As always, this book was a page-turner, but some of the plot lines seemed rather ludicrous, as if Patterson is running out of material or forcing out books faster than good ideas come to him.

Grisham is back at what he does best in this novel that highlights the need for judicial reform while spinning a tale of a jury verdict and the many people it affects.

I miss Grisham’s lawyer novels! The “hero” of this story is an immature, self-centered jerk, so it was hard to feel bad for his situation. The descriptions of Italy were wonderful, but the football scenes less so, and too many of the characters were overblown caricatures. It was a quick read, and definitely not one of Grisham’s better efforts.

Not nearly as preachy as Exile, this is a page-turner with behind-the-scenes insight into why American politics is as bad as it is today.

Parts of this movie were very good, especially Will Smith’s performance and the cinematography of the mostly-abandoned Manhattan. But there were many logic gaps and plot holes, as well as unnecessarily graphic and gory violence. And without being a spoiler, the ending was very forced and unsatisfying.

One word: disappointing. I listen to PHC from time to time and really enjoy the stories about Lake Woebegone, but none of that is here. Don’t get me started on how dumb the story line about the ghost is, or how Linda Lohan doesn’t fit in at all here.

This could have been, should have been, so much better. On the bright side, the musical numbers were good, and some of the cast (especially Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin) were superb.

The story of a successful but shallow talent agent whose world is turned upside down when his journal is stolen by a writer who plans to write a tell-all expose. I found it hard to be sympathetic to his character, but the movie had a few good moments.

While the plot was good and exciting, the characterizations were bad caricatures, and he overuses some words (stab and tug, for example) when others would be far more appropriate, and he uses far too many bad metaphors and analogies for my taste.

I read the author’s first novel years ago and was turned off by the same poor writing, but I had hoped by now that his writing had improved or at least a better editor was cleaning up after him. No such luck.

The book is much, much better. Eastwood’s daughter plays a character in the book, and it seemed to me like some of the plot changes had more to do with giving her more screen time than making the story better. For that matter, I don’t think any of the plot or character changes from the book were positive. The best aspect for me was one of the DVD extras that showed some of the real places in Savannah featured in the story.

I went to Savannah in 2002 and was told that I had to read this book before I went, and not to cheat and watch the movie instead (watching the movie was OK, just not before reading the book). I really enjoyed reading it, and I do think it added a lot to my trip. I later watched the movie, and it definitely paled in comparison.