The Exchange

After The Firm

By: John Grisham

Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • John Grisham delivers high-flying international suspense in a stunning legal thriller that marks the return of Mitch McDeere, the brilliant hero of The Firm.

“A breathtaking update on the McDeeres and the life they made . . . Grisham, in vintage form, ratchets up the suspense in this winning sequel.” —The Wall Street Journal

What became of Mitch and Abby McDeere after they exposed the crimes of Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke and fled the country? The answer is found in The Exchange, the riveting sequel to The Firm, the blockbuster thriller that launched the career of America’s favorite storyteller.

It is now fifteen years later, and Mitch and Abby are living in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at the largest law firm in the world. When a mentor in Rome asks him for a favor that will take him as far as Istanbul and Tripoli, Mitch finds himself at the center of a sinister plot that has worldwide implications. Once again Mitch’s colleagues, friends, and family are targeted. Mitch is a master at staying one staying one step ahead of his adversaries, but this time there’s nowhere to hide.

Look for John Grisham’s forthcoming legal thriller, The Widow. This time, the verdict isn’t the end of the story.

Critic reviews

Praise for The Firm, John Grisham’s iconic legal thriller

“Grisham is an absolute master.”—The Washington Post

“Taut, fast and relentless.”—San Francisco Chronicle

“Keeps the reader hooked . . . From the creepy first chapters . . . to the vise-tightening midsection and on to the take-the-money-and-run finale.”—The Wall Street Journal

“[An] ingenious man-in-the-middle thriller.”—Entertainment Weekly

Not a worthy sequel

Story had no conflict or suspense. Kept waiting for something interesting to happen and then it was over.

Sigh

I reread The Firm to refresh myself before jumping into The Exchange: After The Firm. (Terrible title)

A running line from The Firm is, "The Mafia never forgets." It is repeated so many times that you would have thought Mr Grisham would have at least remembered it. Never = 15 years, I guess, because this book takes place in 2005 and tells us that it's been 15 years since the first book several times. Mitch and Abby got bored with hiding and decided Living in New York and having high-profile jobs was (I guess) safe. And although in The Firm, Mitch says more than once that he is sick of being a lawyer and says that he could never ever be a lawyer again after handing case files over to the FBI, guess what... he's a lawyer. Why, he's even a partner at a big firm.

Now, there are a lot of "almost" plot points in this book that seem to be important and end up going absolutely nowhere. So many, in fact, that I lost count after 12. Any tension that starts to build immediately and constantly deflates because the characters get distracted by breakfasts, lunches, dinners, pretty views, and most importantly, where their next drink will come from. I mean, drinking wine (or beer, or liquor, or ANYTHING THEY CAN GET) is more important in this book than any chick-lit rom-com or Hallmark movie. It just sort of ends with a "kind of" resolution that really only resolves one or two things. I get the feeling that we are supposed to feel grateful to have been told this epic story and now finally know what happened to Mitch and Abby McDeer. I am not grateful; I am sad (and a little bitter) that I got excited and wasted time reading it. They were better off left to my imagination; they were certainly happier and so was I.

Huge Disappointment

I can't believe this uninspired, dull story was actually written by Mr. Grisham and the performance was spectacularly over-dramatized.
As a faithful and loyal fan of his work, I was greatly disappointed and would NOT recommend this book.

Henry Hill becomes Jack Ryan?

Congrats to Mr. Grisham for taking a beloved character and plot line and following up with such a bad taste in my mouth for the quest of more money

A couple of "'Member Berries" to bring the bait and switch of the year.

Mitch is back, but slower, lacking all his guile and hustle. so Mitch is Pseudo Mitch at best
Abby and even Lamar Quinn get tossed in for window dressing. (REMEMBER US? WE WERE THE ZEITGEIST OF 30 YEARS AGO)

If marketed as a novel on it's own merits, it would be passable (as Grisham has become)
Instead its shameful to destroy one of your best works and say this was a continuation.

Take the money, but feel dirty please.
you're work is as despicable as your antagonist

Not a worthy followup to The Firm

The story felt superficial and unrealistic—I didn’t understand the characters’ actions or decision making. Too bad because I loved the characters in The Firm.