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Location, Location, Location I have read the following works of John Grisham: THE FIRM, THE PELICAN BRIEF, THE CLIENT, A TIME TO KILL, THE CHAMBER, THE RAINMAKER, THE RUNAWAY JURY, THE PARTNER, THE STREET LAWYER, THE TESTAMENT, THE BRETHREN, A PAINTED HOUSE, SKIPPING CHRISTMAS, THE SUMMONS, THE KING OF TORTS, THE LAST JUROR, BLEACHERS and finally THE BROKER. Most of these books are exceptionally well written enabling the reader to be pulled into the world of the novel. In examining Grisham's work, one finds a "redemption" theme in most of them. On an NPR radio interview, Grisham discusses his joy of writing about redemption and how his wife has been encouraging him to find an alternative theme. In my untrained literary eye, I feel that his novels that lack this theme are visually limited. That is, these novels lack the capacity to induce rich pictures in my mind. In addition, redemption, in and of itself, does not necessarily mean that the main character is going to triumph or be enriched. THE PARTNER and THE KING OF TORTS are excellent examples. Thus, the history of how Grisham handles redemption does not mean that the central sympathetic character is going to emerge prevailing or even surviving. While reading toward the end, those who are most familiar with Grisham's plot style will be acutely aware that there will be a variety of alternative endings to this novel. I suspect that readers new to Grisham's style will be able to accurately predict the outcome. Regardless of one's experience with Grisham, virtually all readers will find themselves sitting on the edge of their chairs as Joel Backman evades his diverse pursuers. There are two personal key points about the locations within THE BROKER. First, my family's origin is Northern Italy. THE BROKER is the only piece of fiction that notes this geographic area. In addition, the novel includes one of my favorite towns in the world -- Culpeper, Virginia. How can I not like a book that includes these locations?