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The Firm

by John Grisham (Goodreads Author)

3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 · rating details · 230,162 ratings · 2,355 reviews

Mitchell McDeere, raised in the coal-mining region of rural Kentucky, has worked hard to get where he is: third in his class at Harvard Law. He's young. He's bright. He's ambitious. Mitch could have the pick of the big firms in New York and Chicago, but he's chosen the Memphis tax firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke. They're selective. They pay outrageous salaries. They h...more

Paperback, Penguin Readers, 560 pages

Published February 15th 2000 by Addison Wesley Publishing Company (first published 1991)

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Jul 19, 2007 Dan Martin rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: conservative people

it's not that this book necessarily deserves a 1, being the worst score possible, but... it's just so fucking dumb. I only finished it because I'm stuck in between 4 rice fields in japan, and the only reading I had available in english was. well. the label on my pepsi bottle.
IF you happen to be a 40-50 year old (white)man, and like reading about "6 figures", then I'll understand you liking this book.
Hhere's a taste.

"And, don't worry McDeere (former star college quarterback), The firm will front...more

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Dec 12, 2008 Alex rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Firm by John Grisham
The Firm by John Grisham will draw you into a situation where the choices you make not only affect you, but also the people who depend on you. When a young lawyer named Mitch McDeere has to choose between staying with a corrupt business or doing the right thing.The decisions that are made throughout the book are told by the lawyer Mitch.
The story is centered around Mitch McDeere. He finished 3rd in his class at Harvard Law School. All the top law firms are trying to get...more The Firm by John Grisham
The Firm by John Grisham will draw you into a situation where the choices you make not only affect you, but also the people who depend on you. When a young lawyer named Mitch McDeere has to choose between staying with a corrupt business or doing the right thing.The decisions that are made throughout the book are told by the lawyer Mitch.
The story is centered around Mitch McDeere. He finished 3rd in his class at Harvard Law School. All the top law firms are trying to get Mitch to work for them. He decides to join a small firm in Memphis called Bendini, Lambert & Locke. They offer him a deal he finds hard to refuse.
Upon joining this firm, Mitch would be paid $80,000 a year with regular increases, and the firm supplying him with a brand new BMW, a low rate mortgage, and clearing his student debts. Mitch comes from a poor family and is extremely proud of himself for managing to get such a great job. He and Abby, his wife, move to Memphis to start their new life, and for Mitch to start his new job.
Mitch has an older brother named Ray who was charged and found guilty of 2nd degree murder. Ray is fluent in at least four languages that he has studied before and during his prison sentence. He often speaks Spanish with his brother, although Mitch isn’t as good as Ray is at it. Ray often talked about visiting different countries: “I’ve been reading about the Greek isles. I plan to go there soon.” Mitch thought this was funny because Ray still had seven years left until parole.
Two of Mitch's colleagues die in a scuba diving accident in the Cayman Islands the week he starts at the firm. During a memorial service at the firm for them, Mitch notices plaques commemorating three other attorneys who died while working at the firm. He was suspicious so he hired a private investigator named Eddie Lomax, an ex-cell mate of his brother Ray, to investigate the deaths of the attorneys.
Mitch isn’t the only person involved in his plan. He also gets help from his wife and Eddie Lomax’s previous secretary, Tammy. Even at the end Wayne Tarrance, a FBI agent, is baffled at Tammy’s involvement in the plan: “I have a question”, Wayne asked her. “Where did he find you? This would have been impossible without you.”

Mitch was always one step ahead of everyone but little did he know that he would have to take down the people that hired him. The book makes you want to read it to find out how Mitch gets himself out of his little problems and also his final big problem. I like the way John Grisham makes Mitch seem like a normal person, and then he becomes smarter than everyone around him.
Even though this story is fictional, you feel as though John Grisham has explained it as though he had experienced it before. This book makes you wonder what you would have done if you were Mitch, as he tries to keep his bosses, the Mafia, from finding out about him talking to the FBI.
I think that the theme of the story is about making choices you will have to live with. The Firm is a good example of how large corporations can deceive and manipulate their employees with money and blackmail. This book shows how deception and betrayal are everywhere, including the people who are supposed to fight for justice.
Page Count: 501
Genre: Legal Thriller

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Feb 08, 2008 C.J. Caron rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mystery-suspense

An absolutely amazing book. One I wish I had wrote.

Mitchell McDeere is sought after by one of the country's top law firms. Bendini, Lamdert & Locke from Memphis wants Mitchel and offer him wealth and a chance to start his promising legal career in ernest in exchange for his loyalty and service. They agree to pay his student loans, find him a new home, even offer him a brand new car. All this is too much for Mitchell to pass up, so he forgoes offers from firms in New York and Chicago and agre...more

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May 03, 2007 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: only-read-it-in-highschool

Snap! I forgot all about Grisham when I putting in the crap books - thanks Conrad. Summer of '92, we were staying in a cabin off Devil's Lake in Michigan near my aunt's; I finished off the books I'd read and was unable to convince anyone in my family to play "D-Day To the Rhine", the WW2 strategy game I bought in Anarbor, but luckily my aunt had stocked our cabin with a whole slew of Grisham.

I think I read this in a day, and since the last paragraph was pure memoir that has nothing to do with th...more

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Jan 10, 2011 سمية عبد العزيز rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

تحذير: لا تقرأ الملخص الخلفي لأنه يحرق مفاجأة الرواية*

فكرة الرواية مختلفة, طالب في قسم المحاماة, من الأوائل على دفعته, يتلقى عروض عمل من أكبر الشركات, لكن أحد العروض كان فوق مختلف عن كل العروض الأخرى

سيحبها كل من يميل لروايات الإثارة والأكشن
حولت إلى فيلم بنفس إسم الرواية الإنجليزي
the firm

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Apr 01, 2013 Scott Carroll added it

John Grisham's the firm was a book that I thoroughly enjoyed as his style of writing constantly kept me entertained and intent to continue on and follow the plot. He constantly builds tension throughout the book which resulted in me constantly waiting for the climatic event that would end the book. Although I did find some faults within The Firm, at first reading the book I found it took to long for the book to actually start the main plot as Grisham seemed intent on describing the characterisat...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Elisabeth Winkler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Published in 1991, The Firm is a novel about tax evasion.

Picked up in a charity shop in 2013, it's still topical.

It takes us inside a top legal firm, and to the Cayman Islands, a British protectorate where no tax is levied - hence a tax haven for those who can afford it.

It's a novel that paints a corrupt world where employees turn a blind eye to wrongdoings in exchange for wealth. Chilling and real.

The tax evasion story becomes a criminal drama involving the Mafia and the FBI. I was gripped...more

1 like · like · see review

Feb 14, 2013 Julian Berkowitz rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is about a Harvard Graduate named Mitch McDeere. He graduates third in his class at Harvard Law and receives many job offers, but receives an outrage offer from a small tax firm in memphis. The firm pays their partners and associate lawyers huge sums of money; it seems like the perfect place for Mitch. However, he soon realizes that there's more to this firm than ordinary tax work, and he realizes that once one joins the firm he does not leave the firm alive...

I liked how suspenseful t...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Maythavee rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was my first John Grisham novel and it won’t be my last. I really enjoyed The Firm!

I didn’t know what I expected from this book when I first started it but I knew that something was fishy about the Bendini, Lambert and Locke firm. I mean, seriously they were just so creepy asking all those questions about family and stuff. For such an intelligent man, Mitch can be dumb and ignorant sometimes. I understand the need to be the best and to make loads of money but wow; he took the meaning of wo...more

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Jan 07, 2013 AL Maturan rated it 5 of 5 stars

This was the first novel I've read of John Grisham and it inspired some of the most important decisions of my life. It affected me so much that it irrevocable changed my life for all eternity. (I'm probably exaggerating but most of it's true.)

First of all, because of this book, I took up Accounting as my major in college. This book painted a very exciting picture of how an accountant's life could be very exciting. It showed how he could steal from the Mob and get away with it. Who wouldn't want...more

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Sep 05, 2012 Jason Kent rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this, much more than his first book.

The story surrounds Mitchell McDeere, a keen young law student who has spurned job offers from the bigger cities to join a small tax firm in Memphis called Bendini, Lambert and Locke. Nevertheless the firm offers him a huge salary, a home for him and his wife, a car, and even pay off his college loans. Not surprisingly McDeere accepts the offer.

'Mitch' gets into his new role and thinks it's the perfect job, at the perfect firm... but of cours...more

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Jul 29, 2012 Julianne rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

I recently realized 1) I've never read any of John Grisham's novels and 2) that's a shame. So I picked this up at the library a couple trips ago, when I found myself browsing in the G's. Why The Firm rather than The Client or The Associate? My grandfather, a former lawyer, happened to mention it in a conversation a couple months ago, so the title was on my mind.

My main impression is that this is the kind of pulp that no one will read 100 years from now (thank goodness). It reminded me very stron...more I recently realized 1) I've never read any of John Grisham's novels and 2) that's a shame. So I picked this up at the library a couple trips ago, when I found myself browsing in the G's. Why The Firm rather than The Client or The Associate? My grandfather, a former lawyer, happened to mention it in a conversation a couple months ago, so the title was on my mind.

My main impression is that this is the kind of pulp that no one will read 100 years from now (thank goodness). It reminded me very strongly of some bad late Victorian short stories I read for a class in fin de siecle fiction. My, how far we've come since the early '90s (the 1990s, just to be clear, not the 1890s). I mean, really, if you're ever in doubt, just pick up this book. It's definitely a product of its time. Sexism, classism, ageism, consumerism--it's all here, unvarnished and unexamined. I don't think John Grisham is or was especially unenlightened...I think he just faithfully represented the cultural norms and popular attitudes.

(This might be a tangent, but if I really wanted to understand what life was like in a previous era, I would look first at its advertising and its advice columns. I would look at what was ephemeral, not intended to survive. Not just at that, but I certainly wouldn't neglect it. I think there's treasure to be gleaned from scrutinizing what was created purely for the present and not for the eyes of history.)

Aside from what now seems crass and/or naive (the sexism especially so, for me), this is a pretty good story. Gripping. At times seemingly very realistic. At others, less believable. (For example, I find it hard, very hard to believe that Abby would say what she does on the last page, given the limitations she and Mitch must find a way to live within. I'm told the movie ending is more realistic. I haven't seen it yet.) I can understand why this book might have put a whole year's worth of law school graduates off their interviewing. I'm sure someone out there decided at the last second to switch their focus to fashion design or sales.

My favorite bits by far were the scenes that show Mitch's interaction with his secretary. As far as I'm concerned, there weren't enough of them. Maybe because his secretary seems like the kind of woman who would resent being underestimated or labeled.(less)

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May 18, 2012 Jake rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: pulp

I felt dirty for enjoying this book, hence the three stars. You can't help but power through Grisham's story but it is just so incredibly mindless and over-the-top that I am almost certainly dumber for having read it.
If I remember correctly it was the poor character development that really pissed me off - the protagonist is superhuman in every way, it's as if Grisham has just selected Mitch's qualities from a moronically obvious list titled 'characteristics that will appeal to pulp corporate th...more

3 likes · like · see review

May 14, 2012 Sandy rated it 4 of 5 stars

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Feb 18, 2012 Peg rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Firm by John Grisham. This audio book was provided to me free-of-charge by GoodReads, FirstReads. This is a long (17 hours) audio book that took me a while to listen to since I listen only when I'm in my car. Luckily, I had seen the movie starring Tom Cruise way back in 1993 or 1994, so was able to remember enough what the movie was about and that made it easy to keep up with what was happening since I was listening to it sporadically.

Enough has been said about the plot so I won't go into th...more

1 like · like · see review

Sep 01, 2011 Amy rated it 4 of 5 stars

I've always been a John Grisham fan, ever since I read A Time To Kill back in high school. His stories are compelling, fast reads. Who knew lawyers and courtrooms could be so interesting?

The Firm is Grisham's second novel, published in 1991. Mitch McDeere, number 3 in his class at Harvard Law, has job offers from all over the country, including one for a small firm in Memphis with Bendini, Lambert, and Locke. The Bendini firm paid off his school loans, leased him a BMW, and arranged the mortgage...more

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Jun 24, 2011 Chidambaram Annamalai rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, legal, thriller

Mitchell McDeere graduates from Harvard Law and is about to begin his career as a lawyer. Blessed with superhuman capabilities handed down generously by Mr.Grisham himself, Mitch finds no trouble in getting nailing three top job offers: two from from Wall Street, one from Memphis. Among other things, Mitch graduates with top honors, is among the top five in his class, was a quarterback at school, is an athlete (but his diet is mainly alcohol and cheeseburgers for the remainder of the novel), wor...more Mitchell McDeere graduates from Harvard Law and is about to begin his career as a lawyer. Blessed with superhuman capabilities handed down generously by Mr.Grisham himself, Mitch finds no trouble in getting nailing three top job offers: two from from Wall Street, one from Memphis. Among other things, Mitch graduates with top honors, is among the top five in his class, was a quarterback at school, is an athlete (but his diet is mainly alcohol and cheeseburgers for the remainder of the novel), works for 20 hours a day, and, of course, requires hardly any sleep. Yet, unwittingly (oh, how I love the innocence), lured by money and associated perks, our man finds himself as a tax lawyer in the Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke, where more sinister dealings happen under the cover of a legitimate law firm business.

The story-line never launches itself into the epic thriller that the plot threatens to become, the pace is completely off, and I can safely say that there is no single point of real suspense in this novel thanks to the some early giveaways with which you can construct most of what's about to happen (mhmm, no twists either). The novel starts somewhat promising but crumples into a muted, unimaginative ending with nothing much left to say.

A horrendous lack of detail regarding the crucial money laundering activities, non-existent lawyer talk, no legalese, and, worst of all, no gun descriptions or explanations for what the hell Mitch does 20 hours a day, seven days a week with the obscenely large files handed to him. He works on them! See? (Some brilliant explanation that involved checking client deposits and interest details (lol!) were scattered in the beginning, but Grisham gives up on the pathetic explanations eventually)

The book is so full of repetitions it makes you want to kill yourself for reading it. Every single bar in the Cayman Islands that finds mention in the book involves the three same things. Always! Islanders are playing either darts or dominoes. There is always a band that is tuning up. Mitchel orders the same kind of beer and cheeseburgers.

Our guy Mitch barks orders to an FBI Special Agent in the early parts, and the relationship deteriorates later when Mitch can't help calling Tarrance an idiot every time he is required to say something. Not joking. Tarrance is a sock puppet character who does not come up with any good ideas during these conversations. Why converse at all?!!! Sadly, Tarrance is made to alternate between: "Will do", "I'll ask my boss", or make some feeble attempt at bargaining in a deal or ask a stupid question. The last three options don't bode well for poor Tarrance, and all such replies are followed up by Mitch calling him an idiot.

When the FBI and the Mafia are hot on his tail, Mitch also finds, serendipitously, the assistance of an ex-con while being holed up in a room at a seedy Motel along Pacific Beach. The Mafia also give false leads to the FBI to throw them off his trail. Who needs the FBI, right?

The absolute worst--and this no writer should engage in--is an extended recital of the events occurring up to a certain point in time in the form a nervous realization by one of the characters, completely ruining the pace and putting the reader to sleep.

Eventually you will be tempted to assume that Grisham doesn't have a brain.

The book fails to entertain just as much as it fails to inform. The uninspired title should've been a giveaway, but I read the book only because I heard that this was Grisham's big break that made him famous in the 90s. I most certainly can't see how. I don't advise you to try either. Yuck!
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Apr 26, 2011 Remi Immler rated it 4 of 5 stars

Mitchell McDeere was born into a coal mining family, yet he has worked hard for everything in his life like finishing third in his class at Harvard Law. He's young, bright and ambitious. Who couldn't want him? Having the choice to work for the big, top notch firms in New York, he chooses Memphis tax firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke instead. They're choose very few, have big time salaries and no turnover rate. Mitch will soon find out why they choose him. ��Somthing was wrong with this pictur...more

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Mar 27, 2011 Vytas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Very involving, captivating and brilliant book by John Grisham. Finished in a few days, reading through the night.
Mitchell McDeere is a Harvard accounting graduate with a CPA, top 5 of his class and hungry for work. He is offered many jobs by top Wallstreet firms but accepts an offer from Bendini, Lambert & Locke with a salary of $85,000 per year, a new BMW and a mortgage with very attractive conditions. Little did he know that the firm was established by the Mafia and all of its operations...more

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Feb 25, 2011 Michael rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: collectible, mystery, new-york-times-best-seller, own-it, read-in-2011, reviewed

Mitch McDeere takes a job with a Memphis law firm specializing in tax law.

As he begins work, he learns that two of the newer associates were killed while boating in Grand Cayman.

Then an FBI agent approaches Mitch. The agent tells him that the firm is filing false tax returns for many of their clients and that the firm is owned by the mob. In addition, the agent tells Mitch that his home, office and car are being bugged and that he's being followed.

Mitch hires a private detective to look into the...more

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Jan 13, 2011 Travis rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 07, 2011 Brooke Hargett rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was fantastic! Loved every second of it. A few weeks ago it came on TV and I was saying "this is a great movie!" but within minutes I realized I had NOT seen it! I was thinking of A Few Good Men! Who knew I had never seen The Firm?? My husband said he'd read it years ago and it was one of the best books he'd ever read. So, I DVRd the movie and went to get the book (I didn't watch the movie yet, but I've heard it was a disappointment from the book... of course right???)

I seriously could...more

7 likes · like · see review

Sep 10, 2010 Jane Stewart rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mafia-mystery-suspense, 5-star-other

Wow. Great action, mystery and suspense. Can a smart young lawyer overcome unbelievable odds and outwit the Mafia and FBI?

STORY BRIEF:
Mitch is graduating from Harvard Law School in the top 5 of his class. He has several job offers from top wall street firms as well as a 40-man law firm in Memphis. The Memphis firm offers him more money and perks than the others, so he takes the job. He does not know that the firm is run by the Mafia. They have listening devices in every employee’s home, car, off...more Wow. Great action, mystery and suspense. Can a smart young lawyer overcome unbelievable odds and outwit the Mafia and FBI?

STORY BRIEF:
Mitch is graduating from Harvard Law School in the top 5 of his class. He has several job offers from top wall street firms as well as a 40-man law firm in Memphis. The Memphis firm offers him more money and perks than the others, so he takes the job. He does not know that the firm is run by the Mafia. They have listening devices in every employee’s home, car, office, etc. No one ever leaves the firm except by death. Five lawyers were killed during recent years under vague circumstances. After a few months, the FBI approaches Mitch asking his help in getting evidence against the firm. Mitch refuses, but he is now suspicious and curious.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
One of the best books I’ve read. It’s a little slow at first, but worth it. About half way through I couldn’t stop reading. I was obsessed with staying with it until the end. There is a lot of suspense, danger and risk. Mitch is smart and does a lot of neat things in unbelievably high risk situations. The only caution I have is that it was hard for me to sleep for a couple of nights, because I kept reliving parts of the story. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

After reading the book I watched the movie directed by Sidney Pollack. I couldn’t believe it. They changed many events from the book, which I did not like, for example. In the book A does something, but in the movie B does it and with different motivations. The ending in the book was great; in the movie it was totally different, not even close. In the movie, they added a supposedly clever conversation that didn’t exist in the book. I expect movies to cut scenes due to time limits, but to create a conversation that never happened in the book? It didn’t feel right to me. It was the scene in which the firm gives an envelope to Mitch with his salary inside. In the movie, they want him to guess what it is. Bottom line, if you see the movie, try not to link it to John Grisham, he is much better than that.

DATA:
Setting: current day various cities in the U.S. plus Caribbean islands. Copyright: 1991. Genre: mafia mystery suspense.(less)

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Sep 10, 2010 Zaky added it

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Jul 19, 2010 Thomas rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: mainstream, mystery

The pacing was good, and the plot was interesting, but I felt that Grisham failed his characters miserably by trying to force them to be what they weren't. It's been over 15 years since I've read this book, but I'll never forget the scene where the federal agents, who had been infiltrating the firm for years, found out that one of their own had been feeding the firm information about what the agents were doing. They dragged him into a room, smacked him around, confronted him, and then said, "You...more

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Jul 07, 2010 Ryan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: thriller, lawyer

I was bored and desperate for something to read so I broke my rule of not reading books about lawyers. This is why I haven't read The Firm before now. There is nothing like missing the hottest bestseller by about 20 years.

Reading The Firm almost 20 years after first published, one notices how dated it is. However, overall the suspense and intrigue hold up fairly well. A lawyer is recruited by a firm who turns out to be shady and wants him dead. But he's the boy-next-door-to-someone-else, all-ame...more

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Jun 13, 2010 Vanderkooi added it

The Firm is about Mitchell Y. McDeere is a law student who graduated third in his class at Harvard Law School. Mitch has offers from law firms in New York and Chicago but eventually decides to join Bendini, Lambert and Locke, a small tax law firm based in Memphis. Soon after he joins, his new colleagues help him study and pass his bar exam. Two of Mitch's partners die in a scuba diving in the Cayman Islands in the frist week he starts. Mitch finds the deaths weird, he works hard, and works towar...more The Firm is about Mitchell Y. McDeere is a law student who graduated third in his class at Harvard Law School. Mitch has offers from law firms in New York and Chicago but eventually decides to join Bendini, Lambert and Locke, a small tax law firm based in Memphis. Soon after he joins, his new colleagues help him study and pass his bar exam. Two of Mitch's partners die in a scuba diving in the Cayman Islands in the frist week he starts. Mitch finds the deaths weird, he works hard, and works towards his dream of becoming a successful in the firm. During a memorial at the firm for the two dead attorneys Mitch notices plaques commemorating three other attorneys who died while working at the firm, he hires a private investigator, Eddie Lomax, an ex-cell mate of his brother Ray. Eddie discovers that all five of the dead attorneys, died under weird circumstances, a diving accident, a car acident, a hunting accident and a suicide. He tells Mitch to be careful. Soon after telling Mitch Eddie is murdered. The FBI confronts Mitch and tells him that the firm is under the rule of the Morolto family. The Moroltos have lured new lawyers from poor backgrounds into the firm with promises of wealth and security. By the time a lawyer is aware of the firm's actual operations, they cannot leave. Mitch learns that his house is bugged, can and office and he and his wife get followed too. Mitch makes a deal with the FBI, in which he gets two million dollars and the release of his brother, if he collects enough evidence to charge the firm. He finds enough evidence to charge half of the firm. He begins to copy confidential information and plans to give it to the FBI. Meanwhile, the firm becomes suspicious, and with the assistance of "Alfred", a mole in the FBI, they discover Mitch's plan. Once Mitch learns of this, he runs from both the FBI and Mafia with his brother who escaped from jail, and his wife. He steals approximately ten million dollars from various bank accounts belonging to the firm. At the end, Mitch, Abby and Ray are quietly enjoying their newfound wealth in the Caribbean region.(less)

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Jan 25, 2010 Liz rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010, adult, never-again

It's very, um, thick. Full of detail. Like, so much detail that it's about a third of the way through before the plot actually really begins. Mitch was kinda flat, though. Everybody was treating him as though he was a much more rounded character than he really was.
I mean, I'm not complaining: John Grisham still managed to keep me reading, but maybe that was just because there were people conducting subterfuges.

Still, the lawyers not suspecting what was going on, when they had all the EVIDENCE in...more

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Jan 21, 2010 Tony Taylor rated it 3 of 5 stars

Hard to believe, but there was a time when the word "lawyer" wasn't synonymous with "criminal," and the idea of a law firm controlled by the Mafia was an outlandish proposition. This intelligent, ensnaring story came out of nowhere--Oxford, Mississippi, where Grisham was a small-town lawyer--and quickly catapulted to the top of the bestseller list, with good reason. Mitch McDeere, the appealing hero, is a poor kid whose only assets are a first-class mind, a Harvard law degree, and a beautiful, l...more

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Nov 02, 2011 Ed rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read the firm back when it first came out as Grisham appeared to be a promising writer even when he first started... The book is a realistic look into the lives of criminals and the lawyers that choose to protect organized crime. Due to its huge success, it was made into a film -starring Tom Cruise- which was a disappointment in comparison to the book. The movie mainly concentrated on the struggles of the failed relationship between the main character and his wife, as opposed to the framework...more

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About John Grisham

"Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel.

Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of...more "Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel.

Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Realizing he didn't have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990.

One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, Grisham overheard the harrowing testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl's father had murdered her assailants. Getting up at 5 a.m. every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and published it in June 1988.

That might have put an end to Grisham's hobby. However, he had already begun his next book, and it would quickly turn that hobby into a new full-time career—and spark one of publishing's greatest success stories. The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on another novel, the story of a hotshot young attorney lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared. When he sold the film rights to The Firm to Paramount Pictures for $600,000, Grisham suddenly became a hot property among publishers, and book rights were bought by Doubleday. Spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, The Firm became the bestselling novel of 1991.

The successes of The Pelican Brief, which hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and The Client, which debuted at number one, confirmed Grisham's reputation as the master of the legal thriller. Grisham's success even renewed interest in A Time to Kill, which was republished in hardcover by Doubleday and then in paperback by Dell. This time around, it was a bestseller.

Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year (his other books are The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, and The Broker) and all of them have become international bestsellers. There are currently over 225 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 29 languages. Nine of his novels have been turned into films (The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, A Painted House, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas), as was an original screenplay, The Gingerbread Man. The Innocent Man (October 2006) marks his first foray into non-fiction.

Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea. The family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm in Mississippi and a plantation near Charlottesville, VA.

Grisham took time off from writing for several months in 1996 to return, after a five-year hiatus, to the courtroom. He was honoring a commitment made before he had retired from the law to become a full-time writer: representing the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars. Preparing his case with the same passion and dedication as his books' protagonists, Grisham successfully argued his clients' case, earning them a jur(less)

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Trivia About The Firm

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Quotes from The Firm

“Any lawyer worth his salt knew the first offer had to be rejected.” — 4 people liked it

“[you’ll acquire] A certain amount of cynicism. This business works on you. When you were in law school you had some noble idea what a lawyer should be. A champion of individual rights; a defender of the Constitution; a guardian of the oppressed; an advocate for your client’s principles. Then after you practice for six months you realize you were nothing but hired guns. Mouthpieces for sale to the highest bidder, available to anybody, any crook, any sleazebag with enough money to pay your outrageous fees. Nothing shocks you. It’s supposed to be an honorable profession, but you’ll meet so many crooked lawyers you’ll want to quit and find an honest job. Yeah Mitch, you’ll get cynical. And it’s sad, really.” — 2 people liked it

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