The Broker | John Grisham | I thought it was great!

The Broker | John Grisham | Suspense si, Tortellini no

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The Broker

	The Broker John Grisham Delta, 2006 - 384 pages average customer review:based on 579 reviews view larger image
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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?

From the Hardcover edition.

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I thought it was great!

From the first page I couldn't put this down! The whole realm of witness
Protection was very intriguing!

Suspense si, Tortellini no

Joel Backman, a Washington power broker with a dangerous secret, goes to jail to stay alive. Unexpectedly pardoned by a discredited lame-duck President, he finds himself in Italy with a new identity and a new kind of prison, where he doesn't know who is watching him or why. As he uses his wits and his political skills to stay alive, his survival becomes entangled in the interagency rivalry of the FBI and the CIA, and draws the attention of Chinese, Israeli and Saudi intelligence. John Grisham still knows how to write a suspense story, complete with a high-speed chase and high-stakes international intrigue. Unfortunately, as Backman studies Italian and learns the local customs, Grisham finds it necessary to describe everything from grandfathers to toilet paper in both languages and linger over the menus in trattorie and elegant restaurants. There are even lectures on the major tourist attractions of Bologna. That the Asinelli Tower was built in the 12th century and is 97.2 metres tall has nothing to do with who is following Backman or why. If Grisham had omitted the difference between tortellini and tortelloni, this would be a better suspense story-and at least 50 pages shorter.

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