Three former judges are serving prison terms in a federal minimum security facility. Known as “the brethren,” they function as an unofficial court and a source of legal advice for fellow inmates. Their activities are largely unsupervised by prison authorities, and they have used their freedom to set up a blackmailing scam. They place advertisement in magazines aimed at gay men. Posing as young men, they engage in correspondence with likely marks, those who have wives, families, or other connections and who would be subject to threats of exposure. After an exchange of several letters, they send a letter blackmailing their victim.

In order to make their scam work, they have needed the assistance of a lawyer on the outside to handle the exchange of correspondence and the off-shore banking. To call Trevor Carson a two-bit lawyer is to inflate his worth. Increasingly he’s spending his working hours on a stool at a nearby bar daydreaming about the boat he’s going to acquire with his ill-gotten gains from the judges’ scam.

Teddy Maynard is the Director of the CIA. He is concerned that the American military and intelligence position has been weakened by recent presidents. He picks an Arizona congressman, Aaron Lake, who he believes is scandal-proof and electable, offers him a chance to run for presidential nomination, and backs with him money and campaign strategy. Lake’s main platform is that the US has been weak with foreign enemies, particularly terrorists, and that as president he will be decisive in his response. When the American embassy in Cairo is bombed, Lake’s strong stance results in a surge in national attention and in the political polls.

How these two separate threads come to intersect and complicate the lives of everyone involved is the basis of the plot.

If there is a central theme to this book, it is that there is no honor among thieves. Or lawyers. Or politicians. Or government bureaucrats. Or ....

In previous Grisham books, the story has featured a hero trying to outwit the bad guys or right a wrong. What sets this Grisham novel apart from his previous works and from the standard mystery/thriller is that there isn’t a hero. Not one noble individual striving against nearly overwhelming obstacles. Not a single sympathetic character. Not even a cute kid. It says a lot that the one who comes closest is Trevor Carson, the crooked lawyer descending into full-blown alcoholism who’s trying to figure out how to double-cross his fellow lawbreakers. It’s pretty hard for a reader to decide what would be the most positive outcome when all the characters deserve to fail.

Several of the characters -- Teddy Maynard, Aaron Lake, the judges, and Trevor -- share equal attention so it’s not even possible to identify a main protagonist. The plot flows smoothly, but a reader never has an opportunity to empathize with any of the characters.

Because it is set during a presidential election year and focuses on the back-room deals and maneuvering of contemporary politics, this is a timely book and likely to appeal to a wide audience. (It’s currently #1 on the New York Times best seller list.) I suspect, however, that many of Grisham’s fans will be disappointed in it and look forward to the time he writes another book that will compare favorably with A Time to Kill and The Firm.

--Lesley Dunlap