Hey Friends,
John Grisham, the lawyer turned novelist, known for his fast paced thrillers has done the job again. This time it’s a quiet law firm in Memphis which works for the mafia. The Firm is no doubt one of the best works of John Grisham. It is full of thrills and entertaining and no doubt a very satisfying read. It is 490 pages of edge-of-the-seat thrill and at Rs. 255 it is surely a value for money book.
If you are a John Grisham fan then it’s a must read for you and if you have not read any of his works then you are surely missing something.
The Characters
Mitchell Y. McDeere (Mitch) is a young law school graduate. He is third in his class and is in demand. He has got job offers from Wall Street and other hot shot law firms. Amongst the offers is a small Memphis tax law firm with just 40 lawyers.
Abby McDeere is his beautiful wife who is a high school teacher.
This couple comes from a poor background and they have sacrificed a lot. Now, that Mitch is on his way to a good and prosperous life, they both are looking forward to it.
Bendini, Lambert and Locke is the law firm in Memphis.
Wayne Tarrance is a special agent of FBI. Director Voyles is the Director of FBI. They are watching this little tax law firm because they suspect that this firm’s primary job is to turn the black money of mafia into white money, Morloto family to be precise.
Avery Tolleson is the senior partner in the law firm, under whom Mitch is appointed to work and learn the intricacies of tax law.
Oliver Lambert is another senior partner, at 61 he is like the grandfather of the firm.
Royce McKnight is the managing partner of the law firm.
These are the main characters of the story. Some others are also there, which are mentioned in next part of the review.
The Story
Story of novel is really strong. The law firm in Memphis is suspected to work for mafia. FBI believes that all the dirty money of mafia is being managed by this law firm. All they need now is the proof of it. This proof can only be provided by someone from inside the firm. They have tried to contact some lawyers in past but all of the accidentally died. Now Mitch is the new rookie on the firm and FBI sends Tarrance to contact him.
They are planning to take Mitch into their confidence thus gaining access to the secret files inside the firm and hence indicting the entire firm and breaking up on of the biggest organized crime family – The Morloto Family.
Mitch is offered $80, 000 a year with a new BMW, a new house, entire student loan paid off by the firm and with big bonuses. Mitch has no idea that he is about to walk into a firm from which no lawyer has every walked out – alive. That is dream is about to turn into his worst nightmare.
And if Mitch wants to survive he has to help the FBI. The problem is – mafia is watching very closely and all 5 of previous lawyers who tried to help the FBI have all died or murdered by mafia. Now, can Mitch pull it off?
The Novel
This novel is surely one of the best works of John Grisham among The Chamber, The Rainmaker, and The Last Juror. (The novels are in my opinion best works of John, from the ones I have read. The list need not be exhaustive. This does not means others are not good works but these are really good novels). The novel is very fast, it is very nicely balanced. It starts with interview of Mitch and then easily progresses towards bad things. Author has very nicely covered all areas of the life of his main character, Mitch. Author tells about his present, his past, his wife and her family and his brother Ray who is in prison.
Very importantly, the novel has got a very good climax. The biggest blunder that thriller writers do is that they build a plot and they get the reader excited. Many a times they are not able to give a good climax to the novel. This is what makes a reader feel cheated. I mean imagine, for 450 pages you are completely thrilled and suddenly in 20-25 pages the story comes to an abrupt end. Here, the ending is simply great. There are no loopholes or unused leads in the story. Everything relates and the combination is just perfect.
It is a great entertainer, makes for a very good bed time read. It is one of those whom you can enjoy anywhere, not like ones which can be used to kill 4 hours of a boring journey. The Firm is a very good, entertaining, value for money, worth adding in your collection and definitely a re-readable and still enjoyable novel.
Happy Reading,
Khagesh Gautam