by Ruby Gill

Created on: October 08, 2008

Background

The Firm' by John Grisham became the 7th best-selling novel in 1991. An ex-politician and retired attorney, Grisham is known for his legal thrillers. The Firm' is his second book although the first to make him a household name.

Plot summary

Bendini, Lambert and Locke is not your usual law firm. But Mitchell McDeere is in too deep before he realises this. Graduating with top marks out of Harvard law school, he has offers from the biggest Wall Street companies. So what attracts him to the small 40 man firm in Memphis, Tennessee? They offer him much more than the average Wall Street firm a low interest mortgage, a brand new BMW and all debts written off - and so he accepts.

What Mitch doesn't realise is that the firm' is a cover-up for something else; something sinister and secretive which Mitch has unknowingly become a part of. Investigation uncovers a conspiracy; his car and home are bugged, fellow colleagues are found dead in suspicious circumstances, and the FBI are watching their every move. Suddenly the dream job turns into a nightmare.

Review

It's not hard to see why this was a best-seller. The plot gets going on the first few pages and you get a feel for Mitch's character very quickly. It has an underlying complexity that makes you want to keep reading, to find out more about what happens. The book lives up to its critical hype, statements of which include "Reads like a whirlwind" (Chicago Tribune) and "Irresistible ... seizes the reader on the opening page and propels him through 400 more" (Newsweek).

The story is extremely well detailed and although full of law information, don't let that put you off. Grisham's writing style appears to come across as simple, but it is difficult to be able to strike a balance between explaining the complications of law in a straight-forward manner and not patronising the reader; Grisham pulls it off with ease.

There are times in the book that you occasionally wonder how the organisations of the Mafia and the FBI can get outwitted by a trainee lawyer. However don't let this detract you from the story; it might be slightly unbelievable but it certainly notches up the tension as you read chapter after chapter. The attraction of a book about a lawyer didn't appeal to me at first but throw in some shady characters, a few million dollars and a little of Grisham's magic and you've got yourself a novel well worth reading.

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