The Exchange

Slung this down in an evening. Learned nothing, gained nothing. Just another Grisham cupcake.

Readable, as always, but I feel like it was a poor follow-up to the first book. 

Grisham writes well. The book paints vivid and interesting pictures of an intrigue that keeps you in suspense. I'd have enjoyed a little humor and romance but the plot didn't really call for those elements. The denouement was a little abrupt, but overall, a satisfying read.

This book is the equivalent of a legal continuance hearing where literally nothing happens. The entire plot is revealed in the blurb, lawyer kidnapped, ransom needs to be paid. And the rest of the book is just chapter after chapter of failed meetings and thousands of miles of Mitch flying on private jets.

This is billed as a sequel to The Firm but that is as meaningless as the entire book. There's four chapters at the start that turn out to be entirely unrelated to anything in the rest of the book and some mild connections in the last 50 pages but a sequel? Hardly. Grisham seems to have written this book and then some editor realized nothing happens so he had Grisham write a few more unrelated chapters and change the characters so it'd sell a few more copies from people who like The Firm.

I only kept reading assuming something, anything would happen in this book. It doesn't.

Also, it's kind of sloppy. At one point there's a meeting with the junior senator from New York, another pointless meeting. The junior senator is in his third term and the senior senator is “showing no signs of fatigue or vulnerability.” The thing is, this book is set in 2005, meaning our junior senator was elected no later than 1992. The senior senator is explicitly stated as having been elected in...1988.

When you review a book written by a profusely successful author, it's tempting to say that reading it gives you the classic experience. But while I would agree that this new Grisham work does do that, I found I most appreciated the consistency of one of his classics coupled with the wildly unexpected. I enjoyed “seeing” Mitch and Abby again because I loved those characters in The Firm. And when I first understood he would write the continuation of their story, I wondered about it. I was concerned it would be the same kind of expected sequel. But I had no reason to be concerned. Grisham not only delivered that wonderfully consistent tone he struck in the first book, but he built on and stretched Mitch and Abby's story and experiences to new boundaries in unfamiliar territory. It was such a win because Mitch and Abby are consistently people to whom we easily relate which creates a wonderfully unexpected rollercoaster ride by the time he is done. I think if he wanted to, he left himself plenty of room to write yet another book about Mitch and Abby. This could be a series.

Kind of misleading to say it's a continuation of the firm.

Thank you Doubleday Books and NetGalley for providing a copy of The Exchange for review.

Fans of John Grisham will not be disappointed as he once again delivers high stakes legal drama on an international stage. A wiser, more experienced Mitch McDeere returns to the page as he struggles to save the life of a colleague from international terrorists in exotic settings abroad and a money-hungry legal establishment at home. Thrilling action scenes had me perched on the edge of my seat with my heart in my throat.

But there weren't that many action scenes. What tied the scenes together was often heavily summarized business minutia. In very few scenes were we in the moment with the characters. I never felt the sense of threat to Mitch's personal relationships as I did in The Firm. In fact, I'm not sure why this warrants being called a sequel. It didn't deliver the legal conspiracy and pressure on Mitch's personal relationships that I enjoyed in The Firm.