Amazing novel following what happened after the Tennessee fiasco. Terrorists and corporate terrorism fill the pages with suspense. Another John Grisham masterpiece.

The Exchange catches up with Mitch and Abby McDeere fifteen years after the events in The Firm. They now live in Manhattan, have two sons and successful careers. Mitch is continuing his law career and Abby is an editor. Mitch takes a case thar his old friend Luka was working on, and agrees to Let Luka's daughter, Giovanna assist in the case.

Mitch and Giovanna head to Libya where his clients are suing the Lebanese government over unpaid bills for a bridge that was built at the request of Gaddafi. When Giovanna is kidnapped by terrorists, it's up to Mitch to raise the ransom of $100 million or else she will be killed. Will Mitch be able to raise the money to save her?

I really enjoyed this book. It could be read as a standalone, but I think it's better to read The Firm first if you haven't already. The characters aren't fully fleshed out, but they're good enough. The pacing is good, I was hooked from the beginning. I'd recommend this to fans of Grisham and those who like a good international thriller.

My thanks to Double Day, author John Grisham, and NetGalley for gifting me a digital copy of this book. My opinions are my own.

Fifteen years after escaping Memphis, Mitch and Abby have a great life in New York with their two boys. Mitch’s work for a large international law firm takes him around the world. Suddenly, a lawyer on Mitch’s team is kidnapped in Libya. Can Mitch raise the $100 million ransom before the lawyer is executed?

As a huge fan of The Firm, I picked up The Exchange for the nostalgia. I couldn't resist one more adventure with Mitch and Abby. Well, I was rewarded from that perspective. I enjoyed the update on their lives and seeing them in action.

However, I was disappointed with the thriller portion of the story. Instead of being fast-paced and filled with urgency to save the kidnapped lawyer, the story is bogged down with so much fluff — unnecessary characters, too much detail on Mitch’s travels, and too many meetings of lawyers. The story plods along without much excitement or any big twists. The ending left many open questions like who the kidnappers were. Maybe it was a setup for another book?

Overall, The Exchange has all the elements to be an entertaining thriller, but it's not.

I received an early copy of this book.

I was thrilled to finally be approved for a Grisham book. I’ve been reading his books since the 1990s. This one was different. I thought Mitch was somewhat of an ass for the frost sort of the book. The pace picked up with the happenings in the desert. Then it just sort of fell into mundaneness: lots of suits, lots of flying around, waiting, haranguing for money.
The ending made no sense to me. None of the dots connected and none of my questions were answered like who was behind it all and would they ever be found?
Still. It’s a Grisham book so I was happy to read it. But I do wish someone would have caught that smart phones didn’t. Come out until after 2005.

When I saw that a sequel had been written to The Firm, I was ecstatic. The Firm is one of my all-time favorite books, and I have re-read it so many times, I wore out my first copy and had to buy a replacement. I couldn't wait to find out what happened with Mitch, Abby & Ray McDeere, after they all evaded the mob, and escaped on a boat with Abanks & George. I was not at all expecting Mitch & Abby to have returned to the U.S.., be living in New York City, and Mitch to be practicing law again. I also was not expecting Mitch to be running headfirst into dangerous situations, trying to rescue the daughter of one of his colleagues and close friends who got kidnapped by terrorists in Libya. I have always heard the phrase "the mob never forgets". Yes, Mitch helped put away all of the members of the Bendini, Lambert & Locke law firm in the previous book, as well as many members of the Morolto family, but I still felt it hard to believe it would have been safe for him to ever come out of hiding. I found it especially difficult to believe he would be able to go back to Memphis & casually re-visit all of his favorite old haunts from his time there as a lawyer. I guess in order to truly enjoy this book, you will need to suspend disbelief. I did not enjoy this book nearly as much as I did The Firm, mainly because the majority of the book was about terrorism, and things related to that, which is just not something I enjoy reading about. Be forewarned - there is a detailed gruesome scene that is a bit stomach turning, involving the terrorists. Overall, I give this a 3.5 rounded up to a 4.

I had high expectations going into this read and where I am glad to see what happened to Mitch and Abby I am slightly disappointed in the story that we got.

In the start of this book we catch up with the pair - they have 2 kids, live in New York and Mitch is a partner in his firm while Abby is a cookbook editor. After the catch up portion the story starts where Mitch goes with an associate to Libya only to have the other associate (a female associate. While in Libya, Mitch's travel companion is kidnapped and the real story begins. Once the associate is kidnapped, Mitch then is on a race around the world to save his fellow associate.

Where this is an action packed read which is the norm for his books, there was not any mention of the law. The characters were at times hard to connect to making me feel that maybe resurrecting the past was possibly not a good idea. Overall this is just an okay read for me.

The MCDeere family is back in the thick of things!
Fifteen years have passed since They left the precarious situation at the Bendini law firm run by the mob and the family is located in New York living the good life. She is a cookbook publisher and he is a star in a new law firm.
He is asked by a friend to complete the lawsuit against the Gaddafi regime for a useless bridge and then things take a terrible turn when an associate is kidnapped.
There is much negotiating and flying and a bunch of moving parts but in the end they come through to a very satisfying conclusion.
Wonderful reading. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for allowing me this ARC.

Thirty years ago when I read “The Firm,” I initially thought it was a memoir: a young associate’s version of Scott Turow’s classic “One L.” The recruiting process, the bar exam, and the long hours all rang true. But fortunately not the organized crime piece.

Grisham is returning to the story of Abby and Mitch McDeere in “The Exchange.” It is 15 years later and Mitch, now age 41, is a partner in the largest, multi-national law firm, Scully & Pershing. Mitch represents Lannak -- a Turkish construction company under contract to build a bridge in the desert of Libya -- in an effort to collect unpaid bills of $500 million. Giovanna, a young associate at Scully’s London office, is on Mitch’s litigation team. She is kidnapped by terrorists while making a visit to the construction site. Her security team and Libyan guide are all executed on video. But the terrorists will turn over Giovanna if they receive $100 million in 10 days. Hence the titular exchange.

Mitch scrambles to raise the ransom while trying to keep his wife and twin boys safe. Eventually Abby gets pulled into the scheme when the kidnappers will release Giovanna only to her and only in Morocco. Meanwhile, Mitch is in Grand Cayman negotiating various wired funds before the clock runs out.

There is no need to have read “The Firm”—recently, or ever. Mitch does a little reminiscing while visiting Memphis and Grand Cayman, but otherwise this is pretty much a stand-alone novel. Personally, I prefer Grisham’s courtroom thrillers, especially those featuring Jake Brigance. So while this is not my favorite Grisham book, it is still captivating. Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy.

(Note: I read this before October 7, 2023. In light of the terrorist attack in Israel, some scenes may be triggering to sensitive readers.)

An early holiday gift to fiction readers each year is a John Grisham novel. This year, the bestselling author gives us “The Exchange: After the Firm,” a sequel to his hit “The Firm,” which starred Tom Cruise as Mitch McDeere in its movie version.
It’s now 15 years since Mitch exposed the fraud and criminal activities at his first job as a fledging lawyer at Bendini, Lambert & Locke, a mob-front law firm in Memphis. He and his wife Abby are now living and working in Manhattan, raising young twin sons with the past deliberately in the rear-view mirror.
Ah, but as readers know, fictional life in a Grisham legal thriller is rarely calm for long. Mitch, now a partner with the world’s largest law firm (over 2,100 lawyers in 31 locations), soon finds himself smack dab in the middle of an international terrorist plot and high-stakes hostage negotiation.
Before we get into the merits of this new novel, let’s review the McDeere legacy. Published in 1991, “The Firm” followed the young lawyer caught up in the fraud, criminal activity and mob connections. The movie premiered 30 years and still stands as Grisham’s highest-grossing adaptation. There’s already speculation that “The Exchange” will become the author’s 20th feature film.
While this novel is labeled as a sequel, it’s stand-alone novel with little relation to “The Firm.” The protagonist has moved on with no plans to ever return to Memphis permanently. Yes, he makes a stop there, remembers what went on years earlier, and then moves on.
This time around, Mitch is asked by Luca, a longtime, terminally ill friend in Rome, to take over a developer’s $400 million lawsuit about the Libyan government. In 2005 and Muammar al-Qaddafi has a reputation of making unreasonable demands and then refusing to pay for them.
At his friend’s request, Mitch adds the man’s daughter, Giovanna, to his legal team. She’s already has made a name for herself at the Longdon office, but she’s eager to be a bigger player. They fly to Tripoli and plan a visit, with guards, to a construction site -- a bridge -- in the middle of the desert. Mitch, however, ends up in the hospital with food poison, so Giovanna makes the trip alone with armed bodyguards.
The journey soon becomes deadly, and Giovanna is taken hostage by terrorist group waging battle against Qaddafi. If the law firm doesn’t pay a $100 million ransom, Giovanna will be executed and her murder splashed across social media. This time, Abby McDeere, a cookbook editor, gets drawn in the fray with her son’s life a mere piece on a global chessboard. The legal wranglings, moral dilemmas and tense situations are detailed in true Grisham style. How does one go to protect others? When is doing “wrong” the “right” thing to do?
It’s well known that Grisham is committed to fighting injustice, often using his written words to explore an issue. This is where Grisham shines. His own experiences as a lawyer in the South give a depth of truth, justice, and personal struggle to his writing.
This is especially true in “The Exchange,” where the author’s true desire for justice shows in the way Mitch approaches law. The character’s strong beliefs in ethical representation for all, keeps him fighting for what’s and moving him forward. Yes, he stumbles and sometimes falls, but he gets up again to confront his mistakes and his personal beliefs.
Negotiations replace courtroom battles in this novel. Admittedly, the plot is far-fetched and at times very thin, but it’s still good reading. However, there are enough legal scenarios and moving parts to keep Grisham fans entertained.

The Exchange: After the Firm is a follow up of sorts of Mitch and Abby McDeere after they exposed the crimes of Memphis law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke and fled the country.

It has been now fifteen years since Mitch and Abby have left Memphis and are now living in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at the large law firm with many offices all over the world. Mitch gets a call from a mentor and asks him for a favor. Mitch finds himself embroiled in trying to rescue his mentor's daughter who has been kidnapped.

I enjoyed this book but kept waiting for the twist at the end. It's a pretty straight forward story that builds in its intensity. I can see this being remade into an intense movie thriller.

John Grisham is an excellent storyteller and this is worth reading.

This was such a roller coaster ride of a book! Never knowing where the next clue was going to come from or what was going to happen to the hostages made for a wild ride! While this book is considered a sequel, I don't believe you absolutely have to read the first to enjoy this one!

After exposing the crimes of the law firm of Bendini, Lambert & Locke and fleeing the country, Mitch & Abby are back in New York City with their twins. Mitch is a Partner for powerhouse law firm, Scully & Pershing and when asked to go to Rome to assist with a case, Mitch (and Abby) are thrown into the middle of a terrible kidnapping and its repercussions on their family and professional lives!

This story had me hooked from the beginning! Finding out how Mitch & Abby survived their flee from the country after the debacle in Memphis was great to read but the story of this book is wild! From a suspicious food poisoning to the kidnapping of a high-profile associate at Scully & Pershing, you are constantly being turned upside down and around. I never knew where the next clue was coming from or what to expect next. If you're into political and legal thrillers...this is definitely the book for you!

Thank you @netgalley and @doubledaybooks @doubledayca for the advance copy!

The Exchange: After The Firm by John Grisham is a highly recommended legal thriller which takes place fifteen years after The Firm. Don't worry if you haven't read The Firm before reading The Exchange. This second novel can be read as a stand-alone where characters Mitch and Abby McDeere return.

Mitch and Abby now live in NYC with their two sons. Mitch is a partner at Scully & Pershing, an international law firm with 31 locations across the globe and Abby is a cookbook editor. Mitch travels to Rome to take over a case for Luca Sandroni, a Scully & Pershing partner in Rome who’s dying of pancreatic cancer. Sandroni's case involves a Turkish construction company, Lannak, that is suing the government of Libya for a huge unpaid debt on a construction project. Sandroni asks Mitch to have his daughter, Giovanna, assist in the case. Giovanna is an associate at the London office of Scully & Pershing. This is the start of an international plot of worldwide intrigue and perhaps even danger to Mitch's family.

This is another action-packed, globe-trotting legal thriller for Grisham. It is best to approach The Exchange as a stand-alone novel that simply shares characters from a previous novel rather than feel disappointed that the connection to the The Firm isn't stronger. It is a compelling, suspenseful novel that will hold your attention throughout if you don't set your expectations to a repeat of any previous works. There are only a few courtroom scenes as most of the novel consists of negotiations and travel.

Both Mitch and Abby are fully realized, sympathetic characters. They share the narrative with a lot of other secondary characters, who were all as developed as they needed to be. Honestly, the pleasure of reading The Exchange is in the drama, the negotiations, and international intrigue. The ending leaves room open for another sequel.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Knopf Doubleday via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Edelweiss, Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

Like many readers, I’ve wondered if John Grisham would revisit Mitch McDeere at some point. This is a great thriller but it lacks a bit on the legal thriller side and fans of The Firm may feel it didn't adequately deliver as a follow-up to Mitch's storyline.

Setting and Context

The events take place about fifteen years after the events of The Firm. Mitch McDeere is 41 years-old, still married to his wife Abby McDeere, and they have two sons. Abby and Mitch live in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at Scully & Pershing and Abby is a cookbook editor.

Plot

Mitch and Abby finally have the life they could have had if Mitch hadn’t accepted the offer in Memphis. Mitch is at one of the high-paying, high-profile law firms in New York City, he’s a partner, and he works on cases for their wealthy global clients in addition to a few pro-bono cases each year.

Mitch is tired of the pro-bono work, where he has taken on (and lost) a series of death row cases. He agrees to help out with a lawsuit for Luca Sandroni, a partner at his firm out of the Rome office who’s dying from pancreatic cancer.

The client is a Turkish construction company that is suing the government of Libya for an unpaid debt of $400 million. At Luca’s request, Mitch takes the case and agrees to let Luca’s daughter Giovanna—an associate at the London branch of their firm—come with to assist. When on their travels to see the bridge that is at the center of the lawsuit, Mitch comes down with severe food poisoning and Giovanna goes to the site without him.

While on her outing, the drivers and guards protecting her are murdered and Giovanna is kidnapped. In the wake of this horrible event, a mysterious woman contacts Abby with explicit instructions that the price to return Giovanna alive is $100 million. As videos of violent murders populate the news and the media becomes aware of the beautiful, young attorney who was taken, the pressure is on to figure out how to get her back.

Amidst the struggles navigating foreign governments, the firm’s insurance policy, and raising the money to secure her return, Mitch can’t help but wonder who is really behind the crime and whether their efforts will be enough to save her. Did Mitch’s past come back to haunt him?

Review

This is a gripping story and a reminder why John Grisham is a perpetual best-seller when his books come out each fall. The Exchange leans much more into a crime thriller than legal thriller (though some legal commentary is included throughout). You won’t find a courtroom or even an extensive legal narrative throughout the book.

This book could have featured any lead, though Grisham chose to make this Mitch McDeere’s story. I enjoyed the book a lot, though it felt more inspired by Tom Cruise the actor than Mitch McDeere the character. Fast-paced and engaging, this book delivers a great plot but may disappoint readers who were looking for a stronger tie to the Mitch McDeere we fell in love with. The Mob never forgets, right? But so far, they have left Mitch alone.

Read as a standalone Mitch McDeere book rather than a sequel, it’s a thrilling premise and I was engaged in the plot the whole way through. The beginning included some great scenes where we learn some about what happened to Mitch and others following the events of The Firm. There’s a fun little twist later in the book that also pulls together those events.

The audiobook is outstanding. The narrator Edoardo Ballerini lends an easy tone, the right inflections, and handled the variety of accents with ease.

I did see an interview with John Grisham where he acknowledged the Mob is still out there and perhaps that could still be explored. A third Mitch McDeere book, perhaps?? All is forgiven if you deliver that, Mr. Grisham!

Special thanks to NetGalley and the author for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: October 17, 2023
“The Exchange” is John Grisham’s latest legal thriller, set fifteen years after “The Firm”, featuring the same protagonists, Mitch and Abby McDeere. Now, Mitch and Abby have started a new life with their twin boys, after escaping the mob and the catastrophic destruction of Mitch’s former Memphis law firm. Mitch is a successful attorney at one of the largest firms in the world and Abby is a cookbook editor and it isn’t until Mitch gets a call from a colleague in Rome, asking for a favour, that their protected world is once again thrown into chaos.
It has been many years since I read “The Firm”, so it wasn’t fresh in my mind. I vaguely remember the main characters, and the high points of the plot, but I don’t have enough recollection to speak to how much of a sequel this book actually is. Needless to say, I was able to enjoy this novel without having to have “The Firm” fresh in my mind.
This novel takes place all over the world; from Mitch and Abby’s home in New York, to Rome, Morrocco and Libya, so it definitely offers its fair share of exotic locales. Mitch works with his law firm to save Giovanna, a young up-and-coming lawyer who has been taken captive in Libya, and there’s a fair amount of tension and suspense. Of course, there’s a legal case at its core, so those looking for Grisham’s traditional legal storylines won’t be disappointed, but this time it’s an international case, which leads to Mitch’s ever-increasing frequent flyer miles.
I like the relationship between Mitch and Abby, and I became more engaged with this novel as it went on. I’m a sucker for non-traditional settings, and Libya and Morrocco are about as non-traditional as you can get. The ending played out the way I hoped it would and it was conclusive enough that readers won’t be left hanging for another fifteen years.
Grisham is a writing legend for a reason, and “The Exchange” is creative, sleek and modern. Whether it can be exclusively called a ‘sequel’ is up for debate, but it can definitely be read as a stand-alone, so readers can jump into this one without having to re-read “The Firm”.

John Grisham is an excellent storyteller and his latest book “The Exchange” is no exception. We once again meet up with Mitch and Abby McDeere in New York City. The Exchange takes us to Italy, England, Libya, Turkey and Grand Cayman as Mitch fights against time to save a legal associate. Quick and easy read I couldn’t put down.

I highly recommend this book!

Mitch McDeere is a partner in NY law firm Scully & Perishing, the largest firm in the world. As their high profile specialist he & his wife Abby have travelled the globe. Giovanna, a young lawyer is kidnapped while on assignment with Mitch. Her fate in captivity hinges on Mitch's ability to gather the $100Million ransom. Abby is dragged into delivery of the ransom making it extra personal to Mitch.

High tension suspense, thriller, action only John Grisham can make look easy to create made this a must read now experience.

The Firm is one of my favorite Grisham novels, and so, I was thrilled to see that we were once again entering the world of Mitch McDeere. In The Exchange, it's been fifteen years since we last saw Mitch and Abby, and they're now living in New York and working for a large, global law firm.

Many of Grisham's recent novels have leaned away from the legal thriller elements he was initially so well known for. So, I was curious to see where The Exchange (a sequel to one of his most famous legal thrillers) would take us. I felt momentarily concerned in the opening few chapters, as the plot felt very similar to past work. However, the book then took a massive detour, and instead of a death row case, Mitch spends the rest of 350 pages bouncing around between Libya, Rome, England, and the States to help release a kidnapped lawyer.

While there's no real courtroom drama within this story, I loved how Grisham once again set the story within an impressively large law firm (which feels reminiscent of his early work), yet, managed to give us a brand new type of story.

When Mitch's co-worker is kidnapped, Mitch takes it upon himself to help collect the necessary payment for the ransom demand. The writing is typical Grisham, and while I wouldn't classify this book as "fast-paced" as a long-time fan of the author, I thoroughly enjoyed being immersed in this world again.

Grisham will always be an auto-buy author for me, and this book didn't disappoint.

Thanks to the publisher for this gifted e-copy.

The Exchange is a sequel to John Grisham’s The Firm. I found the first quarter of the book was too much information unrelated to the premise of the story.
This book is 15 years after Mitch and Abby stole away in the night from Memphis, Tennessee and the Bendini law/crime firm. Mitch is now a partner with the Scully International law firm. He is sent to Europe & into a legal battle representing a construction firm wanting payment from Libya‘s Gaddafi following completion of a bridge.
The story gets going when Mitch’s good friend & associate Luca’s daughter, Giovanna together with a number of their security personnel are kidnapped.
There are failed rescue attempts with all but Giovanna being killed. Giovanna is to be exchanged for the ransom.
I kept waiting for a twist or suspense right up to the end but it never evolved. Majority of the story has Mitch traveling back-and-forth between cities, sitting in restaurants, meeting with political officials trying to come up with the ransom money.
I found the story to be very dry and totally lacking any suspense. The ending was disappointing and anti-climatic. While I really enjoyed Grisham’s The Firm, sadly the same cannot be said about this book.
My thanks to Netgallery and Double-Day publishing firm for an advanced copy of this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read this book, in exchange for an honest review. This follows up on the life of Mitch and Abby, who barely survived the book, 'The Firm'. Mitch is sent overseas to handle and huge contract and gets involved in a kidnapping for ransom. This was kind of long winded to me, alot of detail we didn't need in the story. It's a good plot, and I love John Grisham legal thrillers, however this wasn't a court room battle as I had hoped. I will, however, continue to read his books.

Grisham is back with another legal thriller that marks the return of Mitch McDeere the hero of the book The Firm. (I will forever see Tom Cruise as Mitch!) I loved the book and movie, so was so happy to receive a copy of this.
(Swipe for synopsis)
.
.
I found this read like a movie script and certainly it was a treat to be in Mitch and Abby’s world again. I liked that the first bit of the novel is a “catch up” into what they have been up to in the 15 years since leaving Memphis, and the Bendini, Lambert and Locke Law Firm. Now he is with Scully and Pershing living in Manhattan. Once again Mitch has to stay one step ahead of impending chaos and potential harm to his colleagues, family and friends. As is typical for Grisham there is a big cast of characters to keep track of which I didn’t necessarily struggle with. Less courtroom drama in this novel, and more worldwide travel made this exciting. (Libya, Italy, London, Cayman Islands)
Would love to see this made into a movie. (Of course it has to be with Tom Cruise?)
4/5