Author John Grisham has made a name for himself as the “King of the Legal Thriller.” Reading a Grisham novel is just fun. It’s like diving into an Olympic-sized pool on a hot summer day. Eating ice cream. Dancing in the rain. Stealing a nice, thick, juicy steak off Mom’s plate. Wait. How’d that get in here? Oops. Well, I think Mom’s forgotten about The Great Steak Caper. So let’s just keep it our little secret, okay?
Anyway. Today we’re reviewing two recently read John Grisham books: The Associate and The Broker. One we loved. The other, not so much. Here’s the scoop:
The Broker, 2010
Pages: 434
Genre: Ummm….? Tom Clancy wannabe?
Via: Library Book Sale!
The Broker is about politics. Corruption. Espionage. Dark doin’s in the dead of night. Italy. Pasta. Wine. A touch of romance. Hired assassins. And lots of Really Bad Dudes. It’s also like: Okay. Who are you and what have you done with John Grisham?
But wait. We’re getting ahead of ourselves. To backtrack a bit:
“The broker” is Joel Backman. Backman was formerly a high-powered attorney with the law offices of Backman, Pratt, & Bolling.
Turns out Backman engineered or “brokered” Arthur Morgan’s presidential bid. After four lackluster years, Morgan has been soundly defeated. On his way out the White House, Morgan issues an 11th hour pardon for Backman. Backman’s been cooling his jets in the gray bar hotel in Oklahoma for the last six last years, courtesy of the feds. No one could be happier with the deal than older-than-dirt, been-there-forever CIA Director Teddy Maynard.
The 64$ ?
Now. The $64K question is: How could a broke, disbarred, disgraced, indicted-for-treason-and-espionage-former lawyer/lobbyist convince a lame duck president to grant him a last minute pardon? And why is someone out to kill Backman?
The plot thickens when a U.S. Senator with connections to Backman winds up dead. It’s ruled “suicide,” but no one with half a brain believes that. ( Psssst! Morgan’s presidential bid wasn’t the only thing Backman “brokered.”)
Why?
There’s also a network of super-secret spy satellites named “Neptune.” People are getting very dead over this. Afraid for his life – the guy’s no fool – Blackman flees to Italy, where the FBI is keeping close tabs on him. Questions linger. Like, Who’s out to ice Backman, and why?
Everything goes sideways from there, with all kinds of “ethically challenged,” well-connected players lurking in the shadows. Shady deals. Corruption galore in this fast-paced thriller set in Washington, D.C. and Bologna, Italy. It has more plot twists and turns than Iowa’s Snake Alley.
Dead-Ends
But it also has a lot of dead-ends.
Like, how many times do we need to go over verb conjugation while Backman is learning Italian? Indeed, Backman’s language learning takes up pages and pages. Wake me when it’s over. And how many times do we need to join Backman and his “handler,” Luigi, for lunch and dinner, and dinner and lunch?
There are also endless visits to Italy’s cathedrals, museums, fountains, frescoes and the like. The first 4,867 or so are cool. But after that? It’s almost as if Grisham took a U-turn into The Lonely Planet and is trying to impressive us with his latest travelogue. Or how many different ways he can serve pasta.
Secondary
Yes, there’s some legal maneuvering tossed in here and there. But it’s secondary to the cloak and dagger spy stuff. And the Lethargic in La La Land stuff that gets old really fast.
‘No Doze’
Thankfully, Grisham gets back on track toward the end of the book, tying up everything with a nice, neat bow as Backman asks him if he’s going to do what’s right instead of what’s profitable. It just takes forever to get there. Kindly pass the No Doze.
***
The Associate, 2009
Pages: 434
Genre: Legal Thriller
Via: Library Book Sale!
If you thought Mitch McDeere was in trouble in The Firm, wait till you meet Kyle McAvoy in The Associate.
Kyle McAvoy is a twenty-five year old Yale Law grad. He’s offered something any young, ambitious lawyer would die for: a job as an associate at the world’s largest law firm, Manhattan’s Scully & Pershing. If Kyle accepts, he’ll be on the fast track to partnership and a fortune. But there’s a catch. Kyle won’t be working for the firm but against it in a dispute between two powerful defense contractors worth billions.
He Can’t Refuse
McAvoy accepts the offer because he can’t refuse. In so doing, he’s soon thrust into the hellacious world of a first year associate at a big law firm. You can almost feel the stress, the griding fatigue, the mind-numbing monotony of Document Review.
Uh-Oh
But when a frat bro winds up dead, McAvoy is tossed into a shadowy world of corporate espionage, extortion, blackmail, high-end techno doodads, and murder. It’s a high octane ride as Grisham doles out his prodigious storytelling skills, reeling readers in from chapter one and not letting go until the final page.
A Knack
Grisham has a knack for getting the reader inside his protagonist’s head and kind of taking up residence there. Like you’re on the inside looking out. Same is true with Kyle McAvoy in The Associate. The supporting characters like Scully& Pershing’s workaholic senior partners are equally well rounded. The expanse and opulence of the blue chip New York law firm is as intimidating as it is imposing. Just like it’s meant to be. And this puppy has plot twists galore! Just about the time you think you know where the plot’s going…
Well, hang on tight. You might also want to buckle up.
Scene stealer: Brother Manny at Hope Village.
The Associate packs a punch. It’s vintage Grisham. Mom read it cover-to-cover in one sitting. Oh yeah.
Pages & Paws 