The Exchange: After the Firm by John Grisham takes place 15 years after The Firm, following its protagonists, Mitch and Abby McDeere. John Grisham is a bestselling author, known for his legal thrillers.
My rating for The Exchange – 3
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I enjoy Grisham’s books, but this one was disappointing. There is no courtroom drama, the characters are flat, and I didn’t learn a thing from reading it.
There are certainly some highlights, which make much of the book worth reading. Mitch meeting with former colleagues, and several negotiations with banks and governments for example.
The Exchange by John Grisham is supposed to be an exciting novel, but instead, we get tiresome sidetracks about raising funds, and an unconvincing conclusion. I can see where Mr. Grisham was going with this book, but the pace was lacking, the characters were not relatable, and I never got the overall point of the book.
A lot of traveling happens as well, which might play out well in a movie or a TV show, but it feels disjointed in the book. At times I was lost in what was happening when it came to the timeline, and I actually found the amount of traveling distracting and even boring.
I understood what was happening in the sequence of events, but I couldn’t figure out the point of the story, no deeper meaning, nothing about the greater good, or even getting justice for an injured party. The first half of the book got me hooked, but there was no big mystery, no plot twists, a linear story that is only exciting to the protagonists, but not the reader.
Abby, a publisher of cookbooks, and Mitch, a lawyer for a very big, global, law firm, live in Manhattan with their two kids. Mitch is asked to go to Libya to help a construction company that has been stiffed by the Libyan government and is now suing.
Mitch’s co-council, and young Italian lawyer, Giovanna, have been kidnapped. The criminals are asking for a huge amount of money and even the large firm, their insurance, and the governments involved are unwilling to pay.
Buy The Exchange from Amazon.com*
More books by John Grisham*
Zohar — Man of la Book
Disclaimer: I got this book for free.
*Amazon links point to an affiliate account, the money is usually spent on books
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Agreed that the book was lack luster. It was his worst book ever. It was a book that seemed to give credence to terrorist, made their actions acceptable as long as it paid off handsomely. It was a recipe, this is how you do it, learn all about it! It was disgusting and shameful.
Agree, the book was lack luster. It was a book that seemed to give credence to terrorist, made their actions acceptable as long as it paid off handsomely. It was a recipe for how to commit perfect terror without getting caught. The suspense of capturing the thugs was shamefully missing.