Not to be confused with Kings of Tort, a book written by Alan Lange, editor of the website, Y'all Politics.
The King of Torts is a legal/suspense novel

Novel

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....

 written by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author John Grisham

John Grisham

John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade...

. The first edition (ISBN 0-385-50804-2) was published in hardcover format by Doubleday in 2003, and immediately debuted at #1 on the New York Times Best Sellers list, remaining in the top 15 for over twenty weeks. Dell Publishing

Dell Publishing

Dell Publishing, an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte, Jr.During the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Dell was one of the largest publishers of magazines, including pulp magazines. Their line of humor magazines included 1000 Jokes, launched in...

 published the paperback edition later in 2003 (ISBN 0-440-24153-7).

Plot

Clay Carter is a poorly-paid lawyer at the Office of the Public Defender. He dreams 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.

But 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 for 90% of their patients, but in some cases (including Tequila Watson), it leads to random violent killings.

The drug company employs Pace and his shadowy associates to solicit Clay's help in paying off the victims with large settlements. Clay has reservations, but soon profits from the legal retainer offered by Pace. He leaves the OPD and raids some of their staff to establish his own law firm.

Pace offers Clay insider information on the dangers of another drug (Dyloft and Maxatil). Clay uses this information to launch a new career in Tort Law. Soon he finds himself being one of the legal profession's biggest tort

Tort

A tort, in common law jurisdictions, is a wrong that involves a breach of a civil duty owed to someone else. It is differentiated from a crime, which involves a breach of a duty owed to society in general...

lawyers and conniving with other high-powered tort lawyers. But this sudden fame isn't without a price and soon he's under investigation for various misdemeanors, including insider trading.
In the end, Clay is beaten up by some men from Reedsburgh, sending him to the hospital. Then he loses a huge case against Goffman and slides downhill as previous, disgruntled clients sue him. In the end he runs away with Rebecca to London.

List of characters

• Jarrett Clay Carter II
• Max Pace - a mysterious adviser of Clay Carter
• Tequila Watson - later restyled as Paul Watson
• Ramon Pumphrey
• Adelfa Pumphrey
• Rebecca Van Horn
• Bennett Van Horn
• Barbara Van Horn
• Paullette Tullos
• Patton French
• Rodney
• Jonah
• Glenda
• Talmadge X
• Cartier Carter
• Mrs. Worley
• Oscar Mulrooney
• Dale Mooneyham
• Roger Redding
• Helen Warshaw
• Ridley
• Carlos Hernandez
• Wes Saulsberry
• Jermaine
• Miss Glick