The Associate
Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Century/Random House
Reviewer: Nathi Oliphant
The best legal thriller writer of the 1990s is back. John Grisham has released his best novel since that 2005 legal-cum-espionage thriller, The Broker.
As was aptly stated in the synopsis of the book, this is vintage Grisham which reminds one of The Firm and The Pelican Brief, the two novels that set him off in the early 1990s.
The story centres on law student and editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal Kyle McAvoy, who has a glittering future ahead of him. His good intentions to devote three years to public service before applying for employment with a prestigious firm are abruptly derailed when he is approached by Bennie Wright.
McAvoy has a lost videotape of a party during his formative years at Duquesne University when a rape occurred in his flat. In the tape, McAvoy and a friend are seen and heard having sex with victim Elaine Keenan. It soon becomes apparent, though, that Keenan was in fact raped by both men.
However, local police determined that no assault had taken place and declined to take further action.
With the tape now in Wright's possession, McAvoy's life and career hang in the balance. Wright threatens to expose McAvoy's secret unless he co-operates with him and his associates.
And so starts the drama, and, if you know Grisham, you will know that he has McAvoy trying to outsmart the bad guys while treading carefully to avoid jail and embarrassment.
Yes, Grisham is back with a bang!