Synopses & Reviews
Trumble is a minimum-security federal prison, a "camp," home to the usual assortment of relatively harmless criminals--drug dealers, bank robbers, swindlers, embezzlers, tax evaders, two Wall Street crooks, one doctor, at least five lawyers.
And three former judges who call themselves the Brethren: one from Texas, one from California, and one from Mississippi. They meet each day in the law library, their turf at Trumble, where they write briefs, handle cases for other inmates, practice law without a license, and sometimes dispense jailhouse justice. And they spend hours writing letters. They are fine-tuning a mail scam, and it's starting to really work. The money is pouring in.
Then their little scam goes awry. It ensnares the wrong victim, a powerful man on the outside, a man with dangerous friends, and the Brethren's days of quietly marking time are over.
Review
"[John Grisham has] written a terrifically entertaining story....[THE BRETHREN] is a flat-out guilty pleasure, Grisham's first real page-turner since 1997's THE PARTNER." Tom De Haven, Entertainment Weekly
Synopsis
A trio of federal judges so-called the Brethren are serving time in a minimum security federal prison. While writing briefs, handling cases for other inmates, practicing law without a license, and maintaining jailhouse justice has them comfortably occupied behind bars, a mail scam scheme that entails blackmailing rich, closeted gay men has them rolling in cash. But when the group's lucrative plan suddenly goes awry, involving a presidential candidate backed by the director of the CIA, the Brethren finds that its lack of freedom might be its only protection. While The Brethren features Grisham's usual stock of faulty lawyers and their questionable legal ethics, this book represents the author's first venture into the political thriller arena. Also, unlike Grisham's previous novels, readers won't find a idealistic, heroic protagonist here. With a complete cast of shady characters, The Brethren is not Grisham's usual fictional public service announcement but instead a genuine page-turner, using black humor as its primary weapon.
Synopsis
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - They call themselves the Brethren: three disgraced former judges doing time in a Florida federal prison. One was sent up for tax evasion. Another, for skimming bingo profits. The third for a career-ending drunken joyride.
Meeting daily in the prison law library, taking exercise walks in their boxer shorts, these judges-turned-felons can reminisce about old court cases, dispense a little jailhouse justice, and contemplate where their lives went wrong. Or they can use their time in prison to get very rich--very fast.
And so they sit, sprawled in the prison library, furiously writing letters, fine-tuning a wickedly brilliant extortion scam--while events outside their prison walls begin to erupt. A bizarre presidential election is holding the nation in its grips, and a powerful government figure is pulling some very hidden strings. For the Brethren, the timing couldn't be better. Because they've just found the perfect victim.
About the Author
John Grisham is the author of The Testament, The Street Lawyer, The Partner, The Runaway Jury, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Firm, and A Time to Kill.