It's a Travelogue! It's a Language Guide! It's a Thriller! NOT...
Amazon says:
Banes & Noble thinks:
image in the public domain (NASA)
Author: John Grisham Title: The Broker Genre: thriller
This just in: best-selling lawyer-turned author John Grisham has spun his latest release, The Broker, into a stunning coup attempt. Apparently weary of penning critically-disdained popular courtroom dramas, the Mississippi native has cast his latest as a triple threat. Not only does he employ The Broker to attempt to scale the Ludlumesque heights of the spy thriller genre, he also takes on Berlitz in the "Learn Italian in Just Ten Days" arena while simultaneously attacking Fodor by writing a guidebook for Bologna, Italy. And does he succeed?
In a word: Bologna - pronounced the way they say it over at Oscar-Meyer.
I Beg Your Pardon
Six years ago, three Pakistani hackers accidentally discovered a fleet of spy satellites orbiting over the neighborhood and, as is ever the hacker's wont, seized them and uploaded their own control system. They then took their new toys to Washington DC's most powerful lobbyist, hoping to shop the satellite system they called "Neptune" around to the highest bidder.
Naturally, whoever really owned the satellites became quite peeved.
When dead bodies started cropping up everywhere, The Broker, lobbyist Joel Backman, copped a plea and disappeared into a maximum-security prison in Oklahoma, leaving behind a wealth of questions. Whose satellites are they? and where is the only copy of that control software? are just two such conundrums.
On the eve of a new Presidential inauguration, the J. Edgar Hoover-ish Director of Central Intelligence figured out one way to get some answers. He arranged a Presidential pardon for Backman and protective custody on some foreign shores. Protective custody for a time, that is - the idea was to leak Backman's whereabouts and then see who assassinated him: that way they'd at least know who built the satellites and maybe, just maybe, get a lead on the whereabouts of the code.
Reborn as Marco Lazzeri, Backman finds himself stashed in a CIA safehouse in Italy, learning Italian by immersion. As he settles into his new life, however, the strange politics of international intrigue is never far away; and even though he's now Marco Lazerri, the Broker knows he must seize control of his own fate. Can he outwit the CIA and hit squads from an unknown number of countries? Does he even know the answers to the CIA's questions? Will he find true happiness in a lovely old Italian city?
What do you think?
It's a Guidebook
Apparently Grisham liked the motion picture "Under the Tuscan Sun" enough to take an extended vacation in Italy. So that he could write everything off as a business expense, he apparently decided his vacation was "research" for his next novel. The result is long passages about the sights of Bologna and the culture and lifestyle of Italy. Nice work if you can get it, eh? But, in truth, you'd be a great deal better off actually buying a guidebook from Fodor, Michelin, Lonely Planet, or another established publisher. You'll certainly get more bang for your buck.
It's Language Lessons
Much of the dialogue in the book is written in Italian with the English translation immediately following it. Hey! A sneaky way to double the volume of your dialogue! Though I'm moderately conversant in Spanish and can often puzzle my way through French, I had no Italian before reading The Broker. I still don't, except for picking up andiamo. Let's go, Grisham - I'm on my way to B & N to get a copy of Berlitz.
It's a Thriller
Actually, it's not - the thrilling bits, what few there are, come late and after pages and pages of language lessons and travelogue. Though Grisham succeeds in tossing in the rare plot twist that isn't telegraphed ten pages beforehand, they're few and far between. The ultimate changes in Backman's character are unbelievable, and his development of a love interest is, frankly, rather silly. Too, Grisham seems pretty convinced that Backman's CIA handlers are bumbling and inept even while the people at the top are brilliant and well-nigh prescient. Well, he may have something there - except perhaps he has it backwards.
The plotting is definitely weak, the characters are definitely flat, and the book fails as both a travel guide and an Italian-English dictionary. With Grisham batting oh-for-three, I'll give this one two stars.