The King of Torts

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The King of Torts
Author	John Grisham
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Legal thriller novel
Publisher	Doubleday
Publication date	2003
Media type	Print (Hardcover, Paperback)
ISBN	ISBN 0-385-50804-2

The King of Torts is a legal/suspense novel written by American author John Grisham. The first edition (ISBN 0-385-50804-2) was published in hardcover format by Doubleday in 2003. Dell Publishing published the paperback edition later in 2003 (ISBN 0-440-24153-7).

[edit] Plot

Clay Carter is a public defender, dreaming of one day joining a big law firm. Reluctantly, he takes on the case of Tequila Watson, a man accused of a random street killing. Clay assumes that it is just another D.C. murder. Clay soon learns of a pharmaceutical conspiracy, with the help of the mysterious Max Pace. The pharmaceutical company was illegally using recovering drug addicts for medical trials without their consent. The drug, Tarvan, works wonderfully for 90% of their patients, but in a small percentage (including Tequila Watson), it leads to random violent killings. The drug company therefore uses Max Pace to solicit Clay to pay off the victims with large settlements. Clay initially has reservations for doing this, but soon, he profits from the legal retainer offered by Max Pace.

Max Pace then offers Clay insider information on the dangers of another drug. Clay uses this information to launch a new career in Tort Law. Soon Clay finds himself being one of the legal profession's biggest tort lawyers. Unfortunately, this sudden fame isn't without a price.

[edit] List of characters

Jarrett "Clay" Carter II
Max Pace
Tequila Watson later restyled Paul Watson
Adelfa Pumphrey
Rebecca Van Horn
Bennett Van Horn
Paullette Tullos
Jarrett Carter
Patton French
Ridley

[edit] External links

Preceded by The Summons	John Grisham Novels 2003	Succeeded by Bleachers

v • d • e Works by John Grisham

Novels:	A Time to Kill (1989) • The Firm (1991) • The Pelican Brief (1992) • The Client (1993) • The Chamber (1994) • The Rainmaker (1995) • The Runaway Jury (1996) • The Partner (1997) • The Gingerbread Man (Unpublished) (1998) • The Street Lawyer (1998) • The Testament (1999) • The Brethren (2000) • A Painted House (2001) • Skipping Christmas (2001) • The Summons (2002) • The King of Torts (2003) • Bleachers (2003) • Mickey (screenplay) (2004) • The Last Juror (2004) • The Broker (2005) • Playing for Pizza (2007) • The Appeal (2008)

Non-fiction:	The Innocent Man (2006)