Just Finished Reading John Grisham's The Brethren

Last month, Melissa and I went to a retreat in Ocklawaha, on the shores of Lake Weir not far from Ocala.  During it, one night after dinner, we got into a discussion with the others sitting at our table about the books we liked.  When I mentioned John Grisham, a renown author of many law-centered novels, the guy seated on my left suggested his two favorite titles: The Testament and The Brethren.  Having already read three of Grisham's books (The Pelican Brief, The Firm, and The Appeal) and being disappointed in that last one, I was anxious to get a little advance encouragement before taking on another of his works.  With that endorsement in mind, I just finished reading The Brethren.  As it turned out, my new-found friend was right: it was one of Grisham's best...at least with the limited number of his books that I've yet read...

The Brethren refers to the informal name given to a trio of ex-judges serving sentences in a low-security federal prison near Jacksonville, Florida.  They come up with a scam extorting money from various men across the country whom they have snared answering their fake ads in magazines for male pen pals.  Concurrently, a presidential campaign is on, and the CIA director, intent on having the country's military budget dramatically increased, has created a candidate out of an obscure Arizona congressman.  How these two subplots ultimately connect determines the flow and outcome of the story.  Grisham kept what could have been a lot of extraneous material and characters out of this novel and made it an easy and quiet suspenseful, enjoyable reading experience.  Naturally, you're going to have to read it for yourself to discover the details and its ending...

If you're inclined to believe in the invisible hand of forces behind the scenes in our politics manipulating politicians and public opinion with their cynical actions, then The Brethren is the book for you.  It was published in 2000, a full year before 9/11 and the "Truther" movement with its "false flag" accusations arising from that tragedy.  It also reaffirmed a sad truth of our times that I've learned from the mistakes of others: never express anything in a letter, the phone, or on the Internet that you aren't fully prepared for the entire world to know...privacy as we grew up expecting as an inalienable right is almost nonexistent anymore, regardless what the written law says...

Now I'm going to get hold of John Grisham's The Testament...well, after I read some other books by other authors, that is...