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| The Broker -- by John Grisham | | Date Created: Jan 30, 2005, 11:13 AM |
 The Broker by John Grisham
I didn't read this book. I can still review it though. I listened to the abridged audio version in one session driving from Santa Fe back to Boulder. Makes it a bit different although I'm not sure if the abridging has any effect. I had to look up the blurbs on the case of the CD's to even make sure I had the spelling of the lead character's name correct. You lose some things by having it read to you and gain others. The narrator of the book is not the author but he did an acceptable job with it.
I'm familiar with Grisham's work. He's a bit like Michael Crichton. Grisham is the lawyer and writes about lawyers. Crichton is the doctor and writes about science issues. Both research an area and then write a novel that has a lot of nonfiction in it. If you want to understand how the US tort litigation system works, read Grisham's The King of Torts. Crichton just did the same for environmental issues and activist groups in State of Fear.
And while we're off on that tangent, I note that Jared Diamond, of Guns Germs and Steel fame has a new book out called, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, that might mean that he needs to read Crichton's, State of Fear. An essay of Jared's in The Best American Essays 2004 (which is a short version of his book) confirms my fear that Diamond doesn't get what State of Fear documents.
The Broker is a bit of a departure for Grisham though. It's more of a spy novel. The main character is, of course, a lawyer, and we learn how lawyer politicians and lobbyists work. But the action is CIA, FBI, and foreign intelligence agencies. Like Crichton's characters, there's a bit of a parallel with actual characters and events. The opening section has to do with a Clintonesque President who is pardoning felons for money. The President is fictitious as in West Wing but bears a lot of resemblance to the way the federal government really works.
Here's Amazon's synopsis of the plot:
Before he was sent to federal prison for treason (among other things), Joel Backman was an extremely powerful man. Known as "the broker," Backman was a high roller--a lawyer making $10 million a year who could "open any door in Washington." That is, until he tried to broker a deal selling access to the world's most powerful satellite surveillance system to the highest bidder. When caught, Backman accepted prison as the one option that would keep him safe and alive, since the interested parties (the Israelis, the Saudis, the Russians, and the Chinese) were all itching to get their hands on his secrets at any cost. Little does he know that his own government has designs on accessing that information--or at least letting it die with him. Now, six years after his incarceration, the director of the CIA convinces a lame duck president to pardon Backman, and the broker becomes a free man--and an open target.
There were a couple of sparks in this tale. Twice Joel Backman, the lead character, admits that lawyers, politicians, money, and power are an unholy mix that corrupts all involved whether they choose to admit it or not. It's not all lawyers and it's not the party in power. It's the power and the money. The other spot that got my attention was Backman's use of the phrase "post hoc ergo propter hoc" for his password to secretly access his encrypted email communication with his son. This phrase in latin (which lawyers use) explains the fundamental human failure to think scientifically and it's routinely used by plaintiff attorneys as the basis for tort liability suits. Grisham offers no explanation for it or why it's used. I just happen to know of its importance in epistemology and its abuse by trial lawyers. (In fairness, its a fault of human reasoning and not just lawyers).
The Broker isn't the best Grisham but if you like his other novels you'll like this one too. It will make a good movie script which is part of the name of the game. Since we're running out of villains for spy and mystery novels that are PC, maybe authors will have to resort to lawyers as villains more often.
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