From John Grisham's new novel, The Associate (2009, Century, London, 373 pages), a worrisome suspicion builds that this long-popular author's best work lies behind him. His thrillers about lawyers and clients in peril always had a formulaic quality. Now he appears to have written nothing more than a fresh version of an earlier story.
The Associate focuses on Kyle McAvoy, an exceptional law student from Yale, who joins a large and prestigious American law firm. But there's a problem. He can't quit or vary from a predetermined path. Sinister men with a video of an unsavory event in Kyle's past blackmail him. They force him to spy and betray secrets from a mammoth legal case. Does Kyle have no escape?
Here’s a flashback to 1991. The Firm, Grisham's second novel, focuses on Mitchell McDeere, an exceptional law student from Harvard, who joins a powerful American law firm. But there's a problem. He can't quit or vary from a predetermined path. Mitch learns that the company's top lawyers die in suspicious circumstances. His demanding bosses like to “dispose” of legal talent rather than to let anyone quit. Does Mitch have no escape?
In The Associate, Kyle arrives in New York and works at Scully and Pershing. “Big, powerful, rich. I think it's the largest law firm in the world, depending on who got merged or swallowed yesterday. Offices in 30 cities on five continents. Some really smart folks who work very hard and put enormous pressure on each other, especially on their young associates.... The money is great. The work is brutal. But it's the big leagues.”
The blackmailers monitor and torment Kyle. The nastiest villain claims, “Everybody has secrets, Kyle. I can ruin anyone.”
“Kyle's mouth actually dropped open, and his shoulders slumped. He could think of no quick response, but the one thought that hit him hard was that of being shot. Mr Wright here was a ruthless little cut-throat who worked for some group with unlimited resources and great determination. They would ruin him. They might even kill him.”
While juggling a frantic schedule and intense demands, Kyle must handle mental pressures too. “He wanted out. Out of the elevator, the building, the city. Out of this predicament. He closed his eyes and talked to himself.”
“Military secrets. Stolen technology. Corporate espionage. Foreign intelligence. Threats of litigation and even criminal prosecution. It was one monumental, sordid mess and now he, Kyle McAvoy, was expected to insert himself into the fray.”
Despite the author's fame and skills, careless miscues leap off the pages, sometimes in bunches. Here's one sentence with three blunders: “Blair, a chatterbox who began every sentence with either ‘I’ or ‘me’ or ‘my’, worked for an advertising agency and spent far too much time detailing some of their latest marketing maneuvers.”
What are the mistakes?
-- Properly used, the word ‘either’ appears before the first of two alternatives, not three.
-- How many grammatically correct English sentences begin with the word ‘me’?
-- The character Blair works for an advertising “agency” (singular), yet details “their” (plural) marketing ploys.
A former Mississippi lawyer and politician, Grisham once dreamed of playing pro baseball. The best of his 21 books include The Pelican Brief, A Time To Kill, The Runaway Jury, A Painted House, The Innocent Man and The Broker.
Discontent among readers may deepen unless Grisham becomes more original and meticulous. Maybe that's what he’ll do. After all, The Associate ends with enough unresolved issues to suggest a sequel.
Approval rating: 46 per cent.
For more information: www.johngrisham.co.uk
(August 26, 2009)
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