User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
I was so disappointed in Grisham's latest work. He took more than half the book to create this wonderfully detailed plot and then three chapters to close the book. Three chapters in which he untwisted some of the elements of the plot, didn't resolve anything, and quit to early. I felt so unfulfilled at the end.
It kills me that his latest books haven't been up to par with his earlier works. In the beginning, his books were well-crafted and well-executed. After he began seeing his books turn into movies, they became a little fluffier but he eventually returned with The Street Lawyer and The Broker. But alas, we are back to the fluff and I'm sad to say that he is falling in my list of fav authors..
Rating: really liked it
Good books don't necessarily have to provide all the answers to every plot thread introduced into them. We want our characters to feel like they have lives beyond the confines of the printed page and that their story exists before, during and after the book we're reading. But a good book should at least provide the reader with some sense of closure and not the feeling like an editor was standing over the writer, pointing out that he or she had x-number of pages left or he or she was slowly reaching the word count for the novel and that wrapping up the book soon would be a good idea. There should be some sense of closure, not just a sense of wrapping things up.
There's a distinct lack of closure to John Grisham's new novel.
"The Associate" spents 275 pages setting up the situation Kyle McAvoy faces. Years ago, his roommates at a frat party took advantage of a young woman, while she may or may not have been passed out. The young girl had a reputation and when she tried to press charges for rape, the investigation hit a quick dead end and the matter was dropped. Or so it would appear. While Kyle wasn't one of the participants, he was in the room when it happened. Now, years later video from a camera phone has surfaced in the hands of men who want Kyle to do thier bidding. He is to accept a job with a high-prestige law firm and spy on them for these men.
This mysterious group seems to have their fingers in a lot of pies an a lot of power, though it's never explained why or if they're manipulating certain aspects of Kyle's life and that of his friends. They hold the tape over Kyle's head throughout the story, saying that while it may not lead to charges it will certainly ruin the life of Kyle and his friends.
Kyle is pressed into service in an impossible situation and slowly begins to try and find a way out of it. By reading spy novels, he routinely sheds those tailing him and begins to slowly fight back, forming a plan of his own. Meanwhile, he's got the soulless first year job at a law firm and maybe a connection with a fellow female associate.
It's a lot to take in and Grisham does a nice job of keeping the plot moving for the first 300 or so pages. But it's right around a huge turning point in the novel that things slowly being to unravel. I won't say the turning point, but if you've read the book, you can probably peg it. It involves one of the group of the accused who went to Hollywood seeking his fame and fortune. Suddenly, things kick into a different gear and Kyle makes some decisions. These are things that could and should change the story and ratchet things into a higher gear, adding to the suspense and making the pages turn faster. And they do...except these things all happen 30 or so pages before the novel ends.
And the novel just wraps up. In one of the more unsatisfying endings I've read in a while, Grisham just finishes the story. In the end, justice isn't really served and you can see how Grisham is trying to create a morally ambigious ending, but yet it just doesn't feel satisfying. Kyle isn't a purely innocent character, but it'd be nice if it felt like some or any of the bad guys got what was coming to them in the end. Instead, it's one of those--hey, life sucks but what are you going to do? endings that left me frustrated and wondering where the rest of the book was.
We could at least know that Kyle got the girl or something. A hint, anything besides what we go.
And that's a shame. Because Grisham works hard in creating Kyle and allowing us to identify with him and feel sympathy for him as the net closes in around him.
This could have been great Grisham. Instead it's just mediocre Grisham.
Rating: really liked it
Fun reading.
Rating: really liked it
The most anti-climactic book ever. What happened to the Grisham I used to love?
Rating: really liked it
Kyle McAvoy might be a brilliant legal student with a bright future ahead of him, but he has a secret from his past that has the potential to destroy all of it. Kyle is on the verge of a deadly game of blackmail, but can Kyle protect his secret from the past or will his career be over.
It has been years since I’ve read a John Grisham novel, but I’m glad I picked up The Associate to read as I found it quite entertaining with a few twists and turns this book was well worth reading. I look forward to reading more by this author in the future. Recommended.
Rating: really liked it
I enjoyed this one quite a bit, but....
I got into the intrigue, especially once Kyle started attempting to turn the tables on Bennie & Nigel. But then came the ending. What is with Grisham these days? I didn't like the ending. I did not DESPISE the ending, as I did with Grisham's last book (
The Appeal), but I found it
entirely unsatisfying. Just give me a good, old-fashioned, bad-guys-get-their-butts-kicked ending anyday!
Rating: really liked it
When you write as many books and as many pages as John Grisham does,I suppose there is bound to be a certain amount of repetition.
The Associate was published nearly two decades after Grisham's blockbuster,The Firm.It feels very similar.
A bright young lawyer gets out of law school.There is,unfortunately,a secret in his past.That could compromise his future career.
He is asked to join a prestigious law firm,something which on the surface,looks like a dream job.But he is asked to lie and steal information.
And just like in The Firm,he is being constantly watched and his apartment is bugged.This one goes on for nearly 400 pages,but is not half as compelling as The Firm.
One of Grisham's more forgettable efforts.
Rating: really liked it
Despite its 2009 copyright date and thus some 12-year-old tech and dollar amounts, John Grisham's THE ASSOCIATE is well worth reading.
While it is unbelievable that a YLS law journal editor-in-chief would have the time Kyle McAvoy does as he finishes law school or that he would be as combative as he is with people who could kill him, Grisham's reader-accessible style remains attractive.
He opens with a less-than-heroic (and thus believable scene) in which McAvoy can't wait for the last kids' basketball game he is coaching to be finished.
The scene between Kyle's father and another small-town lawyer who represents McAvoy's accuser is also true-to-life.
Yes, Grisham has included a signature beach scene toward the end.
He especially gets right the still-valid excruciatingly stressful grind of NYC law firms (pressure to bill) and why protagonist Kyle McAvoy initially seeks to avoid that life, until he is blackmailed into doing so.
Grisham leaves some good unresolved twists at the end--we never know who antagonist Bennie was working for--and yet the hints about a foreign government or the U.S. government (including the FBI itself) ring presciently true. The author trusts the reader to appreciate that the mystery won't be neatly tied up.
Highly recommended.
Rating: really liked it
With every book, Grisham gets worse. I keep telling myself I should stop reading the garbage he his dishing out, but I keep going back just to find out how bad it can get. What can I say? I give one star because for effort, just to type the words in. Otherwise there is not much to recommend in this book. The plot is weaker than Bud Lite, the ending is anti-climactic.
Rating: really liked it
I read so many books written by John Grisham in the past and this is a re-read. Even though I still enjoy his writing, all the suspense and the question of moral, the reading experience is not the same anymore unfortunately. I guess I loved him so much years ago because I was younger. And at that time, I would have surely given him 5 stars. My taste in fashion, food and so on changes year by year so I guess it's no surprise that my reading taste has changed over the years as well.
Rating: really liked it
I'll start this review by saying
I LOVE KYLE MC AVOY. He's an idealistic, brave, intelligent not to mention a good looking law student. I wish I can find someone like him at the law school I'm going to be accepted at. (HAHA. Sorry, the girly side of my brain started to speak up. lol)
Some people say that this is a suffice to John Grisham's highly acclaimed novel, 'The Firm'. And after reading this, I found out that it is real and adequate. For the reason that in both novels, young lawyers are on the run chased by fraud FBI agents or blackmailers from pathetic law firms. At the end, when our heart is very thrilled about a young lawyer being chased and all. Both characters (Mitch
The Firm and Kyle
The Associate) change their mind and set about trapping the blackmailers. And that's it. The ending is unbelievably unwrapped up.
However, despite the fact that I was thornly disappointed about the idea of how "The Associate" has been written. I have this feeling of LOVING IT. The novel has a very fast pacing because I was thoroughly caught up in this book from page one (1) until the very last page. Very exciting!
The idea of working at a big law firm started to bug me (in a good way). I feel like I want to work as a litigator or as an associate at a law firm after passing the bar exams (Always look forward and think positively! :p)
In the end, I gave this book an awesome verdict, 4 stars! :)
Oh! I forgot to mention: I found Kyle's dad very similar with the street lawyer (also by J. Grisham). It's kind of cool actually. :)
Rating: really liked it
It seems like lately when I read Grisham, its a good story with some interesting twists and turns, but the climax is not really super exciting and there tends not to be all that much resolution. That was the case again here. A good book - but not tons of excitement.
Rating: really liked it
"The consequences were horrifying. The magnitude of the conspiracy caused Kyle's heart to hammer away. His mouth became dry and he sipped lukewarm coffee. He wanted to leap for the door, sprint down forty-one flights of stairs, and run through the streets of New York like a madman." Kyle McAvoy plans to finish law school, then work for the under-privileged for a few years before heading for the big time and money. However, Kyle has a dirty secret locked away in his past. Only a handful of people know about it and they are all just as culpable. What happens when the secret that could ruin Kyle's life falls into the wrong hands? What if these are deadly hands that will stop at nothing to get what they want? How will Kyle respond when confronted with the evidence and when he is commanded to do the unthinkable?
The plot for this book was pretty standard. There was the odd twist, but nothing seriously shocking. The ending fell flat....although I had to keep reading to find out what happened. It was difficult to put down purely because of the suspense and "need to know" element. I suppose I should give Grisham credit for that as it's part of what makes a good novel.
However, if you build a reader up in this way, you must make sure you deliver with a dramatic and satisfying conclusion. Sometimes, Grisham seems to leave his characters floundering and there should be a sequel. I felt that this was the case with
The Associate. It wasn't one of his best books, nor one of his worst, slightly better than just okay.
The main takeaway points were that it's better to do the right thing at the earliest possible stage because otherwise you just end up digging a huge hole for yourself, and other people. Also, that the end does not necessarily justify the means, if they are unethical or inadvisable. Doing the right thing will also not always win you friends or make people happy here on earth, but God sees the choices we make and He is honoured when we listen to our conscience. He promises to honour us if we honour Him.
I also felt exhausted by the workaholic lawyers in this book; billing countless hours, cheating their clients, sleeping at their desks, absent from their families, and mostly detesting their work which had totally taken over their lives. One has to wonder what the purpose is, if there is no quality of life outside work, then what is the striving for? Greed can consume a person and make them miserable as whatever they have will never be enough. This is exemplified in this book and can be a warning to anyone inclined to workaholism that it will never satisfy. Work is important and the mandate was originally given by God, but there's a difference between working to live and living to work!
There is the odd bit of swearing in this book and a limited amount of non-graphic sexual content. There is also some non-graphic violence.
Grisham fans will enjoy this.
Check out my John Grisham Shelf!
Rating: really liked it
Some very smart book publicist opted to not include the fact that the whole blackmail scheme is centered on a girl who “cried rape” — Grisham’s words. I read the pelican brief in high school and don’t remember what I thought of it, but I’d be shocked if Grisham is capable of writing a female character in anything but a sexist way. It’s not even slightly subtle. Every woman is described by her legs, her boobs, her chatter, her frigidity, her emotional state, her promiscuity, her penchant for expensive clothing and shoes, etc. It’s eye-rolling stuff, and I’m shocked this has not been mentioned by more readers.
I only finished this book because 1) not doing great on my goodreads goal, and 2) I was waiting to see if anyone was ever held accountable for the rape that DRIVES THE WHOLE PLOT. The use of rape as a plot device is generally lazy, but this is beyond lazy.
Let’s be clear: what Grisham describes is rape. An unconscious person cannot consent to sex. How that is up for debate by the male characters and evidently by Grisham is beyond my imagination. Also, a girl can consent yesterday and then be unconscious and unable to consent today. She can also consent and then change her mind or pass out at which point STOP HAVING SEX WITH HER. And yes, a girl who is a general screw-up who parties too much and does drugs can still be raped. Rape is a verb. It’s something someone does to another person. Who that other person is doesn’t matter. It’s the act that matters.
I know some guys from law school who spew similar crap to Grisham — these are guys who undoubtedly had some questionable encounters with overly drunk and possibly incapacitated women and so they wax poetic about fickle mind-changing women and how “things were different back then” because they are terrified that maybe this dirty word “rape” applies to something that they did. “Kyle” may not have raped anyone but he is evidently gung fucking ho about rape culture. As is, it seems, his creator.
Zero stars. One hundred red flags.
Rating: really liked it
I was thoroughly caught up in this book from page 1 and could barely put it down until the last page. Very exciting even though at times I wanted to yell at Kyle, the main character, not to fall for the blackmail scheme laid out before him. For anyone who has been to a few too many drinking parties in college, this will bring back those memories of regrets and situations that could have gotten out of hand. Kyle was involved in the latter, and thought it was all behind him, until he is approached by strange men who threaten to expose everything and ruin his promising law career unless he helps them. He goes along with it, not because he's guilty of anything, but because there are other lives that could be ruined along with his, should the story come out in full. This, along with his other relationships, makes him likeable and sympathetic.
