Product Description
If you thought Mitch McDeere was in trouble in The Firm, wait
until you meet Kyle McAvoy, The Associate
Kyle McAvoy grew up in his fathers small-town law office in York, Pennsylvania. He excelled in college, was elected editor-in-chief of The Yale Law Journal, and his future has limitless potential.
But Kyle has a secret, a dark one, an episode from college that he has tried to forget. The secret, though, falls into the hands of the wrong people, and Kyle is forced to take a job he doesnt wanteven though its a job most law students can only dream about.
Three months after leaving Yale, Kyle becomes an associate at the largest law firm in the world, where, in addition to practicing law, he is expected to lie, steal, and take part in a scheme that could send him to prison, if not get him killed.
With an unforgettable cast of characters and villainsfrom Baxter Tate, a drug-addled trust fund kid and possible rapist, to Dale, a pretty but seemingly quiet former math teacher who shares Kyles cubicle at the law firm, to two of the most powerful and fiercely competitive defense contractors in the countryand featuring all the twists and turns that have made John Grisham the most popular storyteller in the world, The Associate is vintage Grisham.
Lakia on July 6, 2009
With the Associate, John Grisham once again serves up a well-written, suspenseful, legal thriller that his loyal readers have come to expect. That said, their loyalty might be tested some by shallow characterizations and an ambiguous, unfulfilling conclusion.
Grisham need not worry if he hiccups occasionally, though. I believe his fans would buy a compilation of his grocery lists as long as his name adorned the cover.
The associate, Kyle McAvoy, is an idealistic, bright law student intent on performing two years of public service after graduation from Yale Law School. That dream, and his ambition to join his father’s law firm, are scuttled by the mysterious private investigator Bennie Wright, who blackmails Kyle into accepting a position in a prestigious Wall Street law firm.
Wright’s ammunition, a videotape of Kyle’s frat brothers raping a semi-conscious coed four years earlier, clearly shows Kyle was present and did nothing to stop them. Rather than risk arrest and a promising law career, Kyle agrees to work as a spy for Wright, stealing information on litigation involving two aerospace giants.
Fortunately, Kyle comes to his senses and reveals the furtive plan to the FBI who, try as they will, cannot bring the bad guys to justice.
That covers the main plot, but I believe Grisham’s real intention was to expose the corrupt and underhanded ways of large corporate law firms. The author details the struggle of first-year associates, and how the firm works them to near slavery, sometimes over a hundred hours a week.
Billing a client becomes more important than actual services supplied the customer. In one scene, Kyle is treated to an expensive lunch where his boss not only charges the meal to the client, but also the two hours it took for lunch at eight hundred dollars an hour. I won’t give away the ending, but suffice to say, little is resolved for the reader.
This review was of the audio book, and Erik Singer is the perfect voice for Grisham’s novel. The audio book retails for forty-five dollars, but I would recommend waiting for the less expensive paperback so that if you are disappointed it will have less impact on your wallet.
Lili on March 12, 2010
Perfect endidng for the Associate. Great work from Grisham