The Associate
by John Grisham
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Book Reviews of The Associate
Book Review: Grisham Rounds the Bases
Summary: 3 Stars
I like all of John Grisham's fiction. I was left wondering why I didn't like this book more. It has many of the things I liked in The Rainmaker:
- Our hero is a newly-minted lawyer, who still thinks like an innocent law student.
- There is a huge, heartless law firm full of greedy partners we love to hate.
- They contrast with some small-time lawyers who have quick wits and good hearts.
- An interesting romantic prospect falls incredibly into our hero's lap.
- We see some new ways poor lawyers just work themselves to death.
- Law enforcement and other official "forces of good" are only medium-clever.
- Young, brilliant, first-year lawyers are clever enough to take on anyone.
- Personal friends, former clients, family, etc. rise to the occasion.
- Only some of the several subplots are resolved.
As I was putting together this list, the answer occurred to me. The book felt like John Grisham had written it while looking at a similar list, perhaps on a yellow note stuck on the wall by his desk. It wasn't fresh or new. It did have all the elements--just check them off. Reading it was like watching somebody walk around the bases on a baseball field without any of the excitement of a game. No ball going over the fence, no yelling crowd, no other players. No game.
If you are a die-hard Grisham fan, go ahead and buy this book. You'll get something from reading it. But let's hope there's more game in the next book. Not just walking the bases.
Book Review: Thugs with Briefcases
Summary: 4 Stars
In many ways similar to his breakout novel "The Firm," Grisham's "Associate" is one of his better legal thrillers. There isn't much action in "The Associate," but Grisham manages to pique the reader's interest and grab his attention without it.
As in "The Firm," in "The Associate" a novice lawyer becomes embroiled in the legal corruption that permeates the very fiber of a large law firm. In "The Associate" the young law-school grad chooses to take part in the ongoing corruption at the law firm--not because he wants to but because he is being blackmailed into accepting the job by malefactors working for a rival (and equally corrupt and avaricious) law firm.
The fun here is in following the complications that ensue as the blackmailed Kyle McAvoy, terrifed that his enemies will expose his involvement in an alleged college rape, attempts to defeat these very enemies even as they have him jumping through hoops to do their bidding.
Some of his methods include his reading of paperback spy thrillers in order to figure out how to shake the blackmailers that tail him and, as well, his buying of espionage gadgets at electronics stores to counter their surveillance of him.
Grisham's depiction of the machinations at the unscrupulous New York law firm is fascinating, especially his rendering of the extent to which these thugs with briefcases and law degrees will go in order to win their trials and the vast sums of money at stake in their lawsuits.
All in all, I found the book as entertaining as "The Firm."
--Bryan Cassiday, author of "Fete of Death"
Book Review: Padding
Summary: 2 Stars
Mr. Grisham is padding his billing sheet with The Associate, which seems almost to have been ghost-written. It reflects little of the talent behind The Partner, my favorite Grisham novel and, frankly, it made me somewhat upset to have spent 27 bucks. I would have been disappointed to buy this one in paperback. Time was that you started a Grisham novel and couldn't put it down. Had I not been stuck in an airport en route from a deposition I would not have had the patience to finish.
This book was like my sixth grade term paper; we all had them, you would count the words until you got to the end. Likewise, although there was some great potential in this story it was not realized. Sure, there were half-hearted attempts to bring other characters to life, but they were all just that, half-hearted. The ending was among the most disappointing that I have ever come across--in any genre.
Nobody learns anything. There is no character progression--just a slow moving train wreck from which nobody emerges having been enlightened. In fact, the reader feels much like our protagonist--forced to endure a journey that was expected to be something completely different and not entirely sure how to escape. Heavens, big law firms are such a deliciously evil mix of stunningly warped personalities and distorted goals that any number of excellent thrillers could be drawn from facts known to just about any lawyer.
I do hope that Mr. Grisham rediscovers the joy of telling a story--he is very good at it; however, I cannot recommend this book.
Book Review: Not Grisham's best work
Summary: 3 Stars
I have been a fan of John Grisham since his first novel and have read everything he's written. I really like this particular genre and Grisham's books normally engage me from the start. 'The Associate' was no exception. I read the entire book hungrily, waiting for what I was sure would be a stunning conclusion. But on finishing the book, I was left with many questions and a feeling that I had been slightly cheated.
Why spend 384 pages capturing every detail of this young attorney's experience and then not give the reader a satisfying ending? Who was behind the whole scheme? Did Kyle just fade into the York PA sunset never to be heard from again? Who was the other insider at the firm? Another 25 pages or so could have wrapped this up tidily.
The detail of a young associate's first year at a big law firm was enough to make me happy I hadn't chosen a career in law!
Someone who had read this book before me (it was from the library) actually did some editing! I had to laugh. There were several places where Grisham had his characters' names mixed up and the person had carefully crossed out the incorrect name and written in the right one. Those kinds of errors are inexcusable in a book from someone with Grisham's reputation. Was there only one edit? If a casual reader could find these errors, why couldn't the editor?
Oh well. I liked this book well enough and will not cross John Grisham off my list of favorite authors just yet. I'm glad he's returned to the genre where he does his best work too. 'Playing for Pizza' was a big mistake!!!
Book Review: Conspiracies, Blackmail, etc.
Summary: 4 Stars
In The Associate, we meet Kyle McAvoy, who was minding his own business on a February day - getting ready to finish law school and begin his real life.
But events quickly dial up a notch when he is approached by men identifying themselves as FBI agents, and he soon finds himself in the midst of a conspiracy - and all because of a secret he has about one drunken night in a frat house.
In typical Grisham fashion, we careen down a complicated path as the plot twists and turns, with none of the players who they appear to be. Kyle finds himself manipulated by some very clever and mysterious puppeteers, with no place to hide and nobody to help him out.
Turning the pages, we soon discover that the puppet master is not the only manipulator, as Kyle finally hatches a plan, hoping to eventually find his way out of the deep hole in which he has plunged.
Fascinating and unexpected diversions along the way lead us to a kind of real-life ending, with no final resolution in hand. In other words, not tied up in a neat little bow. But the plot is somewhat predictable, nonetheless, and reminiscent of Grisham's other works about lawyers in trouble - such as The Firm.
Because of this trite predictability, I deducted one star.
Laurel-Rain Snow
Author of: Web of Tyranny, etc.