Customer Reviews

The Associate

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(30)
2 star:		(39)
1 star:		(52)

 

 

This latest book by JG is very much 'The Firm'-lite insofar as a newly qualified law graduate (Kyle McAvoy) passes the bar exam and gets involved in shady dealings within a law firm. The difference here is it's not the firm that's dodgy, but the people Kyle's dealing with outside of it.

I've read several tautly-written thrillers where absolutely EVERY word counts and to expunge a single one would diminish the book. Not so with 'The Associate' where you could literally remove 100+ pages with zero effect on the plot! But, as almost always with Grisham, it's still very slickly written and entertaining despite the padding.

Now, at this stage I would award the novel three stars were it not for the ending - because the author forgot to include one! I was reading on excitedly for the last thirty pages wondering how JG was possibly going to tie everything up... when it just petered out. Nothing is resolved and if a sequel isn't on the cards then it should be.

Overall this is a fairly enjoyable shaggy dog story, but John is capable of much better than this.

I reckon he got to page 380 or whatever and went "good that's enough let's wrap it up." Nothing was resolved, glad I got it out of the library I would have felt more cheated if I'd paid for it. Grisham: time to retire.

I'm starting to wonder if Grisham is fed up with writing.

For the second book in a row (after The Appeal), he sets up a decent and reasonably intriguing plot only to finish up with a completely unsatisfactory ending.
As with most people, I've always enjoyed Grisham's novels. However, the page turning plots and the immaculate attention detail that were the trademarks of The Firm and A Time to Kill (and even The Last Juror) now seem to be things of the past.

It's as if he's made his fortune, he's got a captive audience, and now he doesn't have to bother anymore.

Really disappointing stuff, and I expect so much more from Grisham. I'll wait for the reviews of the next novel before I decide to buy.

I agree with most of the reviews on here. A very disappointing read. The whole book is spent building up to something that never happens. As I got about half way through I found myself thinking that if something didn't happen soon Grisham was going to run out of pages. Low and behold - he did. A very abrupt ending that left so many questions unanswered. It really does seem like he just lost interest. I won't be buying any more of his books until I've read a few reviews. It's terrible to have to say that about such a highly regarded author. Be warned - don't bother with this one.

I usually love Grisham books but found the end of this book hugley disappointing. There was a great opportunity to bring the book to a superb end (maybe even a twist or two!) but he seemed to simply get bored of writing and wrap things up.
Who knows, maybe a follow up book will come out but one to avoid for now.

I'm afraid I'm with all the One Star folk here! This is a very disappointing story. Grisham writes as always with great page turning style, and the insights into New York law firms and big business are revealing and no doubt accurate. BUT the plot is totally lame and the ending abysmal! Three quarters of the book is a big build up, then Grisham just cops out! Also, it may have become fashionable to write books where the hero doesn't always win and the villain doesn't always lose, but to let the big villain walk away as he does here is just immoral. No thanks.

I'd love to have a chat with the eight people who, so far, have given this novel 5*
Have we been reading the same publication? I think that 'publication' is actually a better word here than 'novel' as a novel normally has plot, realistic characters, is meant to entertain, and yes, has a satisfactory ending. This one has none of these. Like many other reviewers, I struggled on to the end hoping Grisham would pull something out of the bag but......no. All in vain. Waste of time. Don't bother with him - over-hyped and over the hill.

I should have believed the reviews, but I had some time to spare and I thought I'd make up my own mind. A mistake. This was really not very good - a real disappointment, actually - and will only serve to compromise Grisham's previously well-earned reputation for producing taut and thrilling stories. The pace was laboured, the characters cardboard, and the plot thin and - worst of all - very, very familiar. It's just The Firm all over again, but nowhere near as gripping or fast or fresh. In short, Mr Grisham, it was lazy.

The last 10 chapters are missing....unless I'm missing something. This is the first John Grisham I've read and I gather from the other reviews that it isn't his best. It's well written and is a page turner but (and it's a big but) I got to the end and wondered where the final chapters were. There's no resolution of who did what and why - I felt really let down. The frustrating thing about it being unfinished is that it didn't need to be. I'm thinking about emailing Mr.G to ask if he'd like me to complete it so he can put the ending up on his website FOC.

I'm a huge JG fan but this book was a real let down. The story is repetitive as if he's struggling to fill the pages, its longwinded because it takes so long to move the weak plot forward. The character descriptions are good and you do feel you get to know the characters, but overall its a huge let down. The blurb says its full if twists and turns... strongly disagree on this ... there are more twists and turns on a ruler than in this book.

Save your money .. use your local library for this one . You have been warned twice now.