John Grisham is the author of forty-seven consecutive #1
bestsellers, which have been translated into nearly fifty
languages. His recent books include The Judge's List, Sooley, and
his third Jake Brigance novel, A Time for Mercy, which is being
developed by HBO as a limited series.
Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal
Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative
Achievement Award for Fiction.
When he's not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of
the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national
organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been
wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated
problems in our criminal justice system.
John lives on a farm in central Virginia.
"Gripping ... engaging and fast-paced ... will hook you from the
first page and won't let you go."—New York Post
"A crackerjack tale."—Entertainment Weekly
"Fast-paced and action-packed...you'll be thoroughly
entertained."—New Orleans Times-Picayune
"The plot is as up-to-date as tomorrow's newspaper, with allusions
to presidential polls and debates, campaign financing, money
laundering and offshore financial finagling.... Add to these
tantalizing ingredients the steady action, with some clever
surprises." —The New York Times
A Main Selection of the Doubleday Book Club, the Literary Guild,
and the Mystery Guild
Only a few megaselling authors of popular fiction deviate dramatically from formula--most notably Stephen King but recently Grisham, too. He's serializing a literary novel, A Painted House, in the Oxford American; his last thriller (The Testament) emphasized spirituality as intensely as suspense; and his deeply absorbing new novel dispenses with a staple not only of his own work but of most commercial fiction: the hero. The novel does feature three antiheroes of a sort, the brethren of the title, judges serving time in a federal prison in Florida for white-collar offenses. They're a hard bunch to root for, though, as their main activity behind bars is running a blackmail scheme in which they bait, hook and squeeze wealthy, closeted gay men through a magazine ad supposedly placed by "Ricky," a young incarcerated gay looking for companionship. Then there's the two-bit alcoholic attorney who's abetting them by running their mail and depositing their dirty profits in an overseas bank. Scarcely more appealing is the big fish the trio snare, Congressman Anthony Lake, who meanwhile is busy selling his lifelong integrity when the director of the CIA offers to lever him into the White House in exchange for a doubling of federal defense spending upon Lake's inauguration. The expertly orchestrated and very complex plot follows these evildoers through their illicit enterprises, devoting considerable attention to the CIA's staging of Lake's presidential campaign and even more to that agency's potentially lethal pursuit of the brethren once it learns that the three are threatening to out candidate Lake. Every personage in this novel lies, cheats, steals and/or kills, and while Grisham's fans may miss the stalwart lawyer-heroes and David vs. Goliath slant of his earlier work, all will be captivated by this clever thriller that presents as crisp a cast as he's yet devised, and as grippingly sardonic yet bitingly moral a scenario as he's ever imagined. Agent, David Gernert. 2.8 million first printing. (Feb. 1) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
"Gripping ... engaging and fast-paced ... will hook you from the
first page and won't let you go."-New York Post
"A crackerjack tale."-Entertainment Weekly
"Fast-paced and action-packed...you'll be thoroughly
entertained."-New Orleans Times-Picayune
"The plot is as up-to-date as tomorrow's newspaper, with allusions
to presidential polls and debates, campaign financing, money
laundering and offshore financial finagling.... Add to these
tantalizing ingredients the steady action, with some clever
surprises." -The New York Times
A Main Selection of the Doubleday Book Club, the Literary Guild,
and the Mystery Guild
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