The Associate: A Novel [Mass Market Paperback]

 

 

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The Associate is further evidence that John Grisham's best legal thriller writing was in his early days. From the concept for the plot to the character development to the ending, this novel shouldn't get past the defense's request for summary judgment to dismiss the book without offering a defense of the request.

If you haven't already read The Firm, The Associate would almost come up to average level. I'm sure you have read The Firm (probably one reason why you picked up The Associate), and in every aspect of The Associate you'll wish you were reading The Firm.

Don't judge the book by its first 57 pages. Those pages are vivid, interesting, compelling, and will get your heart pumping. After that, it's all downhill . . . a long way down.

So what's it all about?

Kyle McAvoy is a third-year student at Yale Law School in New Haven, Connecticut where he's the star of the show as editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Review. Having grown up in Erie, Pennsylvania where his father runs a "serve-the-people" practice rather than a "take-the-peoples'-money" practice, McAvoy is planning to take a job as a poverty lawyer for 2-3 years.

Fate intervenes while McAvoy is coaching a youth league basketball game. The FBI wants to talk to McAvoy. Before the night is over, a series of events begin to unfold that make McAvoy a pawn in a game so big he cannot even imagine who the players might be. It's all tied up with a moment he would rather forget, even though he doesn't remember much about the moment through the mists of time and drunkenness.

As a result, McAvoy joins one of the nation's largest and highest paid firms, Scully & Pershing, as a litigation associate. Once there, he's abused, overworked, and bored to death like everyone else chasing the plum of a partnership. McAvoy has another boss, the mysterious Bennie who wants secrets from the firm . . . and will seemingly stop at nothing to get those secrets.

Can McAvoy do what's right and escape the clutches of Bennie? That's the primary suspense in the story.

Don't read any further if you think you might want to read the book. Let's start with the plot's premise in explaining the book's weaknesses. I could not imagine someone with McAvoy's legal background and status knuckling under to this kind of blackmail without getting help from professors and a father who is a lawyer. If McAvoy had asked for help, the plot would never have developed.

From there, the blackmail activity puts enormous resources into influencing one law student. That makes no sense. There had to be easier ways to steal the information. I've been in many of New York's largest law offices after hours, and the security wouldn't be hard to overcome.

The side plot of a college rape doesn't add anything to the story other than to make it disgusting to read. Surely, Mr. Grisham could have thought of something else to blackmail McAvoy for that wouldn't leave such a bad taste in the reader's mouth.

On the character side, I didn't find myself rooting very much for McAvoy. And the other characters weren't particularly sympathetic either except for Baxter Tate, just before he was murdered. The character development was modest at best. The only character which came alive for me as a person was McAvoy's father.

Let's face it. Large law firms are indescribably dull unless you happen to be assigned an interesting question to research. There's a reason for that. Young associates don't know enough about the law to do very many people any good, but they can do a lot of harm. Picking such a firm for the story gave Mr. Grisham a target to criticize . . . but not much of interest to write about. Based on my experiences with top New York lawyers and the associates who carry their brief cases around, the criticisms rang more hollow than true.

Having McAvoy play cat-and-mouse with Bennie and his merry men did provide a little amusement, but to me it just stretched out the story to little purpose.

The ending just felt like the book contract required that so many pages be written and that Mr. Grisham wanted to wrap it all up quickly. Obviously one of the partners was playing ball with Bennie . . . but why . . . and what did they hope to accomplish by involving McAvoy?

I suppose that I'm supposed to riddle over that set of questions (like The Lady or the Tiger?). I didn't riddle a bit because I didn't care who did what.

I think I'll wait to look at a few reviews in the future before I read any of Mr. Grisham's future legal thrillers.

Your Tags: john grisham, legal thriller, suspense, mystery, blackmail, rape, yale law school, espionage

I agree with just about everything that has been written here ... first off the plot and the whole premise of the blackmail was a stretch to put it mildly. Even after I decided to push through and 'forgive' that I found myself questioning every plot twist with "yeah but why doesn't he just go get help" or something similar. Worst of all though was the lack of reward for pushing through to the end - it honestly feels as one reviewer already wrote, as if J.G. was contracted for x number of pages and just stopped once he got there. So many plot lines left mid stream .... avoid.

This is not Grisham's best.. it's still very good but doesn't have the "can't set it down" quality that some of his have. Still a very good read.

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2.0 out of 5 stars Not Grisham's best
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... Read more

Published 14 months ago by Toni Osborne

4.0 out of 5 stars Great story, but unfinished
I found this to be a great thriller, not up to The Firm, but better than some other Grisham novels. I had much difficulty putting it down, and I did so only twice - for dinner and... Read more

Published 18 months ago by David Huntley

4.0 out of 5 stars Good, not great but an enjoyable read and escape!
I just finished reading The Associate. It's a wonderful Grisham legal thriller. I found it hard to put down and finished the last 2/3rds in one sitting tonight. Read more

Published on Nov 6 2009 by David W. Wildeboer

1.0 out of 5 stars Truly Awful
PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME with this book!

The book is slow-paced, uninteresting, and flaccid. A deplorable excuse for suspense and literature. Read more

Published on Aug 1 2009 by Wes Lau

1.0 out of 5 stars Easy to put it down!
Very dissapointed. Nothing like John's earlier titles. I am half wondering if its the same author. The plot is interesting in which a bunch of bad guys are asking Kyle to spy... Read more

Published on April 9 2009 by Joozer Karimjee

1.0 out of 5 stars What a waste
Do not read if you want to read the book
As a long time fan of Grisham novels, I eagerly looked forward to settling down to The Associate. Read more

Published on Mar 30 2009 by Bob C

1.0 out of 5 stars Untenable and dreary
I was amazed to see the first reviewer saying that the first 57 pages are the best. I'm not saying that he is not right, only that I can't even get to page 57. Read more

Published on Mar 1 2009 by Allan Martel

1.0 out of 5 stars One of worst Grisham novels
John Grisham should take longer to write his books between publishing. This is one of his worst every written.

Published on Feb 14 2009 by Avid Reader

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