The Associate
Authors:
John Grisham
Retail Price (Softback):
Retail Price (Ebook):
ISBN: 978-1-8460-5092
First Published: 2009
Description:
What it says on the cover
It's a deadly game of blackmail. And they're making him play. Kyle McAvoy is one of the outstanding legal students of his generation: he's good looking, has a brilliant mind and a glittering future ahead of him. But he has a secret from his past, a secret that threatens to destroy his fledgling career and, possibly, his entire life.
One night that secret catches up with him in the form of some bad men in a dark alley - they have a deeply compromising video of the incident that haunts him. The men make it clear to Kyle that he no longer owns his own future - that he must do as they tell him, or the video will be made public knowledge, with all the unpleasant consequences.
What price do they demand for Kyle's secret? Strangely, it is for Kyle to do exactly what any ambitious young lawyer would want to do: take a job in New York as an associate at the largest law firm in the world, a job that is incredibly well paid and, with mammoth hours and outrageous billing, could lead to partnership and a fortune.
But Kyle won't be working for the company, but against it - passing on the secrets of the company's biggest trial to date, a dispute between two defence contractors worth billions of dollars to the victor. Now Kyle is caught between the criminal forces manipulating him and the FBI, who would love to unmask the conspiracy. Will his intellect, cunning and bravery be enough to extricate him from an impossible dilemma?
Full of twists and turns and reminiscent of "The Firm", "The Associate" is vintage John Grisham.
Century
Your Opinions and Comments
Sadly it was not. I won't give it away, but I wouldn't encourage anyone to bother to get that far.
If the main character had taken advice form a close sourse early in the book, it would have been a slim volume indeed.
When the opening confrontation with blackmailer lasted until about page 80, I knew that the book didn't live up yo the synopis on the cover.
The description of one character Nigel on p198 amused me as an american view of the English (not recognising that we are a multi - ethnic society too). 'A pleasure' he sang in a cheery british way'. Grisham must having been watching too many old Dick Van Dyke movies!
One redeeming feature of the book was its characterisation of the large legal companies. The insight to the brutal work hours and focus on making large amounts of money out of other large corporations chimed with the recent relevations of greedy bankers taking large bonusses for failing to run their companies properly..
John Grisham has written many excellent books, but I fear this along with 'The Appeal', and 'The Innocent Man' indicate he may be running out of ideas or enthusiasm.