John Grisham's novels have all been so systematically successful that it is easy to forget he is just one man toiling away silently with a pen, experimenting and improving with each book. While not as gifted a prose stylist as Scott Turow, Grisham is among the best plotters in the thriller business and he infuses his books with a moral valence and creative vision that set them apart from their peers.

The Brethren is in many respects his most daring and accomplished book yet. The novel grows from two separate subplots. In the first, three imprisoned ex-judges (the "brethren" of the title), frustrated by their loss of power and influence, concoct an elaborate blackmail scheme preying on wealthy closeted gay men. The second story traces the rise of presidential candidate Aaron Lake, a man essentially created by CIA directory Teddy Maynard to fulfil Maynard's plans for restoring the power of his beleaguered agency.

Grisham's tight control of the two meandering threads leaves the reader guessing through most of the opening chapters how and when these two worlds will collide. Also impressive is Grisham's careful portraiture. Justice Hatlee Beech in particular is a fascinating, tragic anti-hero: a millionaire judge with an appointment for life who was rendered divorced, bankrupt and friendless after his conviction for drunk-driving homicide.

The book's cynical view of Presidential politics and criminal justice casts a somewhat gloomy shadow over the tale. CIA director Teddy Maynard is an all powerful demon with absolute knowledge and control of the public will and public funds. Even his candidate, Congressman Lake, is a pawn in Maynard's egomaniacal game of ad campaigns, illicit contributions and international intrigue. In the end, The Brethren marks a transition in Grisham's career towards a more thoughtful narrative style with less interest in the big-payoff blockbuster ending. But that's not to say that the last 50 pages won't keep you reading late into the early hours.--Patrick O'Kelley

2008-06-21 The best time to have read this was when Bush Jnr was first elected!!!

This is my second favourite Grisham novel. I thrououghly enoyed it, but I think if I read for the first time it now i wouldn't get the same kick out of it. I loved the premise that the CIA wanted to engineer their own candidate into the White House to be sympathetic to raising the defense budget. The fact that I read this first when Bush Jnr had just come to power and started his own war helped fuel my imagination and I ended up taking an awful lot of enjoyment out of the places this novel took me.

The Brethren as in the characters, not the novel, were a great set of dispicable people. The thing I liked from the beginning of this book was the lack of entirely good guys, every one is corrutpable, everyone has their price... as the book progresses the reader is left to find the good in the characters on their own.

I found it refreshing and less formulaic than some of the other Grisham novels. All I can say is that it put a smile a smile on my face to read it.