CP-Training

Title: The Firm by John Grisham
Reviewer: Blaine H.
Rating: 5 Stars

The Firm is about a young law school graduate named Mitchell McDeere. He is the ideal lawyer; he graduated from Harvard in the top five of his class. At the beginning of the book, he has job offers on Wall Street, but he decides to do an interview for a small firm in Memphis, Tennessee. The firm is called Bendini, Lambert, and Locke. During the interview, McDeere is informed that he will get paid a much higher salary (with bonuses) with their firm than if he accepts a job anywhere else. They explain that all of their employees are millionaires by the age of 50. Everything about their firm seems ideal to Mitch, so he takes the job. Before he starts working, he and his wife Abby go to visit Memphis and find it to be amazing. He takes the job, and he and Abby move to Memphis. The newest member of the firm is warmly welcomed. However, the day before he’s supposed to start work, two members of the firm are suddenly reported dead in a scuba accident. This puts a damper on everyone’s mood during Mitch’s first days at work. After his first few days at his new job, he starts to work harder and harder and stays at work longer. He works his heart out to try to become the most successful new guy in the firm. Abby spends time working on their new house to make it feel like home. Life goes on like this until one day when Mitch finds out a secret about Bendini, Lambert, and Locke law firm. He is approached by an FBI agent and is told that the firm is a division of a Mafia crime family in Chicago. This explains why everyone from the firm is so rich! Mitch gets faced with a huge decision; risk his life to provide evidence for the FBI and help them catch the crime family from Chicago, or refuse and stay at the firm until the FBI finds someone else.

This book is so far one of my favorites of all time. It kept me in suspense up until the very end, and the plot was very captivating. I loved reading about the different characters such as the different lawyers and partners who worked at Bendini, Lambert, and Locke. I also enjoyed the other characters like the FBI agent and Abby, Mitch’s wife. Overall, the book was great, and I give it five stars! I recommend it to anyone who likes suspense and books about crime solving.

YCPL Readalikes

• The Naturals by Jennifer Barnes
  Summary: Seventeen-year-old Cassie, who has a natural ability to read people, joins an elite group of criminal profilers at the FBI in order to help solve cold cases.
• A Study in Charlotte by Brittany Cavallaro
  Summary: Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson descendants, Charlotte and Jamie, students at a Connecticut boarding school, team up to solve a murder mystery.
• The Rooster Bar by John Grisham
  Summary: Three students who have borrowed heavily to attend a third-rate law school realize they have been caught in a scam when they discover that the school's owner also owns a bank specializing in student loans, and plot to expose the scam.