The Firm by John Grisham #BookReview

Author: John Grisham

Genre: Legal Thriller

Format: Paperback 496 pages

Release Date: 28 October 2010

Publisher: Arrow

Since I love legal thrillers so much, I decided I would like to re-read, from the start, all novels written by John Grisham. I’ve read many of his books over the years but I can’t be sure I’ve read them all and I’m a sucker for lists and doing things in order so why not start from the beginning! 

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Synopsis

When Mitch McDeere qualified third in his class at Harvard, offers poured in from every law firm in America. Bendini, Lambert and Locke were a small, well-respected firm, but their offer exceeded Mitch’s wildest expectations: a fantastic salary, a new home, and the keys to a brand new BMW.

Except for the mysterious deaths of previous lawyers with the firm. And the FBI investigations. And the secret files.

Mitch soon realises that he’s working for the Mafia’s law firm, and there’s no way out – because you don’t want this company’s severance package.

To survive, he’ll have to play both sides against each other – and navigate a vast criminal conspiracy that goes higher than he ever imagined…

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My Thoughts

The first thing that springs to mind upon finishing this book is ‘is something’s too good to be true….. then it usually is’. Now if only Mitch had taken heed of this saying before he joined the law firm of Bendini, Lambert and Lock then he could have saved himself an awful lot of trouble. 

When Mitch joins the firm he thinks he has landed the dream job working at a well respected law firm for more money than he could possibly imagine. His wife is pretty thrilled with the idea as well but starts to get annoyed with the situation when Mitch is consistently working crazy hours day in day out and the firm are pushing them to start a family. 

Mitch soon realises that the firm is not quite all it’s made out to be and when he is approached by the FBI to inform on his colleagues he is faced with what appears to be an impossible situation. 

This book is full of twists and turns and I honestly don’t know what I would have done if I were put in Mitch’s situation. Thankfully Mitch is a very clever and resourceful man and manages to come up with a cunning plan. The last 10 or so chapters of this book really ramp up in the action stakes and I literally found myself speed reading to get to the end and find out what happens. 

Another great legal thriller from John Grisham and another book I would throughly recommend. 

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About the Author

Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi, law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel.

One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, Grisham overheard the harrowing testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl’s father had murdered her assailants. Getting up at 5 a.m. every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and published it in June 1988.

Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea. The family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm in Mississippi and a plantation near Charlottesville, VA.

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