The Associate

Amanda Jaffe #2

by Phillip Margolin

A mesmerizing tale of deceit and criminal stealth in the high-stakes world of pharmaceutical research from Phillip Margolin, the New York Times bestselling master of the courtroom thriller.

Daniel Ames is living the American dream. Though born into poverty and living on the streets by the age of fifteen, Daniel has overcome every obstacle -- and now is an associate at Reed, Briggs, Portland's most prestigious law firm, earning more money than he ever imagined possible.

But when Aaron Flynn enters his life, Daniel finds himself caught between his towering ambition and his bedrock idealism. Flynn, a charismatic civil litigator, sues Geller Pharmaceuticals -- Reed, Briggs's biggest client -- for manufacturing a drug that he claims causes unspeakable birth defects. Daniel is certain the claim has no merit -- until a memo written by a Geller scientist is found, detailing the shocking results of a study that implicates the company in a horrific lie.

Could Daniel unwittingly be helping Geller cover up a dark secret? As he begins to investigate, his world comes tumbling down around him. His work is sabotaged, he's accused of professional incompetence, and he's fired. Twelve hours later the man who fired him is murdered. Daniel is arrested.

With help from two women, including lawyer Amanda Jaffe (whom we met in Wild Justice), Daniel scrambles to clear his name and save his reputation -- and in the process unearths a trail of deceit that leads back to a series of unsolved kidnappings seven years earlier. But someone doesn't want this trail explored, and Daniel becomes the target of a vicious killer who will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from being revealed.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Thriller, Legal Thriller, Crime, Audiobook, Mystery Thriller

358 pages, Paperback

First published September 21, 2001

Reviews

[Terence M [on a brief semi-hiatus] · Rating 3 out of 5]

After five to ten years have passed (sometimes much less), I rarely remember much about most of the books books I have read and consider this a positive benefit, although a few truly outstanding books stay with me forever. I did not remember much about the plot or story line of The Associate, only that I had listed it as "read - ok to read again", which, I must say, is a pretty long list. After this second reading, I wonder what it was that made me put it on the list. The story was ok, the writing was also ok, but overall I think Margolin stretched both the credibility and length of the story and I was pleased when it came to a somewhat disappointing conclusion.

3.0 stars out of 5

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

There was a time when I really enjoyed legal thrillers. I've been reading books I've had on my shelves for quite a while and finally getting to them. I wasn't a fan of this one.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick and interesting reading. An Associate at a major Law Firm is asked to do another Associate a favor and go through the discovery for a Pharmaceutical Company that is being sued. This ultimately leads to his termination for having let a piece of paper go through erroneously that said the law suit was justified. After his termination he begins to investigate what happened (highly unrealistic) and goes to meet with the head of his former firm at a cottage in the country in the mid-evening, where he finds his murdered body. He is ultimately arrested and jailed for the murder. Eventually he is released on his own recognizance (another unlikely event). He continues his investigation and ultimately solves the murder and all that led up to it. It was well written and intriguing even though it was totally implausible.

[Jill Manske · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always like Phillip Margolin's legal thrillers, and "The Associate" is no exception. It's a gritty story of a young lawyer who, through one kind deed, becomes embroiled in a legal nightmare. The plot kept me guessing, although there were hints sprinkled here and there to lead readers to the truth. I liked the characters, particularly Daniel Ames, the young associate. Margolin always delivers a terrific story; I highly recommend this book.

[Sabrina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not the worst thing that I've ever read.

[Efka · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very decent, fast paced legal thriller. Though "A young lawyer discovers a sinister plot and now is in peril" trope is very common setting in this genre, I enjoyed a few unexpected plot twists especially when it turned out that the evil big pharma company was neither evil, nor responsible for, well, anything. There were aslo a couple of more similarly fresh ideas and twists, but I don't want my review stuffed with spoilers, so I guess I'll zip it. Enough to say, that Phillip Margolin and his further legal thriller books will remain on my spotlight when looking for another book to read. 4*.

[Florence · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fast paced thriller.

I enjoyed the mystery and trying to figure out who the villains were. At some point I started to feel like the characters were too many but the author did a great job of fitting them perfectly in the story.

My only issue with the book was that traumatic chapter about the satanic cult. It was so unnecessary and was definitely included for shock value so check for TW.

[Ellybeth Dye · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is definitely one of my least favorite in the Amanda Jaffe series. It was truly centered around Daniel, the main character and his story. I usually love all of the twists and turns but this story seemed to be a bit too convoluted. Even though he tried to explain it out multiple times I was generally lost. I was hoping to have more of Amanda in this story but I understand why it was written this way. I also really did not like that women were the main villain in every aspect of this story (Daniels co-worker, the random story in the middle, etc.) There was a line that I just thought was hilarious towards the beginning of the book that I had to mention: "Dories on a raging ocean, waves breaking on a deserted beach, a cottage scarred by the sea's salt spray. Very nice" and the fact that they meet at a Taco Bell in chapter 39. Overall, I just didn't really enjoy this book as much as I was hoping, especially with the way that it starts. If you are reading the Amanda Jaffe series, you can probably skip this one :)

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just OK for Me.. Storyline good, however to many characters which made it confusing at times.....

[Ευαγγελία Τσουκαλά · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ωραία γραφή, γρήγορο, δεν αφήνει απορίες και με ωραίους χαρακτήρες. Θα ψάξω κι άλλα του συγγραφέα

[Mary Kamrath · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting legal thriller. Parts were somewhat unbelievable, but made for a good plot. Very similar style to John Grisham, this was the first book by Phillip Margolin that I have read.

[Helen Campbell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Margolin novel. Actually, it's only the second Amanda Jaffe mystery as I'm backing up and reading the earlier books in order. Smoothly written with believable characters and a logical succession of events. I don't know how he can possibly write so many good books but I'm glad he did.

[Mª Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5⭐

[LJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

THE ASSOCIATE (Legal Suspense-Oregon-Cont) - Okay
Margolin, Phillip - Standalone
HarperCollinsPublishers, 2001, US Hardcover – ISBN: 0060196254

First Sentence: An icy wind whipped down Mercer Street, rattling awnings, scattering paper scraps and raking Gene Arnold’s cheeks raw.

Daniel Ames worked his way through college and law school and is now a litigation associate with the prestigious firm of Reed, Briggs, Stephens, Stottlemeyer and Compton. The firm is representing Geller Pharmaceuticals, makers of a drug which helps pregnant women with morning sickness. Aaron Flynn is suing Geller, on behalf of his clients, claiming the drug causes birth defects. Daniel is asked to review disposition materials and delivery them to the prosecuting attorney. During deposition, Flynn displays a document by the Pharmacist’s scientist’s concerns about the drugs, and Daniel loses his job even though he is certain the document wasn’t there during his review. Worse still, Daniel is arrested when the firm’s senior partner is arrested.

I love legal thrillers. Unfortunately, there was very little legal to this thriller. What started as an interesting story became more and more convoluted and improbable as the plot moved forward. Daniel was a remarkably naïve protagonist who is occasionally even stupid. There was very little development of any of the characters. It wasn’t, however, a terrible book. It certainly kept me turning the pages to see where the story was going, but neither was it wonderful. It truly was an okay read.

[Michelle Bacon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ohhhh Margolin, you had such potential, but again you let me down. I thought this book was going to be a great pharmaceutical whopper with some great courtroom action but instead the story took and odd twist and it seemed like I'd put this book down and started another one. Here was a whole new set of characters to get acquainted with while leaving the others far behind.
How to lose a reader in 10 words. Because of that odd scene in the middle of this story, I was completely lost after the fact. Lots of action in the end, people died, people got fired, people got injured, blah, blah, blah; to be honest and up front with you all, there are better books out there. Skip this one unless you like being thrown out in left field with about 20 characters to try and keep straight.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the 2nd installment of Phillip Margolin's Amanda Jaffe legal thriller series, The Associate, he told us a tale of deceit and criminal stealth in the pharmaceutical world. For Daniel Ames, he once had an impoverished life, and now was an associates with Reed, Briggs, Portland's prestigious law firm. Then Aaron Flynn entered his life, claiming that their drug causes unspeakable birth defects. Daniel claimed that his case had no merit. Then he started to investigate the issue, when his world came tumbling down. Someone sabotaged his work and later was fired and then arrested. That's when he hired Amanda Jaffe to take on his case to clear his name, which went back to a trail of unsolved kidnappings a few years ago that no one wanted to be revealed.

[Jean-marcel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sub-Grisham drivel, really. The protagonist is a complete pushover and tool, and I saw the setup coming so early on that the revelation only made me laugh. The author signposts everything by almost explicitly telling us who we ought to root for and showing us that the apparent philanthropists are actually transparent slimeballs. The writing was fairly poor and the ending an unintentional joke. I've only read a couple of writers who can make stories about lawyers interesting; this guy certainly isn't one of them.

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good Daniel Ames & Kate Ross book with a smattering of Amanda Jaffe thrown in for good measure. Rogue lawyer tries to implicate a major drug company in a lawsuit by doctoring test results and killing to keep those results from being considered bogus. Daniel Ames & Kate Ross figure it out while Amanda keeps Daniel out of jail. Recommended.

[Kimmie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't expect a lot of Amanda Jaffe because she is barely in the book. Beyond that, the book was great anyway. I am hoping the introduction of new characters will lead to further books in whatever series Margolin writes. The suspense continues to keep me entertained.

[Cheryl Karkoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another good book. This author is easy to read and really holds my attention since I have read two of his books in two days. On to the next

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I worked hard to follow all the elements of this thriller but it was still a surprise when it all came together.

[Jeremiah Skarda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Associate is a book about a law firm associate named Daniel who is defending the Geller pharmaceutical company that is accused of manufacturing a drug that causes birth defects. Daniel is forced to test his own morals and figure out who his true friends are, solve the case, and clear his own name from murder.
Daniel usually neglects to think about his future consequences of his actions. For example, when he is asked to go to a cemetery in the middle of the night to talk to a murder suspect, Daniel chose to only think about the benefit of the extra evidence he’d be getting for the murder case, and not about the high possibility of it being a trap. Daniel is also too nice for his own good, like when he agreed to help Susan when asked him to review and proofread thousands of documents over night and deliver them by 8:00 in the morning.
Phillip Margolin (the author) didn’t use a ton of figurative language and not much of it stood out and forced you to think about what he is truly trying to say. Most of the figurative language was casual like “Briggs just continued to stare at him as if he were some mildly interesting insect. (Margolin 97)” which isn’t bad and allows for a more easygoing read. The overall style of the writing is very casual, realistic, and down to earth.
No book is without flaws, including this one. During part 4, the main plotline is put aside for almost 60 pages. This event is hardly related to the rest of the book and doesn’t have any of the main characters. It could have easily been summarized in just a couple of pages and additionally would be more entertaining. An additional blemish is this author has a potty-mouth. The writing includes several swear words, including the F-word several times. Fortunately, the author does use the words in an intelligent way, unlike how middle schoolers would use them as sentence enhancers or for immature humor.
This book is very realistic and accurately portrays how a real murder investigation would go, including both the good and the bad. Daniel is put under arrest and jailed for murder, even though there is no solid evidence other than a single witness. This takes a spin on “innocent until proven guilty”, which turns into “guilty until proven innocent.” In an ideal world, the police would investigate Daniel and look for motives and evidence. When sufficient evidence is collected, they send him to trial and if the jury decides he is guilty then he goes to jail. Unfortunately, we, nor Daniel, live in a perfect world. Instead, we live in a world that thinks it is morally justified to send an innocent person to jail for no reason other than somebody said so.
If I had to rate this book, I’d give it 4 out of 5 stars. It is interesting with many plot twists, but it really drags during part 4. I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone sensitive to foul language. Some events aren’t suitable for anybody younger than a high schooler. However, this is a captivating book, and if you are mature enough, I am sure you’d enjoy it.

[Susannah Carleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite what Goodreads says, or does not say, about this book, it is the second book in the Amanda Jaffe series (after Wild Justice). It's the story of Daniel Ames, who Amanda defends on a murder charge and who, by the next book, works in the Jaffe firm. Kate Ross, who is also at the Jaffe firm in the next book, is an investigator at the firm where Daniel works.

A great story about a young defense lawyer and an unscrupulous plaintiff's attorney and the lengths to which the latter will go to get big cases and win them. The young attorney, Daniel Ames, is accused by the partners of his firm of failing to remove an important document sent to a corporate attorney in a pharmaceutical case. The document, if real, could cost the company billions of dollars. But no one in the company claims to have ever seen the document before. Is it real? Was it in the boxes of documents Daniel's firm disclosed to the plaintiffs' attorney?

The author of the letter and its attached report could answer the question, but no one has seen him for days. His home has been broken into, a lab where he purportedly performed his research has been burned, and all of the animals are dead. But the body in the lab is not the missing scientist's. Who is it, and why was he killed?

Readers will enjoy this riveting tale, despite the lack of courtroom drama.

[wally · Rating 3 out of 5]

finished 12t october 2025 good read three stars i liked it no less no more kindle library loaner have read maybe ten or more stories from margolin phillip and have enjoyed them all. i think the main page on this story said something like 199 reviews...for a story that has been around for a relatively long time...several decades...and margolin's 8th story? go figure. story is better than that showing.

entertaining story. thought that maybe the final...ten? chapters moved quickly maybe too quickly...maybe one of those word-count requirements. who knows for sure? and margolin has an afterword here with a bit of the story's origin...combination of a couple ideas that alone were less than the combination of the two.

and in this day and age of fashionable ideology and everyone jumping on a bandwagon and tooting heir horns, applicable. boy howdy. everyone is likely to get behind the idea of a big bad company greedy bastards one and all, expose them for what they are...but this story takes that idea and presents a different side. as paul harvey used to say now you know the rest of the story. and perhaps the ideas you hold dear to your heart need another evaluation? oh no...never happen. and this is our world.

[AJ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trashy, throwaway corporate thriller checks off all of the boxes. I could practically hear the "tick-tick-tick" as I was reading it. It may have the wimpiest protagonist I've ever read, characters that pop in and out of the book at random periods. a by-the-numbers tough as nails female cop (that the protagonist somehow starts a relationship with), and an entire middle portion that goes off into a completely different story, I just can't find much to like here.

Daniel, the good guy, makes the most ridiculous decisions that are clearly detrimental to his own well being that it bordered on parody. He actually deletes the voicemail that could have practically exonerated him, and then ends up in prison and is up for the death penalty in a matter of chapters. The bad guy is a traditional mustache twirler, and is so poorly written that you can pick them out the second they are introduced.

I think this was shoehorned into the Amanda Jaffe series after the fact - she's only in it for a few chapters - and she's completely undeveloped, unused, and secondary.

No. Just no. And again, no.

[Sam D.Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

It does come together in the end

I don't know why I had trouble keeping up with this books characters. but I did and I kept having to go back and see who that detective was, who that lawyer was and then return, which is problematic on a tablet device. I am not a fan of books that jump around in time and space and this one does a bit, making it a more difficult read. But in the end, (last 30 pages and writers description of how the book came to be written) the book closes up nicely. Still not sure about Susan but she is a minor player in a big scope novel. Who cares. This is a solid three that wrapped up so well it left me pleased I had read it so give it a 4. Although written in 2001, the book appears to escape trappings that would make it appear old. I would recommend to a friend but warn the! To be patient as the story unfolds.

[NCHS Library]

From Follett: Daniel Ames is an associate at Reed, Briggs, Portland's most prestigious law firm, earning more money than he ever imagined possible.

When a charismatic civil litigator sues the firm's biggest client for manufacturing a drug that he claims causes unspeakable birth defects, Daniel is certain the claim has no merit. But as he begins to investigate, his world comes tumbling down around him. His work is sabotaged, he's accused of professional incompetence, and he's fired. Twelve hours later he is arrested for murder.

Daniel scrambles to clear his name and save his reputation and in the process unearths a trail of deceit. But someone doesn't want this trail explored, and Daniel becomes the target of a vicious killer who will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from being revealed.

[NCHS Library]

From Follett: Daniel Ames is an associate at Reed, Briggs, Portland's most prestigious law firm, earning more money than he ever imagined possible.

When a charismatic civil litigator sues the firm's biggest client for manufacturing a drug that he claims causes unspeakable birth defects, Daniel is certain the claim has no merit. But as he begins to investigate, his world comes tumbling down around him. His work is sabotaged, he's accused of professional incompetence, and he's fired. Twelve hours later he is arrested for murder.

Daniel scrambles to clear his name and save his reputation and in the process unearths a trail of deceit. But someone doesn't want this trail explored, and Daniel becomes the target of a vicious killer who will stop at nothing to prevent the truth from being revealed.

[Lynn Laryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Daniel Ames is an attorney who has landed his dream job at a very respectful law firm, known to most as Reed, Briggs. This firm has very influential clients such as Geller Pharmaceuticals, which pays the firm a great deal of money representing them. Daniel is talked into reviewing this client's paperwork in a lawsuit filed against them stating their drug, Insufort, that's supposed to help pregnant women with morning sickness that could cause diabetes. The lawsuit claims Insufort causes severe facial disfigurement in the babies of women taking it. Aaron Flynn is Reed, Briggs corporate attorney and it is his job to defend Geller against this lawsuit. This story is complicated and kidnapping, extortion, and murders follow.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this story line and actually give it a 4 1/2 stars. Margolin has weaved multiple plots together to converge to a mind blowing ending.
I did figure out "who dun it" before it was reveled and the reasoning was pretty obvious, but the story was still really good.
I especially loved how it's set in Portland Oregon, my home state and loved when it mentioned the surrounding sights.
But what really got me excited was that Mr. Margolin acknowledged two people I worked with when I worked at the OPC in the administrative building. I don't think I have ever come across that before.
I'm thrilled that this was a book-club pick for this month.