THE FIRM- John Grisham

AUTHOR: John Grisham

BEST SELLERS: The Runaway Jury, The Last Juror, The Painted House, The Broker, The Litigators; The Firm was his first widely recognized book, and in 1993, was made into a film starring Tom Cruise.

1st PUBLISHED: 1991

ISBN: 0-440-21145-X

GENRE: Legal Thriller

SYNOPSIS:

At the top of his class at Harvard Law, he had his choice of the best in America. He made a deadly mistake.

When Mitch McDeere signed on with Bendini, Lambert and Locke of Memphis, he thought he and his beautiful wife, Abby, were on their way. The firm leased him a BMW, paid off his school loans, arranged a mortgage, and hired him a decorator. Mitch McDeere should have remembered what his brother Ray- doing fifteen years in a Tennessee jail- already knew. You never get nothing for nothing. Now the FBI has the lowdown on Mitch’s firm and needs his help. Mitch is caught between a rock and a hard place, with no choice- if he wants to live.


EXCERPT:

“What type of work will I do initially?”

“You’ll do a lot of research and generally boring stuff. But you’ll be paid handsomely.”

“How much?”

Lamar looked at Royce McKnight, who eyed Mitch and said, “We’ll discuss the compensation and other benefits when you come to Memphis.”

“I want a ballpark figure or I may not come to Memphis.” He smiled, arrogant but cordial. He spoke like a man with three job offers.

The partners smiled at each other, and Mr. Lambert spoke first. “Okay. A base salary of eighty thousand the first year, plus bonuses. Eighty-five thousand the second year, plus bonuses. A low-interest mortgage so you can buy a home. Two country club memberships. And a new BMW. You pick the color, of course.”

They focused on his lips, and waited for the wrinkles to form on his cheeks and the teeth to break through. He tried to conceal a smile, but it was impossible. He chuckled.

“That’s incredible,” he mumbled. Eighty thousand in Memphis equaled a hundred and twenty thousand in New York. Did the man say BMW! His Mazda hatchback had a million miles on it and for the moment had to be jump-started while he saved for a rebuilt starter.

“Plus a few more fringes we’ll be glad to discuss in Memphis.”

Suddenly, he had a strong desire to visit Memphis. Wasn’t it by the river?


ARPITA SPEAKS:

I have two words for this book: MIND-BLOWING. This is a novel that I love flaunting on my bookshelf; a novel I never tire of reading again and again. As John Grisham brings together his own genius as well as a hint of Mario Puzo’s, we are introduced to Mitchell Y. McDeere- a highly ambitious young tax lawyer who joins a firm that makes him an offer he should have refused.

Just as Mitch finally gets used to the handsome pay, the car, and all the incredible perks that come with the job, he begins to notice strange and sinister events related to the firm’s lawyers. Not one to keep his head down and get on with his life, he carries out his own little investigation regarding the somewhat suspicious accidents in which two lawyers had died last year.

Soon after Mitch’s name appears in the paper when he passes the bar exam, he comes across an old friend who now works for the FBI- who just happens to have been (recently) transferred to Memphis. With a number of FBI agents tracking him down from time to time, Mitch gradually realizes that the firm is not exactly what it seems to be.

On one hand, there’s the FBI which threatens to take down the firm someday whether Mitch agrees to help them or not; on another, there’s the firm itself which has had his house and car bugged, phones tapped, desk and office wired. Caught between the Devil and the deep sea, Mitch and Abby decide to gamble with theirs lives… and hope that they will live to tell the tale.

The nail-biting suspense will keep you hooked until the very end, and the story will linger in your mind long after you have finished reading this book. Don’t lose time- go get your hands on it.

RATING: 4.5 on 5

PRICE: Rs.224/- (Flipkart)