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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
ORIGINAL GENRE FICTION, 17 Nov 2000
Taken as a crime/legal novel this has all the usual ingredients delivered with a very well observed level of detail. The idea of an 'establishment' law firm very well camouflaged, but entirely dedicated to the Mob, is a fresh idea made very believable by the careful construction of the firm's 'acceptable face of the law' with a sinister matrix of wheels-within-wheels which really power the Mafia machine that it is. The mix of characters works well. There are burnt-out characters, dead characters, avuncular but deadly bosses, there are innocenti who will never know the true nature of their employer, and there are those who will be inexorably targeted - to be sucked into the web of deceit. Once suitably comprised and bound as partners in crime, they will never leave the firm, or live honest lives again. The main character is the ardent young Mitch McDeere, brilliant, ambitious, honest, and poor. He and his wife embody the American Dream, and this job will be the first step in his brilliant career. Will the firm break him and swallow the pieces, or will he survive?As I normally detest gangster films and books (I can't shake off the "apes in Italian suits" stereotypes which I find nauseating and boring) I was surprised to find I thoroughly enjoyed this work on its own genre merits. The detail that goes into describing the firm's workings as a company, its obsessive secrecy and surveillance, and the cast of characters are varied and well observed. Some inevitable stereotypes exist, but they relate to each other in a believable fashion. The plot moves quickly with the right amount of surprises and good luck/bad luck coincidence. The final end of the story has winners and losers, turning on an unusual legal point. It guarantees that the ending is not as you would expect or could predict. I will be trying another John Grisham at some point!
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£5.20
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