Book Review / The Associate by John Grisham

 

If you thought Mitch McDeere was in trouble in The Firm, wait
until you meet Kyle McAvoy, The Associate

Kyle McAvoy grew up in his father's small-town law office in York, Pennsylvania. He excelled in college, was elected editor-in-chief of The Yale Law Journal, and his future has limitless potential.

But Kyle has a secret, a dark one, an episode from college that he has tried to forget. The secret, though, falls into the hands of the wrong people, and Kyle is forced to take a job he doesn't want--even though it's a job most law students can only dream about.

Three months after leaving Yale, Kyle becomes an associate at the largest law firm in the world, where, in addition to practicing law, he is expected to lie, steal, and take part in a scheme that could send him to prison, if not get him killed.

With an unforgettable cast of characters and villains--from Baxter Tate, a drug-addled trust fund kid and possible rapist, to Dale, a pretty but seemingly quiet former math teacher who shares Kyle's "cubicle" at the law firm, to two of the most powerful and fiercely competitive defense contractors in the country--and featuring all the twists and turns that have made John Grisham the most popular storyteller in the world, The Associate is vintage Grisham.

Published:     27th January 2009
Publisher:  Century
Goodreads :  Click here
Series or Stand-Alone:  Stand-Alone
Source: Owned

 

MY REVIEW

 

Despite this being a thriller, this was such a fun story to read.  You have Kyle who is a budding legal student ready to get out in the world and has had several offers from several different law firms.  However, he starts to get what looks to be blackmailed into making a decision over which law firm he should sign up to because of something that may have happened in his younger years that would certainly ruin his career before it even started.  It appears that he has no choice but to go along with the blackmail and follow the path they want him to go on.

This was certainly a rollercoaster ride and had me hooked from the beginning.  On the one side you have the people who are trying to blackmail Kyle and on the other hand you have Kyle who despite apparently being backed into a corner but maybe he has a plan that no one is expecting.  With the fast paced plot, I just couldn't put this down!