The Broker, John Grisham
The Broker, John Grisham
620 Rating(s)
List: $29.98 | Sale: $20.99
Club: $14.99

The Broker

Author: John Grisham

Narrator: Michael Beck

Unabridged: 11 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/11/2005

Synopsis

In his final hours in the Oval Office, the outgoing President grants a controversial last-minute pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison. What no one knows is that the President issues the pardon only after receiving enormous pressure from the CIA. It seems Backman, in his power broker heyday, may have obtained secrets that compromise the world’s most sophisticated satellite surveillance system.

Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country in a military cargo plane, given a new name, a new identity, and a new home in Italy. Eventually, after he has settled into his new life, the CIA will leak his whereabouts to the Israelis, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Saudis. Then the CIA will do what it does best: sit back and watch. The question is not whether Backman will survive—there is no chance of that. The question the CIA needs answered is, who will kill him?

About John Grisham

John Ray Grisham, Jr. was born in Jonesboro, Arkansas on February 8, 1955. Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and later from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He was a practicing criminal attorney for over ten years and then served in the House of Representatives from 1984 to 1990. He published his first novel in 1989 after working on it for five years. ‘A Time to Kill’, his first novel, launched his new career and was later made into a major motion picture. His first bestseller, ‘The Firm’, released in 1991, sold over seven million copies and was made into a box office hit starring Tom Cruise two years later. Almost twenty years later in 2012, a TV series was launched and picks up the life of Mitch McDeere and his family ten years after the events of the novel.

John Grisham has had his novels translated into more than forty languages and has sold nearly 300 million copies worldwide. He is a winner of the prestigious Galaxy British Book Award and is one of only three authors (the other two being Tom Clancy and J.K. Rowling) to ever sell two million copies of a first published novel. Nine of his novels (including ‘The Firm and ‘A Time to Kill’ have been made into major motion pictures.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Matthew on May 02, 2019

I don't have a whole lot to say about this book. It is an older Grisham book I have waited a while to read, and I could have waited longer. It was not great. In an author's note at the end he even mentions the subject matter and plot in this book are not his normal. While I applaud him for stepping......more

Goodreads review by Baba on May 25, 2024

The Broker got his hands on some world-changing tech and had the world in his palms when it all came crashing down and the only way to save the rest of his family an friends was to go to prison. The outgoing President is convinced to pardon the Broker by the FBI. Why did the FBI want him pardoned? B......more

Goodreads review by Karen on December 16, 2024

I am finding myself totally attracted to the older Grisham novels. This one was published in 2005. There is international political intrigue that kept me turning pages trying to figure out what is going on here and why is the main character, Joel Backman important enough to be pardoned by the outgoi......more

Goodreads review by Jay on August 24, 2021

Not exactly your typical Grisham legal-eagle book. But rather a story with a different twist toward an international espionage/change of identity/cat and mouse thriller. The book was an easy read, but there seemed to be a lot of needless filler. That filler was just the setup for the fast paced endin......more

Goodreads review by Mark on August 25, 2022

When Joel Backman is pardoned by an outgoing US President (why is this even a thing?) he is given a new identity and is dropped into the beautiful Italian city of Bologna. Backman (now Marco) is a potential target for intelligence agencies around the world due to him possessing software able to disa......more

Quotes

“Most and best of all, it’s Grisham living up to his reputation as a great storyteller.”—Entertainment Weekly

“A fast-paced, fun read with echoes of something deeper. The author’s command of pop fiction delivers crisp, sharp prose.”—The Boston Globe
 
“[Grisham] is exceptionally good at what he does. . . . Indeed, right now in this country, nobody does it better.”—The Washington Post
 
“Where Grisham leads, millions of readers follow.”—New York Daily News

Add to Cart
Add to Wish List