC Crime Series, Episode 4: Witness Protection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Takedown: A Thriller Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Seven Grams of Lead Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Gangland: How the FBI Broke the Mob Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nixon-Gleason Alien Encounter Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKilling the Killers: The Secret War Against Terrorists Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Last Days Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Decade of Disruption: America in the New Millennium Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFirst Strike: TWA Flight 800 and the Attack on America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Scarecrow: A Shane Schofield Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Secret Journey to Planet Serpo: A True Story of Interplanetary Travel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poisoner in Chief: Sidney Gottlieb and the CIA Search for Mind Control Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Eugenics Wars, Vol. 1 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nothing But Money: How the Mob Infiltrated Wall Street Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pilgrimage to Hell [Dramatized Adaptation] Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Baby Carter Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Yuri Gagarin: The Counterfeit Cosmonaut Hero Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aces & Eights: The Legend of Wild Bill Hickok Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Spies on Trial: True Tales of Espionage in the Courtroom Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Comey Gang: An Insider's Look at an FBI in Crisis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Sci-Fi Books 96 thru 100 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBody of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Drive to the East Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Crime Thriller For You
Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Club: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Notes on an Execution: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Woman in the Library, The Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hit and Run Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Razorblade Tears: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Godfather: 50th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5And Then There Were None Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Perfume: The Story of a Murderer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mystic River Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stillwater Girls Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murder of Roger Ackroyd: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Murder on the Orient Express: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Still Life: A Chief Inspector Gamache Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cleaning the Gold: A Jack Reacher and Will Trent Short Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Death on the Nile: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5River Wild: A Thriller Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Murderer's Maid: A Lizzie Borden Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Win Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Colorado Kid Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Other Woman: A Gripping Romantic Psychological Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crooked House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5These Silent Woods: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hide Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blacktop Wasteland: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Devil's Song Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hallowe'en Party: A Hercule Poirot Mystery: The Official Authorized Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Untraceable Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Two for the Dough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Broker
1,365 ratings61 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Despite being a criminal I found Joel Backman to be a very likable character and I wanted him to survive. Although it was rather slow in places I still liked this book and I enjoyed how it was set in Italy. There were lots of detailed descriptions about various aspects of the towns and surrounds, with a large number of Italian phrases thrown in for good measure. My only real criticism of this book would be the end; it was uninspiring. I was surprised that I reached the end because I expected more. It was left to the reader's imagination to determine Joel's fate.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I think maybe John Grisham bought some Rosetta Stone software to try to learn Italian, got frustrated with it, and then spent the rest of the day imagining a situation in which someone would actually be motivated to learn Italian quickly. Presto: you have The Broker, in which a felon is pardoned and whisked off to Italy in a sortof ersatz witness-protection operation, where his life depends on passing for a native Italian. There are pages and pages and pages of description of his Italian lessons and his motivation to learn (he keeps making the tutor start lessons earlier and earlier), and we're inside his head as he recites the Italian word for everything in his apartment.
Now, I like languages and occasionally mumbled some of the words out loud to myself while reading just to test my Italian accent, so I enjoyed the weird preoccupation with learning Italian. However, you have to admit it's a bizarrely academic preoccupation for a run-for-your-life thriller--especially when, in the context of the story, it's wholly unnecessary to the point of being unbelievable. Surely if the point is for this American guy to blend in while in hiding, you'd stash him in... Canada, Australia, England? You know, where the language skills he already has will be useful? And since it turns out that the US government us just waiting to see whether it's the Russians, the Chinese, or the Israelis who will find and kill our fugitive first, I don't understand why they'd bother paying a tutor a full-time salary to teach the guy flawless Italian. So I'm back to where I started: all I can figure is that Grisham really wanted to write a story about learning to speak Italian. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Too much description. Almost 75% of the book is talking about getting coffee in Italy. But there's some excitement in there as well, just enough to save it.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I liked this book, but I kept expecting more to happen--like Backman teaming up with some superagent who helps him escape. It was nice to see him do it on his own, though I did wonder how he learned spylike techniques given his history. I haven't checked, but the ending makes me wonder if there are other books with this character that show how things turned out with Francesca and whether he remains part of his son's family.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Might be my favorite Grisham novel. A pardoned broker is set free, but as a target. He gets to know his small Italian town, the people, and the food. Very nice setting.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I didn't particularly like this book. Rather pedestrian for Grisham I thought. I didn't really buy the whole reason for sending Joel to Bologna because it seemed to me all they would have had to do was offer him a parole in exchange for him providing them the information.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I finally found a Grisham novel that I don't remember reading before!
The Broker, Joel Backman is in prison serving twenty years for a crime that he may or may not have committed. With fourteen still to go he is unexpectedly pardoned by the outgoing President and smuggled to a secret location in Europe. Then, the authorities of various countries sit back and monitor him as they wait to see who will get to him first.....
This was a great read and kept me hooked until the end. The danger the main character was in felt real and exposed the potential power plays going on at the highest levels of American government and within the intelligence systems.
I wasn't as interested in the well researched history of Italy and the various Italian words and phrases that are included in the narrative but this might be a bonus for some people.
As with most of Grisham's books, there are a few swear words, some violence and some sexual innuendo. There is nothing grossly offensive or especially graphic.
An entertaining read. Recommended. - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The book vividly descirbe the life of italy, its people living in small & big cities.The thrill is not that much but I learnt lot of things from this book about Italy
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The story is fictional, but is about the corruption behind the U.S. political scene as an outgoing president makes a shady deal, but the story draws you into the life of the broker, who is also a criminal and is desperate to conceal his identity. By the end of the book you end up rooting for the broker instead. It is not about morals.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Too much irrelevant detail
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Washington power broker, Joel Backman had served 6 of the 25 years he was sentenced. The guy who wanted him dead paid $1million for his pardon and transporation to a foreign country where the plan was to alert one of the many people in other countries who wanted him dead and had the means to make it happen. Backman only knew he was sprung and whisked away and he needed to escape from his keepers. Grisham may not be a great author but he still tells a great story in my book.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5"The Broker," more than anything, was a way for Grisham to expense his trip to Bologna, Italy. Out of 400 pages, there was maybe 100 of story. The rest was a tour of primarily Bologna, and endless translations of dialogue, histories of various cathedrals, and lots of food ordering.Having said that, the story itself was pretty good.Spoilers ahead.The story is that of Joel Backman, a major power broker in DC, who gets pardoned by an outgoing president six years into a 14-year sentence for crimes against the state—he was trying to sell technology that could control satellites. But it was the CIA who pressured and orchestrated the pardon because they wanted to see who would come after Backman once he was freed; the Israelis, the Chinese, or the Saudis. The CIA gets him to Italy where he's to learn the language (and get lots of history lessons!) before they begin leaking where he is. After tiring of this, Backman escapes and makes his way back to the states so he can turn over the software that landed him in prison to begin with.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I usually like Grisham, and this was a good one. A former DC power broker is pardoned and released from prison into a kind of witness protection program in Italy so the CIA can leak info and see who kills him. Or something like that. The hiding and cat-and-mouse game kept the pages turning.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Though slow in its build up, it does reach the point of engaging and interesting, though I never did like the main character and I rooted against him the whole way. I really enjoyed all the Italian and I'd love to travel to Bologna some day! Lots of pieces in place, lots of characters building up to a nice crescendo! And then? Poop. A horrible ending. Just abrupt and lame. I mean, what happened to Sammy Tin? (just for starters!) Because of that, I'd be hard pressed to recommend this.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Not seriously credible but makes for exciting, fun read.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5One of the better Grisham novels that I've read. It didn't follow his typical plot and use the familiar devices. However, at this point I was in a mental health facility and severely limited as to my reading options so you may want to take what I say here with a grain of salt.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I was pretty much captivated from the get-go with this novel. The story whilst a little far-fetched both in technology and initial events is actually excellent. The building tension as you know something is about to happen but not sure when it's going to or where it's coming from. Then suddenly there's a diversion which changes where you thought things were going.... the lead up to the end is probably one of the better hastily travel dialogues of read.There's also some great information about the scenery of Bolonga, in northern Italy there too which as a good little side bonus.My only compliant is there's not a part 2, although I can certainly see the value in ending the plot where it finishes with an air of limitless possibility.I'll definitely be reading some more Grisham in the near future.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Although different from alot of Grisham's books, I enjoyed it still. A new twist.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the best thrillers I have read so far. The book has suspense, twists and a good narrative style.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The last time I read a book by John Grisham was in high school after The Rainmaker with Matt Damon came out and I was on a Grisham kick for a while. I remember liking the pacing of his novels, the characters doing what is right despite the odds being stacked against them, and Grisham's easy writing style that provided enough detail to sympathize with the underdogs but never crossed into too much familiarity. So when I came across the paperback of The Broker memories did their thing and the book came home with me. It sat on the shelf through my well-intentioned "reading schedule" phase, got passed over a couple of times after that until finally I was in the mood for it. Almost immediately I saw that either my memories were flawed or The Broker didn't fit in with the Grisham novels I read. In the beginning there was a lot of backstory setting the scene for Joel Backman's release from prison. It painted him as a ruthless, greedy man unfamiliar with the very concept of morality, and even as freedom was offered to him after years in solitary confinement in conditions that were clearly meant to break him he accepted it as if it was his due. And then Joel was moved to Italy and with the new clothes and a pair of Armani glasses he seemed to take on a new identity in more than just name - still demanding and knowing exactly what he wanted, he at the same time has acquired an appreciation for the simpler things in life, and seemed to have re-evaluated his past and was determined to live differently. Unfortunately this transformation got almost no page time, it was more or less just there, leaving the reader to arrive at their own conclusions as to how Joel got from point A to point B. Pacing left much to be desired as well. Events rolled along leisurely for about three quarters of the book with Joel endlessly going from Italian lessons to meals and back, and things started to feel a bit like Groundhog Day, until in a blink of an eye our protagonist transformed from a frustrated tourist into a man of action masterminding his true freedom and once again manipulating some of the highest powers in Washington into doing his bidding. This transition, though not unexpected, was so sudden and swift that it almost gave me whiplash and once again left me with a sense of dissatisfaction.My favorite scenes in the book were where Joel was shown adjusting to life in Italy. His first attempts to order food in a foreign language, his growing familiarity with Bologna, even his overwhelming drive to learn Italian made him into a sympathetic character despite his thoroughly unsympathetic past. I really could do with more of that because I think it would develop the characters and the book wouldn't feel so much like a chronology of events past and present.All in all it was a decent read and I was glad for the way things turned out. I just wish it was more fleshed out in every aspect.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5boring spy thriller. The victim is run around Italy for 250 or so pages learning Italian and visiting restaurants, which is not used in any way to further the plot later in the novel.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Good, clean espionage fun, as usual for John Grisham. The old Soviet spy thriller is now replaced by...everyone! The Chinese, the Israelis, the Saudis, the Russians, and of course the good old US of A. At the end, the one thread dangling loose is the issue of the passport. I don't see how he can get away with that, but oh well, that's fiction for you.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This was a good airplane read. Fast. A bit formulaic.I really liked the descriptions of Italy, some of character descriptions were very good and some felt rushed, unfinished.The ending felt like it was slapped together at the last minute before going to print - lacking in character and place descriptions, some connections.There were just too many unfinished threads left dangling...Not a re-read by any means, but I would recommend this book to Grisham fans or someone looking for a quick mystery/espionage read.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enjoyed it a lot. Grisham at his best.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5As always, Grisham is intensely readable. He really is a superb narrative writer. But in this variation on a theme, he gets away from his usual legal focus and wonders into espionage. And because you feel he is dabbling, this is not one of his better efforts. Which is not to say a reader will not be rewarded--especially by his loving and detailed description of learning life in a different culture. It's just that many of the characters are two-dimensional, existing purely to push the story along, and the total is less than the sum of the parts.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An entertaining story with a fast moving plot. I had an urge last week to read a story by John Grisham and The Broker was my selection. Before that I had read "The Summons"(It was a fair read). I don't read his novels in sequences which fortunately for someone like me there is no need, because each of Mr. Grisham's books will stand on their own. I thought The Broker was an easy read that was very entertaining. There was a lot of intrigue woven into a fast moving plot. I thought the class room instructions on the topography of Italy and the language was a bit too much. Actually, this part of the book got really boring. The main character, Joel Backman gave me fits. I never was really sure if he was decent sort of a fellow or just a down right crook. I could never get the feeling that I should root for him or just hope for his quick exit from the story. In summary, there were parts of the story that I didn't care for, but overall I thought it was real decent book that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to all my friends.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This book is easy to read. Yet I found it a little lengthy in the way it describes Bologna and Italy as well the experience of the main character in learning the Italian language. However I enjoyed learning some Italian vocab and since I like traveling describing Italy too much is not a big deal. The Story becomes more interesting and fast toward the end of the book. I guess the author compensates by a fast moving and thrill ride action toward the end of the book.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the first John Grisham novel I have read.and an intriguing mixture it is. After the first three chapters that zip through the plot machinations the book changes pace .We are in an Italian town where our American hero who seems to be on some sort of elaborate witness protection scheme is trying to learn Italian and adapt to an Italian way of life. Grisham captures very well the feel of an Italian town and issues facing a non european suddenly parachuted into it. You can almost smell the coffee. The mystery element is still very much present, however the writers main concern seems to be to make the reader enjoy the experience of Italy and this he does superbely well. About three quarters of the way through the book the plot starts moving again at a fairly quick pace and while this is full of suspense the book somehow loses something as it moves away from the Italian scene so lovingly described. The story line has no real climax but everything is wrapped up in an efficient manner, but this last part of the novel feels like it belongs just to those first three chapters and fails to connect with the excellence of what has gone on after them. I enjoyed this (well three quarters of it ) very much. Essential reading for anyone planning to visit Italy for the first time.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5All time favorite John Grisham book..suspenseful,thrilling..could not put this down!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pardoned Washington Power Broker smuggled to Italy and given a new name/identity and home - CIA leaks his whereabouts to Russians, Chinese, & Saudis and he is on his own to survive.