John Grisham’s Followup to The Firm Takes Mitch McDeere Far From Memphis

John Grisham’s The Firm, not only made him a bestselling author, but also helped create the popular legal thriller genre. In the 1991 book, Harvard Law School graduate Mitch McDeere (played in the 1993 film by Tom Cruise), passes up job offers from top firms in New York and Chicago to work for a smaller group in Memphis, lured in by the large salary, generous perks, and guarantee to make partner in record time. It doesn’t take long, however, for Mitch to realize that Bendini, Lambert and Locke’s only client is Chicago’s Morolto crime family. Knowing he and his wife, Abby, are in danger – any attorney who dares to quit dies in an accident – Mitch agrees to work with the FBI. Thanks to Mitch, the Bendini firm implodes with 51 present and former members going to prison. Mitch and his wife manage to escape to the Caymans. 

Although Grisham’s first book, A Time to Kill, was by far better, no one could resist a plot that centered on a mafia law firm. Since those two bestsellers, Grisham has written a mind-boggling number of legal thrillers, many made into films. His most recent, The Exchange brings Mitch back for an encore.

It’s 2006, and 15 years have passed since Mitch and Abby escaped Memphis. After leaving the Caymans, they rented an apartment in Rome for several years, then moved to London where Mitch’s Harvard degree nabbed him a job with the international law firm, Scully & Pershing. Mitch is now a partner in the firm’s New York office, while Abby, taking advantage of what she learned in Italian kitchens, is an editor for the cookbook publisher Epicurean. They have twin boys, Clark and Carter.

While Mitch’s clients are usually large corporations – his latest, a Finnish shipping company having problems in South Africa – Scully & Pershing partners are required to take on pro bono cases. Mitch lost his last two pro bono cases representing death row inmates. So he’s reluctant to take on another one. When he learns it means going back to Memphis, he’s even more adamant to take a pass. Willie Backstrom, the partner who assigns pro bono cases, manages to change Mitch’s mind. 

When Mitch arrives in Tennessee, however, he finds out the inmate he was supposed to represent, Tad Kearney, has died by suicide. Amos Patrick, founder of the Capital Defensive Initiative, which takes on capital punishment cases, doesn’t believe Kearney took disown life, but with little evidence to prove it was murder, there’s nothing more to be done.

Mitch could easily jump on a plane and head back to New York, but he takes a detour to see Lamar Quin, one of the Bendini attorneys who did jail time. Although the two were friends while at the firm, Quin ended up sin prison for three years while Mitch escaped. Lamar managed to get his law license restored and has a small practice, but nothing compared to the trajectory of Mitch’s career. While the get together is civil, there’s no kumbaya moment.

At this point, readers might expect, since this is a followup for The Firm, that Mitch will somehow get pulled back into Memphis. Perhaps a survivor from the Bendini firm or the Morolto crime family will come after Mitch and his family. Patrick might ask Mitch to investigate Kearney’s death. Or maybe Quin will ask Mitch to help with a case.

None of that happens.

Instead, Jack Ruch, Scully’s managing partner asks Mitch to work with Luca Sandroni, whose smaller firm was gobbled up by the larger firm 20 years ago. Both Ruch and Sandroni are coming to the end of their time at the firm, Jack because of mandatory retirement, and Luca because of a devastating cancer diagnosis. Luca and Jack want Mitch to help with one of Luca’s clients, Lannak, a Turkish construction company that is being stuffed by Gadaffi’s Libyan government for work done on a bridge, built, in of all places, the desert. 

Mitch agrees to take on the case and heads to Rome. 

He’s shocked by Luca’s appearance, although the Italian makes light of his illness. He’s pleased Mitch will represent Lannak, but he asks a favor: adding his daughter, Giovanna, an associate in Scully’s London office, to the team. Knowing that Giovanni is as smart as her father, Mitch has no reservations agreeing to Luca’s terms.

Mitch and Giovanna meet in Libya and make plans to visit the construction site the next day. However, during the night, Mitch is felled by a brutal case of food poisoning which lands him in the hospital. Giovanna assures Mitch she can make the trip on her own. Knowing she will be accompanied by body guards who speak Arabic, Mitch agrees.

The unimaginable happens: Giovanna and her team are stopped and kidnapped by a group of terrorists which may have a connection to Gaddafi. The terrorists make it clear they are serious, brutally murdering Giovanni’s guards and posting the photos on the internet. Giovanni is not doubt in danger, but she’s also a valuable bargaining chip. The demand is made for $100 million or she will be killed. 

The clock begins to tick and Mitch must tap all sources to raise the funds. Back in New York, Abby gets dragged into the drama, intercepted by a mysterious young woman who gives her an enveloped and a cell phone that the terrorists will use to monitor Mitch’s progress. 

Once again, Grisham has produced a well-written page turner, but not one that advances Mitch’s story. The Exchange could easily be a stand alone with another, not a sequel to The Firm. The ending is vague enough that there may still be another chapter in Mitch’s story.

The Exchange
John Grisham

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