“The Associate” by John Grisham – AAAAKKKKKKK!!!!!
Did you hear me scream? I did – long and loud. I was going to throw the book against the wall but, it’s a hard cover library book and I didn’t want to pay for the damage. That bad you say? YES.
I read mysteries almost exclusively. I always have. Why? Because I love to follow the story, the clues, and the characters to that final, satisfying conclusion. I didn’t get that with “The Associate.” No, it was one of those annoying novels that do not end – they just stop! There was no conclusion! I hate that – did I tell you?
The book starts with an interesting premise. Kyle McAvoy, a senior law student at Yale, is approached by a group of men who blackmail him into stealing information from a prestigious New York law firm on a HUGE upcoming law suit, when he starts working for them. It’s either work for the bad guys or…face charges of rape, possible imprisonment and certainly good-bye law career. The bad guys have a tape of the supposed rape and even though Kyle did nothing wrong, he was there. Kyle is torn because he loves the law and has ethics but what choice does he have? As usual with a Grisham novel, Kyle is brilliant and outsmarts the blackmailers left and right even though they are seasoned professionals.
Throughout the novel we meet Kyle’s old college buddies, the “victim” and some of his new law firm friends. Unfortunately we get WAY too much of the boring law firm information, but hey, Grisham’s an attorney, maybe HE likes that stuff. Grisham is a good writer which makes the ending that much worse! It was almost as if he only had three days to finish the darn book and just scribble down something to get it done!
In the end, Kyle remains a good guy. He finds a way to get out of the mess but…the bad guys are not apprehended and…we really never know who they were working for! It could have been a foreign power, it could have been another law firm – it could have been our own government but of course we never know – unless Grisham is planning on resurrecting Kyle and the gang for another book! If he does, I won’t be reading it.
Tags: disappointing Grisham - unbelievable ending - Not a good mystery!
July 4th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Weird, but I was at a bar-b-cue earlier for the Fourth (I came early because Drew has a fever and I didn’t want to leave him home alone for the entire evening). Anyway, the hostess is about to start this book. I’ll give her a couple of days and ask her what she thinks. Happy Independence Day!
July 5th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
OHHHH let me know! I’m always interested in what other’s think.