The Exchange

 

The Exchange – John Grisham

This is probably the worst John Grisham book that I’ve ever read. This one was even worse than “Skipping Christmas” which somehow managed to bring an entirely new definition to the word “awful”. This book was nothing but a money grab; as if John Grisham needs any more money.  This book was heavily padded with so much unnecessary information, and it seriously makes me never want to read another one of Grisham’s books again.  I probably will, but the aggravation is quite high within my veins at the moment.  I’ll certainly never BUY another one of his books. I’m thankful I didn’t buy this one, and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier that we have some called a public library.

Probably the biggest rip-off is this book is billed as somewhat of a “sequel” to the breakthrough Grisham novel “The Firm”.  That was Grisham’s second book and the one that propelled him into superstardom where, arguably, he never left.  It helped that the book was made into a blockbuster movie starring Tom Cruise as the main character.  Sadly, this book isn’t really anything of a sequel.  The story really doesn’t need to revolve around the now-famous fictitious lawyer Mitch McDeere and his wife Abby.  No, this story could have been told using any sort of legal punchline, but bringing McDeere back into the literary world probably caused a few more coins to cling in the coffer then had this been a story with a novice Grisham character as the lead player.

It's now been 15 years since McDeere “escaped” his crooked firm in Tennessee and is now residing in the upper East Side of New York City. Being a brilliant lawyer, he’s now a prestigious partner making gobs of money with some new high-class legal firm in the center of the legal universe. He and Abby now have twin 8-year-old boys that go to the “best” school (obviously) in New York City that costs Mitch $57,000 per year. For each child, that is.

Mitch is rather cynical, which I guess you really can’t blame him.  He and Abby seem more like rich business partners with a critical eye towards everything than they seem husband and wife.  She’s involved in some sort of “cookbook” business so they have all sorts of aspiring chefs come to their home and cook exquisite meals.  This is all quite unnecessary and it simply gives Grisham another chance to pad the pages with useless details of various scrumptious meals day in and day out that the family “sample”. It’s really quite ridiculous that we have to read such trivialities.

Anyway, as the story starts, Mitch’s firm needs him to do some obligatory pro bono work and try to get a convict out of the clutches of the impending death penalty.  The convict and his underachieving lawyer reside in (gasp!) Memphis!  So Mitch is faced with the dilemma and fear of having to go back to the city that gave him so much trouble.  He goes, meets the lawyer, and the convict manages to commit suicide in prison.  The suicide seems a bit fishy. Is foul play involved? Are we being set up for another one of Grisham’s “the death penalty is awful” books?  What exactly is going on here?   Mitch really doesn’t care that much, so the death of the convict allows him to head back to New York.  Of course, he has to stop in some remote town in Tennessee to meet up with a former colleague that he once knew at the infamous “firm”. This colleague didn’t get the FBI deal that Mitch received, so he ended up going to prison for several years. He’s now trying to rebuild his life and career in some remote small town where he can forget the past.   So when Mitch drops in to see him, there’s still some hard feelings and bad blood based on everything that has happened.  We read about this strained relationship a bit before Mitch finally heads back to New York.   I guess what we have so far is the beginning of what could be an interesting story.

Well, if you’re paying attention so far, be advised that this part of the “story” is now over.  No, really.  It’s finished. It’s over. It never goes anywhere other than what I just described. What gives?   It’s almost as if John Grisham began writing this story, but decided he didn’t like it.  Rather than throwing away his idea and starting over, he decides to leave this literal trash in the main book anyway even though it has nothing to do with the eventual “main” story.  Did I mention Grisham seems to be “padding” his book? Aren’t editors supposed to catch these sort of things and advise against them?

So now the “real” story begins.  Sadly, it only goes downhill from here. Mitch is now assigned to represent a firm who was contracted to build a bridge in Libya for Khadafi and his thugs.  Of course, Khadafi doesn’t want to pay for this mammoth undertaking after he realizes he’s made a half-a-billion-dollar mistake, so Mitch gets to travel to Libya!  Oh, what fun this could be!  Doesn’t everybody dream of travelling to Libya on some sort of business trip?   Mitch goes with a young associate who is drop-dead gorgeous, and she gets kidnapped there.  Of course she does.  By who?  And why?  It is Libya after all, so the possibilities are endless.  So Mitch and his “new” Firm try to figure out why this happened and what they need to do about it.

Even though the story was pretty bad at this point, it only gets worse.  I mean, anytime you have a story with high-priced lawyers, terrorist countries, brutal thugs, and a literal damsel in distress, you just might be able to eek out a somewhat interesting story.  But it never happens.  No, I mean it literally never happens.  Oh, sure, the ransom is paid  (you may accuse me of including a “spoiler” by revealing this point, but if that saves you from reading the book, trust me – I’m doing you a favor) but there is absolutely no drama.  There is no tension, nothing that makes you want to turn the pages (except of course, to hurry up and finish).

Grisham spends more time talking about the various places that McDeere travels and the exotic food that he eats during his quest to free the associate.   Does Grisham not get how inane this is?  Someone has been KIDNAPPED for gosh-sakes.  Let’s not dwell on the quantity and the quality of the food. 

This book was an incredibly painful read.  Let’s hope we’ve read the last of Mitch and Abby.  To be brutally honest, I wouldn’t be disappointed if we’ve read the last of Grisham. He really sunk to a new low here.