The Associate - John Grisham

Kyle McAvoy is one of the outstanding legal students of his generation: he's good looking, has a brilliant mind and a glittering future ahead of him. But he has a secret from his past, a secret that threatens to destroy his entire life.

One night that secret catches up with him in the form of a deeply compromising video of the incident that haunts him. Kyle realises that he no longer owns his own future – that he must do as his blackmailers tell him, or the video will be made public, with all the unpleasant consequences.

What price do they demand for Kyle's secret? It is for Kyle to take a job in New York as an associate at the largest law firm in the world. Kyle won't be working for this company, but against it – passing on the secrets of it's biggest trial to date, a dispute worth billions of dollars to the victor.

My thoughts:
It has been some time since I read a Grisham, but hey, they are still good. I have no idea why I like these legal thrillers, but I do. I think I read my first Grisham when I was 12. 

In this one Kyle, our hero, is being blackmailed, and sent to work for a big company to get their secrets. Oh Kyle, you really effed up. But at the same time, yes something bad had happened, but he had nothing to do with it. So I did feel sorry for him there, and he did try to get out of it.

Litigation, looking at papers, billing hours, haha, yes I like it.

The end was rather abrupt, it came together too fast, so that could have been done better.

I do not really have lots to say, if you have read a Grisham then you get the general idea. Lawyers, some suspense, and legal talk.

Conclusion:
Good

Paperback, 384 pages
Published 2009 by Century
Legal Thriller
Own

Review: The Appeal by John Grisham

The Appeal by John Grisham

Year: 2008
Genre: Legal political thriller
Pages: 368

Politics has always been a dirty game.
Now justice is, too.

In a crowded courtroom in Mississippi, a jury returns a shocking verdict against a chemical company accused of dumping toxic waste into a small town’s water supply, causing the worst “cancer cluster” in history. The company appeals to the Mississippi Supreme Court, whose nine justices will one day either approve the verdict or reverse it.

Who are the nine? How will they vote? Can one be replaced before the case is ultimately decided?

The chemical company is owned by a Wall Street predator named Carl Trudeau, and Mr. Trudeau is convinced the Court is not friendly enough. With judicial elections looming, he decides to try to purchase himself a seat on the Court. The cost is a few million dollars, a drop in the bucket for a billionaire like Mr. Trudeau. Through an intricate web of conspiracy and deceit, his political operatives recruit a young, unsuspecting candidate. They finance him, manipulate him, market him, and mold him into a potential Supreme Court justice. Their Supreme Court justice.


First I thought, is this the same Grisham, where are my courtrooms, I thought about that for a while and soon enough I got sucked into this book. Not that much about lawyers but more about justice and the political game, and Grisham knows how to tell a story.

The book starts in a little town, where many now have cancer, or are sick in other ways, if not dead. A case have been built and the big chemical company is trying to prove that they sure didn't have anything to do with the fact that this town is a cancer cluster, and no place in the US even comes near the numbers. The lawyers representing a woman who lost her husband and son, wins, and the company is to pay. Here the real story starts. Carl Trudeau can burn 20 million on a painting but he does not want to pay 41 million to the woman in question. The case is to be taken to the Mississippi supreme court, and what if they could get just the right person there. A conservative, Christian, gun loving, gay hating, trial lawyer disliking, white male.

Soon enough I started to go insane, I was so upset with certain characters and I just wanted to go and yell at them, or play real dirty too. Because politics is a dirty game, and towards the end i could only read a couple of pages before I hate to stop and bite my tongue. It gets really intense, and I only grew more angry.

Justice can be bought easily, and Grisham shows what could happen with the right money. What he is saying is that the juridical system should not have anything to do with justice and he makes the point clear. He also shows how the people can be lead to think a certain way, perhaps they don't think at all that this candidate is the best. But he has the best coverage, most money, and his opponent is getting crushed in lies.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, and I am sure I could have liked it even more if it hadn't been for the end. It sure awakened a lot of emotions in me, mostly anger, but still that is what a good book should manage to do.

There is no action, but it builds up to something intense. Who will win the seat on the Supreme court and what will happen to the people in "cancer county"?

For people who like Grisham this is a book to read, his legal thrillers are always the best. For the rest, if you haven't tried a Grisham then there are many to choose from, and they are very addictive. He has a certain way of writing, something you would think is so boring comes alive with his writing.