Play Book Tag discussion

I have just read the worst book of 2023 - it even has beat out in a major way The Guest List which I claimed as the worst of 2023 when we were posting our top 10.

That was pretty disappointing - both as a Grisham thriller in general and a sequel to The Firm. In fact, I suggest skipping this and re-reading the firm.

It's 15 years later and Mitch McDeere is a partner in the biggest law firm in the world. after we catch up on just how he and Abby got there, all shifts to Libya and Mitch arriving in Tipoli to check out a bridge to nowhere in the middle of the desert that is at the core of a new case he will be handling involving his client a Turkish construction company and the Government of Libya. With him is Giovanna, a senior associate from the firm's London office and the daughter of the senior partner of the Italian. Mitch ends up hospitalized with food poisoning so Giovanna heads into the desert on her own with a complement of body guards. She never makes it to the bridge and eventually it is clear she's been kidnapped. The plot revolves around her kidnapping and the efforts to put together the ransom the kidnappers, who are never really identified, have demanded.

There is so much that makes zero sense here, starting with why center on Mitch and Abby McDeere. Loose threads, tangents that seem tossed in without any connection to anything else, it's a mess. There's precious little law here, the dynamics of an international law firm are poorly shown, and while Mitch ends up spending days flying from one major city to another, there's little actual sense of place or in some cases a description of the city. In fact, the few chapters at the beginning describing what happened to Mitch and Abby after The Firm feel perfunctory, half-assed. .It's still a Grisham, and a thriller, but it needs a heck of a lot more editing and replotting to come even close to Grisham's average. It doesn't even rank as a mediocre Grisham. Skip it.

I think this may have been my least favorite Grisham work ever and I even read his kids series, Theodore Boone.

The only positive is his easy, page turning writing style. But the book had little substance.

Firmly scratched off the list. This sounds like a compilation of the things that annoy me most about shoot-em-up style of thrillers

Thanks for making me feeling better abut ditching it. I stopped reading Grisham many, many years ago when his books became so similar and unappetizing for me . I thought, I hoped, in his golden years he may be going back to being a great story teller-should have known that he had become like some of the other stellar thriller writers of the past (I am looking at you Patterson) and used his popularity (and Mitch's) to sell books.

Joanne wrote: "Thanks for making me feeling better abut ditching it. I stopped reading Grisham many, many years ago when his books became so similar and unappetizing for me . I thought, I hoped, in this golden ye..."

I love Grisham novels. I've read everything he has published. But I've said for many years that his stories feel like a shell of a story. It feels closer to his outline than the in-depth story and motivated characters he is best known for.

He still is good at giving a fast paced and easy read that is just suspenseful enough, but don't look for any 3rd dimension in his story.

I will continue to read Grisham's novels because....well I can't stop now can I? 52 or so books in.

I know you are not alone Jason, keep that streak going! For fast and easy reading of suspense, have you ever tried Joel C. Rosenberg ? Highly recommend all his series

Joanne wrote: "I know you are not alone Jason, keep that streak going! For fast and easy reading of suspense, have you ever tried Joel C. Rosenberg ? Highly recommend all his series"

I have not read anything by Rosenberg. Thank-you for the suggestion. I will keep him in mind. Does he have any historical mystery?

No HFM, sorry. He is a thriller, suspense writer, all his stories are based in current time, in the Middle East. I am sure Theresa will check back here today, she has a ton of them and surely will suggest something for you

Yes, I'm finally here and I have a shelf for thrillers - I do like them, though have read fewer in recent years as I read more widely.

Jason - your description of Grisham's books is spot on. I still read him but not consistently and there are many I have not read. He's a go to author for long train and plane rides, actually, where I don't have to pay a lot of attention but still want to be gripped so time passes. Although with pandemic curtailing travel... and my legal practice keeping me chained to my desk, I find I dip into his works more rarely. The 2 from recent years that I liked were Grey Mountain and a toxic tort case one set in the south where the company dumping and poisoning the waters worked to stack the judiciary with politically aligned appointees -- which of course was exactly what I've been watching happen in the federal court system for decades -- only not just to win a case, but the actual political agenda of the GOP. I digress - but the ones that I think are his best these days are ones that are all about the law, the practice of law, the judiciary.

@Jason - for legal thrillers have you read William Bernhardt - the Ben Kincaid series? i believe Prime Justice is first -- all the Kincaid series have 'justice' in the title. He also has another series that I have not read. LOTS and lots of these! I think that first one was in the late 80s or early 90s.

My current thriller go-to is in scifi - the Murderbot series by Martha Wells. Her first 4 - all linked - are novella lenght. All Systems Red is the first.

Authors whose books fit HM - Charles Todd and Bruce Alexander. Also I think you would like Andrea Penrose's Wrexford and .Sloane series -- first is Murder on Black Swan Lane - set in world of science in 19th Century London.

I also like S.A. Cosby (Razorblade Tears is a masterpiece), Cara Black's Aimee LeDuc series, and a few others. Feel free to wander through my Thriller shelf.

Theresa wrote: "Yes, I'm finally here and I have a shelf for thrillers - I do like them, though have read fewer in recent years as I read more widely.

Jason - your description of Grisham's books is spot on. I st..."

The other Grisham book your described is The Appeal I think. The Appeal was published 2008 and Grey Mountain 2014. Those are starting to become not so recent. I do alway enjoy his sports books and Sooley was enjoyable. But his best are the intense courtroom battles.

Theresa wrote: "@Jason - for legal thrillers have you read William Bernhardt - the Ben Kincaid series? i believe Prime Justice is first -- all the Kincaid series have 'justice' in the title. He also has another se..."

Thank-you for all the suggestions for Historical Mystery. Tomorrow (today?) I will browse your shelves and see what I can find.

I have not ready too many other courtroom books. I think of the courtroom scenes in Where the Crawdads Sing and that part of the book was horrible. Its hard to compete with Grishams courtrooms. I will look into a few of the authors and see what catches my interest.

Thank-you

For another historical mystery series that has more physical action/thriller elements, there is the Barker & Llewellyn series starting with Some Danger Involved.

Jason wrote: "Theresa wrote: "@Jason - for legal thrillers have you read William Bernhardt - the Ben Kincaid series? i believe Prime Justice is first -- all the Kincaid series have 'justice' in the title. He als..."

I actually read few legal thrillers because well as a lawyer they irritate me no end since authors 'get it wrong'. Even Grisham. Of course, real life in a court room is quite excrutiatingly slow and boring, and for me a bad fit because I like being in charge and in control, and you are not - the court staff and judge are. I have a very complex case of first impression now where the judge is not just lazy, but abusive. Give me a real estate transaction any time.