Will I love The Firm?

I was young when I first read The Firm and remember being intrigued by the glossy, glitzy world of high-paid lawyers. 

I was also scandalized by moral ambiguity, questionable ethics, and an imperfect ending. I fell in love with the gritty protagonist, Mitch, yet grieved some of the choices he made.

I usually know how books will end, but this one kept me guessing and left me shocked and surprised and wondering if ambition can be good or if it always leads to some kind of destruction, whether personally, professionally, or spiritually.

Mitch McDeere, a top Harvard Law School graduate, is hired by a law firm at a premium salary. When he discovers that the firm represents the mafia, his instinct for survival and his understanding of the law will lead him to find a solution for leaving the firm...a task that has gotten former associates killed by the firm’s security division.

Ultimately, he makes the “bad guys” pay in a way that protects himself, his wife, and his brother, and outsmarts even the FBI.

Grisham is one of the greats, and The Firm might just be his best. Money laundering, finance, postal laws, and the quirky world of 1990s Memphis all come to life with this Grisham great.

While more of a legal thriller than a financial one, I found that as far as finance-related fiction goes, it’s tough to beat The Firm. Not only a look inside at off-shore banking and shady deals, Grisham offers here a compelling narrative that excites and captures the reader.

The Firm is the seminal legal thriller. It launched not only Grisham’s long line of bestsellers but also an avalanche of wannabe lawyer-writers. But its lawyer-protagonist, Mitch McDeere, could as easily be an accountant or any other office worker whose dream job turns into a nightmare. Mitch is recruited out of law school to work for a firm where the perks seem too good to be true. Alas, they are. Turns out the firm is a front for the mob. The FBI comes calling, and Mitch faces a Hobson’s choice; spy on the bad guys and risk deadly retribution; or… show more.

The Firm was published in 2010, but it’s still on my list of all-time favorites. The protagonist is an idealistic young law school graduate who gets dragged into shady dealings and money laundering on Grand Cayman when he accepts a lucrative job at a law firm. Almost immediately, he’s contacted by the FBI, who want to turn him into an undercover agent to help them get the goods on the firm. But the firm has made it plain that both Mitch and his young wife will die if there’s so much of a whiff of a double cross.

This novel… show more.