The Associate

Presenting The Associate by John Grisham.

Here is the summary of the book:

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.

However, 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 defense 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.

My third John Grisham novel after 'The Activist' (Theodore Boone) and 'Sycamore Row' (Jake Brigance) and it was a disappointment.Law is not my subject, I find it tedious as a whole and boring as opposed to Grisham's brand of court room drama is considered ..... well I like it but Sycamore Row is the only one I actually liked out of the three is have read. But back to business with 'The Associate' .... this one felt incomplete with an ending that felt like the author just gave it up when he finally decided to get to the good part.

Don't get me wrong 'The Associate' sports a great storyline. At heart this is a corporate espionage. Protagonist Kyle McAvoy, an up and coming brilliant law student, has more than enough talent and the confidence to make it big in New York. Enter this nameless organization that finds out about Kyle's sordid past and blackmails him into joining the biggest firm in Wall Street and spy for them regarding an important legal dispute, that has the Pentagon on edge and may as well be the litigation dispute of the decade.

Really Grisham penned a great plot line here and so far as I finished the book I liked what I read (almost). It is what I didn't find in the book that disheartened me. Also the much we read doesn't assert itself well. Kyle become too paranoid. The 'thugs' sport ridiculous names and don't feel dangerous enough and the big ani-climax at the end ruins everything.

Of course, the romance was the worst part. Granted it is not important to the story but if the author had taken a bit of time to polish his work and put in every element well, then it would have worked much better .......

Seeing as that is not really possible ..... so yes 'The Associate' parades a great idea ...... but that was all it remained and nothing more.

"A great idea but a disappointing result"

Genre :      Adult, Contemporary, Mystery, Legal Thriller

Publisher: Century

Release Date: 27th January, 2009

My Copy: bought (paperback)

Rate:              2/5 (It was Ok)

Other Books from Author (review links):
            Theodore Boone #4 The Activist
                  Jake Brigance #2 Sycamore Row

Buy:           Amazon | Book Depository