The Associate

The Associate, John Grisham

Having been disappointed by the last couple of Grisham books, I found this one to be much more in the traditional Grisham style and reminiscent of The Firm.

Kyle McAvoy is a brilliant, newly qualified lawyer whose future is threatened by a dark secret from his past. He is blackmailed into taking a well paid job with a major New York law firm, from which he is supposed to steal secrets about a big, billion-dollar trial in exchange for the blackmailers’ silence. He therefore finds himself in a dilemma, caught between passing on secrets which could see him disbarred and his career destroyed, and keeping a lid on his past.

All the ingredients for a vintage Grisham novel are there, but the predicament is mundanely resolved. I felt the conclusion was a cop out and it ultimately left me dissatisfied. Despite the promising start and the gripping build-up, the ending turned out out to be something of an anti-climax.

James’ out-of-five star rating: **