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    The Brethren
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    The Brethren
    Unavailable
    The Brethren
    Audiobook (abridged)6 hours

    The Brethren

    Written by John Grisham

    Narrated by Michael Beck

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    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. And 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...


    From the Paperback edition.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateFeb 1, 2000
    ISBN9780553753677
    Unavailable
    The Brethren

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    Reviews for The Brethren

    3.5/5

    1,428 ratings40 reviews

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    • 3/5
      You have the three judges, who are locked away in a very low security prison in Florida. One for tax evasion, one for skimming bingo money and one for killing two hikers while driving drunk. Of the three, the only one that has any personality is the youngest, (in his fifties), Joe Roy Spicer. The other two, Finn Yarber and Hatlee Beech, play more of a supporting role. (I love the names!) The three collectively are known as "The Brethren" by the other inmates. These guys are smart and come up with a plan to extort gay men through letter writing and magazine adds with made up names. They find out their identities and the wealthy ones, then they begin to extort money in exchange for silence. Now, remember this is a low security Prison. But since they are in prison, they need an outside contact. Enter Trevor Carson. Trevor is a sleezy, lazy, and drunken, lawyer, who does not seem to do much in the way of law. He's a fun character though. You'll like and pity him.

      Then there is Senator Aaron Lake, and CIA Director Teddy Manyard. Early on, Teddy convinces Lake to run for President after the caucuses are settled. He tells him to preach one single message: America is dropping the ball and cutting too much money on the military. This is obviously well before the events of 9/11.

      So, how do the plots combine? It really takes only a minute to figure this one out. It is outlandish, but a fun read.

      I did not like the way it ended. I had my ending in my head, but it rather abruptly just ended. It was almost as if a Grisham intended to write a sequel.
    • 2/5
      Good story, weak ending.
    • 5/5
      An excellent story of a prison extortion scam, run by 3 ex-judges who now find themselves prisoners, that ensnares a far more powerful victim than they realise; an upcoming presidential nominee with powerful friends.I found it to be quite a scintillating tale following the unfolding of the extortion scam, how the victims were dealing with it as well as the seeming downfall of the alcoholic lawyer who acted as the outside contact for the ex-judges.
    • 4/5
      The plot is a good idea-three judges serving time start to run a scam on rich men who are coming out of the closet. I skipped the pages on the presidenital race as I found these pages boring. Over all this book is a good read but not great.
    • 3/5
      3 jailed judges running a scam
    • 2/5
      It was okay.
    • 2/5
      Pretty far fetched, even by Grisham standards. The actions of the CIA seem so improbable and illogical. Character developement weaker than usual.
    • 4/5
      This one was a new twist-judges in prison. Very entertaining.
    • 4/5
      Three incarcerated judges conceive of a money-making scam they are able to run from federal prison: enticing closeted gay men to write to the fictional "Ricky" and "Percy" and then extort money by threatening to expose their predilections. Meanwhile, Aaron Lake is a senator selected by the CIA to run for President on a platform of doubling the defense budget (this was clearly written prior to the 2000 elections). The intersection of these two stories is entertaining as well as suspenseful as the CIA is expending a multitude of resources surveilling three bumbling elderly felons trying to figure out what they know and attempting to contain the fallout.
    • 3/5
      Was a little confusing, too many characters for 2 different stories, that eventually became one. For me that is when it became more interesting. The ending was disappointing.
    • 3/5
      this one wasn't too bad. it is about 3 judges that were put in prison for one monetary reason or another and the scam they run from prison to bank some money if and when they get out. it also ties in the outside with a presidental election. the only thing that really sucked about this book was the ending. it just sort of stopped. i hate it when books do that. but is wasn't a bad read before that.
    • 3/5
      A crime reaches from inside prison to the outside world with potentially far reaching consequences. Unfortunately, once I got a little way into it, I found the story quite predictable.
    • 3/5
      At first I thought there were two different stories in the book. There were so many characters, I started getting mixed up. About 2/3rds along, the two stories merged and made sense. The ending was a surprise for me.
    • 4/5
      Another enjoyable story by Mr. Grisham. Again, Mr. Grisham has not disappointed me with this story. In the Brethren the author took me on a journey into a political campaign, and how the government can control an election. The characters of the three judges' and their activities were believable. What I appreciated about John Grisham is that each new book that he releases takes me into a new world and I always learn something from his stories. The Brethren is a super story. Enjoy it, it's a wonderful book.
    • 5/5
      In this, yet another John Grisham legal thriller, the author spins another exciting and exotic tale from the fringes of the American legal system. Telling the story of three former judges serving time in a federal prison, he paints an intriguing picture of the seedy underbelly of the prison system, where three people with legal know-how and moxie can perpetrate an extortion scheme under the disinterested noses of the minimum security guards.In Grisham's most satisfying book since "The Runaway Jury," "The Brethren" is a page-turner merging the story of these three disgraced judges with a partially rigged presidential election. Merging a tale of sex and politics, with the very active involvement of the CIA Director, the story moves at a fast clip, filled with twists and turns.Unlike some of Grisham's other books, this one is less tied to the intricacies of the law. In fact, the main catalysts for the story are decidedly out of legal bounds, focusing on manipulation and extortion. The characters are economically drawn, in the style of a thriller, with perhaps only an alcoholic attorney as an intriguing, three dimensional personality.Still, the book is entertaining and absorbing. If not Grisham's best, and it's hard to imagine that he'll ever top "The Firm," it is still an excellent book, a unique thriller with ominous overtones that heighten the suspense.
    • 4/5
      This book is well written. The author has weaved two story lines that are tied together extremely well and the the two premises are very interesting. Three imprisoned judges pulling off for them what appears to be a safe blackmail scheme. And the CIA buying the Next president of The USA. Finally Grisham is back on his game for thiss book is funny and easy to read. It is better than his last two.
    • 3/5
      The Brethren, by John Grisham, is a quick, easy read. It's classic Grisham in the sense that there's a lot of legalese and puzzle pieces that slowly come together throughout the story. It was intriguing, but not edge-of-your-seat exciting.This is the story of 3 ex-judges sitting bored in a federal prison, and one congressman who's just been selected by the CIA to run for President. The judges have started an extortion scheme, and it works best when they ensnare rich men with something to lose. The CIA is counting on Aaron Lake to win the election and double the US's military funding in order to stop an impending war. But is Lake as perfect as the CIA thinks? Or does he have secrets, just waiting to be found by the judges?While this was good and kept my attention, it's not one of my favorites. I kept coming back to the story, but not because I couldn't wait to find out what happened. It's just a good book to curl up with on a cold winter night.3 out of 5 stars.
    • 4/5
      One of Mr. Grisham's best. A good read.
    • 5/5
      A typical Grisham read . . . meaning riveting and thoughtful. What starts out as two seemingly disparate tales (a pen pal extortion scheme operated by three judges inmates of a federal prison and a Machivellian scheme by the director of the CIA to fix the nomination process and secure the election of a previously unknown hand-picked candidate who will be controlled by the CIA director) come together when CIA finds that their candidate has been ensnared by the extortion ring.
    • 4/5
      One of the better Grisham stories.
    • 3/5
      Good, fast, easy read for the middle of the night when you can't sleep and your mind is fuzzy.
    • 5/5
      Great book! One of my favorite Grisham novels, it's a really intriguing story that sucks you in.
    • 3/5
      Another solid effort by John Grisham. He knows how to write the legal thrillers very well, and always does a good job with them.
    • 3/5
      Such a disappointment after enjoying The Last Juror so much. There is not a single likeable character in this book. It is impossible to care about who gets caught at their misdeeds. I'll admit that the twin plots - a purchased presidency and a porn con run from jail - were intriguing enough to sweep me along, and everything was techincally competent and well-enough paced.In romance writing, there's a rule that if the hero and heroine could settle things by one long and honest talk, then your conflict is not adequate. In the same vein, Lake's little predilection could have been solved early on without any of the ensuing drama, after the reader buys into the (not-terribly-credible) world JG describes. This is a rookie mistake and it was definitely distracting.And again with the sailing/desert island fantasy! Enough, I beg you, JG!Is it possible that this book was ghost-written? A few times recently I've noticed such disparities in the quality of books by well-known authors, esp. those who are publishing frequently. And I've heard rumors (eg Koontz)...somehow I wouldn't have guessed JG would do it though.
    • 2/5
      Not bad. It was a little weird in some spots, but overall, pretty good. Probably not my favorite, but it held my interest.
    • 3/5
      The book tried to be exciting and how it ended was ugly.
    • 4/5
      Good story but very predictable and ending was no surprise
    • 3/5
      He ain't heavy, he's my...

      Well, in the case of The Brethren, one of John Grisham's more feeble legal thrillers, three former judges, all incarcerated in a federal penitentiary for crimes in violation of their Oaths of Office, have dubbed themselves "The Brethren". And together, the three former Justices, who by the way, hold mock trials for their fellow inmates behind prison walls, concoct a scheme to blackmail wealthy gay men?all of whom happen to be closeted ... And prominent?in distinguished positions of power and authority in society, including the politically-charged Washington, D.C..

      After spooking their various victims into paying large sums of money to keep their "alternative lifestyles" anonymous, the three crooked former judges then have their equally crooked partner in crime, their attorney named Trevor Carson, to deposit the ill-gotten cash into a secret offshore account.

      Though not one of Grisham's best, compared to his 90s era legal thriller reign, The Brethren still has some bite?just not with teeth as sharp as its earlier predecessors. The plot, though passable, simply moved along a little too slow. And the ending also had not been my cup of Earl Grey. Three stars were all that I could manage for this one.
    • 4/5
      Aaron Lake never thought about becoming President. He is a Congressman and happy to stay with his life. But Teddy of the CIA sees problems in the future and thinks Aaron can be the one to lead the country through it. All Teddy has to do is buy an election and stop the blackmailing judges……
    • 4/5
      No real hero in this book. The main characters are men in prison operating a lucrative letter-writing scam, their crooked lawyer, and the strange people who reply to the letters. The con men entrap a powerful man with dangerous friends.