The King of Torts is a legal/suspense novel written by American author John Grisham. The first edition (ISBN 0385508042) was published in hardcover format by Doubleday in 2003. Dell Publishing published the paperback edition later in 2003 (ISBN 0440241537).

Plot teaser

From the novel's back cover:
Tort (from Lat. torquere, to twist, tortus, twisted, wrested aside). A private or civil wrong or injury, including action for bad faith breach of contract, for which the court will provide a remedy in the form of an action for damages. -- Black's Law Dictionary

The Washington D.C. Office of Public Defender (a creation of the author) provides legal defense services for those unable to afford representation. Some public defenders view the Office as a fertile training ground for young lawyers; but for Clay Carter II, a 5 year veteran of the Office, the OPD is a career dead-end.

Clay's latest case involves a random street murder; the kind the he has seen, and attempted to dodge, many times before. Clay immediately suspects that something is different with this case. His investigations gain the attention of a mysterious stranger, Max Pace. Pace gives Clay evidence of a dangerous new drug, one that could be worth millions of dollars.

Clay accepts the offer, and with the money he builds a successful mass tort / class action law firm. Within a year, Clay is heralded as the new 'King of Torts' in major newspapers and legal journals. But can Clay, inexperienced in mass tort litigation and unaccustomed to the wealth involved in class-action lawsuits, sustain his spectacular success?

List of characters

• J. Clay Carter II
• Max Pace
• Tequila Watson
• Adelfa Pumphrey
• Rebecca Van Horn
• Bennett Van Horn
• Paullette Tullos
• Jarrett Carter
• Patton French

External links

• The King of Torts - official site