Wednesday, March 30, 2011

"The Associate", by John Grisham


Grisham's best known trademark is his ability to write mesmerizing legal thrillers. With a political overtone to his one, he has brought us another story that is absorbing enough to keep readers attention. If you liked "The Pelican Brief" and "The Firm", you may want to read this one.

The hero is Kyle McAvoy, onetime editor of the Yale Law Journal, whose post-graduation plans were to work as a legal-aid representing illegal migrant workers. His dream is chattered when he is visited by Bennie Wright, a sinister fellow who has discovered a skeleton in Kyle's closet: a video of Kyle's fraternity brothers, gang raping a girl in his apartment while he watched on. Bennie threatens to make it public and destroy Kyle's legal career if he doesn't accept a job at the prestigious law firm of Scully& Pershing. He needs Kyle inside the firm to obtain confidential information and documents regarding a law suit against two defense industries.

We have two main themes playing throughout the novel that criss-cross each other, first the novel highlights the extreme pressure of being an associate in a powerful firm where it is expected two work limitless billable hours in order to artificially inflate their customers bill. The other is Kyle's reluctant role as Bennie's in house spy.

The author usually writes intricate plots that have his readers flipping page after page. This novel started in the same manner but for some reason mid-way, the storyline fizzled and the pacing began to bog down. Although not unique, Kyle's character is interesting and rather smart. I particularly liked his clever plan to outwit Bennie; it provided some unpredictability and helped maintain my attention. As for the supporting characters, most were rather dull and some I would even consider a distraction to the main plot. I felt Grisham ran out steam towards the end, this has left me with a so so memory of the novel

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