The Broker: John Grisham Tries His Skills At Espionage
Posted: Saturday, January 22, 2005
by ngoldman
Norm Goldman
The following review was contributed by Norm Goldman, Editor of Bookpleasures.com and Sketchandtravel.com
Title: The Broker
Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN: 0385510454
Up to now, author John Grisham’s previous novels seemed all to have a penchant for the legal profession. You can even go so far as crowing him as the master of legal thrillers. No doubt, this is in large due to the fact that for several years Grisham practiced civil and criminal law.
With his latest foray, The Broker, Grisham tries on his authoring skills in a far different arena, that of espionage. Grisham, however, still can’t stay away from the legal profession, as his principal protagonist, Joel Backman, is a corrupt ex-lawyer.
However, instead of devoting his time to the practice of law, Backman is a wealthy powerful lobbyist, who, prior to being sentenced to prison for twenty years, had considerable clout in Washington among the rich and powerful.
Unfortunately for Backman, his greediness catches up with him, when he becomes entangled in a scheme trying to sell, on behalf of three Pakistani engineers, software that controls and manipulates a sophisticated satellite system.
The engineers accidentally discovered the satellite system, while trying to locate a new Indian spy satellite hovering three hundred miles over Pakistan. They code named their discovery Neptune.
The engineers then went on to develop software that would enable the satellite to jam many of the navigation, communications, and reconnaissance satellites already in orbit.
These three individuals sought out Backman, after being informed of his marketing and lobbying talents, and that he would be able to sell the software to the highest foreign government bidder.
Who owns the system is the big mystery. Apparently, no one, including the CIA or the Pentagon, has a clue. There is speculation that it may be the property of anyone of the following countries: China, Israel, Saudi Arabia, or Russia.
The software is never sold to any government and the three Pakistanis end up dead.
As for Backman, he winds up in jail, after his failed attempt to sell the software to the Saudis for an enormous sum of money.
After serving six years of a twenty year sentence, the out going President of the United States, who is painted as a kind of buffoon, pardons Backman upon the advice and pressure put on him by the director of the CIA.
Our protagonist is told that he is a free man he will be hidden in Italy, and will be given an Italian identity.
However, Backman is no chump and he suspects there is something more to all of these shenanigans. Surely, he was not pardoned because the President of the United States had a change of heart or was magnanimous.
Unbeknown to Backman, the CIA leaks his whereabouts to the Israelis, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Saudis. They believe he has valuable secrets that one of these countries would dearly love to get their hands on.
Consequently, they leave Backman out to pasture in Italy in order to find out which country owns the satellite system.
The Broker is not a bad read, however, as Grisham admits in the Author’s Note- “It’s all fiction, folks. I know very little about spies, electronic surveillance, satellite phones, smart phones, bugs, wires, mikes, and the people who use them."
Unfortunately, when you compare The Broker with some of Grisham’s other novels, you sense that he is not comfortable in this new environment, as there does not seem to be the same intensity that we are used to experiencing.
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