The book takes place in 2005. Write that at the darn beginning of the novel…I was deep in Ghaddafi googling to figure that out,
!!!!



QUICK REVIEW AS I READ A FRIEND/CO-WORKER'S COPY AND WROTE MY REVIEW THE MOMENT I WAS APPROVED!!


Synopsis (From Netgalley, the provider of the book to review)
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#1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham delivers high-flying international suspense in a stunning new legal thriller that marks the return of Mitch McDeere, the brilliant hero of The Firm.

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 in The Exchange, the riveting sequel to The Firm, the blockbuster thriller that launched the career of America’s favourite 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 far from home, Mitch finds himself at the center of a sinister plot that has worldwide implications—and once again endangers his colleagues, friends, and family. Mitch has become a master at staying one step ahead of his adversaries, but this time there’s nowhere to hide.

I recently re-read The Firm as I remembered that it was a different ending than the movie, and it did bring up some questions about where Mitch is in life right now. So, he stole $ 10 million, ticked off the FBI and a Mob family, sullied his name more than Mississippi Mud, fled the country and yet still managed to be a partner in one of the largest law firms in the world? Wow.

The story revolves around Libya, a kidnapping, and a lot of disbelief on my behalf about the realities of the plot: it is not a bad book, but it is not a great book. The Firm, was, in my opinion, one of the best legal thrillers ever written but this sequel is tepid at most. It's not a bad book, just a weird sequel unless you suspend your belief in how the world actually works. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

#shortbutsweetreviews

This book was intriguing with an international kidnapping plot that kept you wanting to continue reading, so I did until it was finished, and ending up wanting more with the characters that were developed.

Fast-paced thrill ride that is typical Grisham. Hold on to your hat - this is a good one!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this Arc in exchange for an honest review.

15 years ago, Mitch and his wife went into hiding when the corrupt legal firm connected to the mob was exposed and all the lawyers were going to jail. Now he and his family are back in the states living in Manhattan and he is a partner at the largest law firm in the world. The daughter of a friend and lawyer in Italy has been kidnapped by terrorists and a ransom of $100,000,000 is to be paid or she will die. Mitch has been selected to bring her safely back to her father.
This is a legal thriller that is more real than we want to know.

So nice to see the McDeere family again, after 15 years since The Firm. I loved that I was able to see these two characters who we fell in love with when they were poor, fresh-faced 20 somethings and now are adults living a very different lifestyle. This book can be read as a stand alone, but it definitely is one that will give you all the nostalgia if you did read (or watch) The Firm forever ago. I liked the story and the pace, but the ending felt a little bit rushed to me. Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

John Grisham revisits The Firm, his blockbuster legal thriller after 15 years. The sequel again features Mitch McDeere and his wife Abby. Living in NYC with their two sons, the McDeere's are very successful. Abby owns a cookbook business, and Mitch is a partner in the world's largest and wealthiest law firm. While handling a major lawsuit in Libya, Mitch is hospitalized with food poisoning. His associate takes his place and is brutally kidnapped along with the security team. Mitch and Abby somehow end up facilitating the exchange of the ransom and victim. This entails many meetings with lawyers, reviewing the status of the case and trying to come up with millions of dollars. We know how many meetings with lawyers go. It is pretty clear that the very nature of the meetings was repetitive, dull, and very difficult to translate to a legal thriller. I also wasn't clear at the end of the book, how and why the kidnapping happened, and who actually committed the kidnapping and its aftermath. My biggest disappointment was the character of Mitch. He seemed not as flushed out and a bit of a cliche, difficult to like. I am appreciative for the opportunity to read The Exchange and thank Netgalley and publishers for the ARC.

I remember when I read The Firm and how it elevated my love for reading. What a rollercoaster ride and I had finished it in a day. I was excited to learn that Mitch McDeere would continue with his story, but 15 years later. While the author fills in the blanks as to what happened to the characters of the law firm, the pivot to another thrilling story didn't quite measure up.

Mitch is now a partner in one of the largest law firms and he and Abby are raising two twin sons in New York. They have a good life and feel like their past is far, far away. Mitch has been asked to partner with one of their managing partners, Luca, in Rome on a case that involves a major contractor in Turkey and a bridge they built in Libya. Luca has just learned he is sick and asks Mitch to take over. He explains the case and also asks him if he would allow his daughter, Giovanna, an associate with the same firm in their London office, to work with him. Mitch knows she is a smart attorney and is fine with the arrangement. The two make a decision to meet in Libya so they can see the bridge up close before they decide on a strategy to win the case. Events take a turn for the worse as Mitch is not able to join her and she decides to go with the assigned security. Her life is in danger and it is up to Mitch to find a way to save her.

The story has a few layers as there are scenes that are uncomfortable. You heart rate is elevated as you understand the danger she is in. Mitch is also meeting with many high-level people from different countries to try to help her and the "politics" attached to it. He also learns how spineless the character of some of his peers when they are tested. This discovery was a reminder of who Mitch was from the first novel and why we loved his character.

I love a Grisham novel and the pace of this story did not disappoint. There were some parts of the story that were difficult to read. My only complaint was that I wished for one more chapter or even an Epilogue to tie upp some loose ends with a couple of characters.

Mitch McDeere is back. Its been 15 years since we have seen him running away from Memphis and hiding and he is now a partner in a big law firm in New York.
With a few obligatory nods to The Firm, such as meeting Lamar, the Grand Caymans and mentioning the Bendini firm a number of times, this book stands separate from The Firm.
I felt like this was a different Mitch and Abby McDeere as well. Originally they are poor students, trying to make money, living larger than their paychecks and trying to get out from a mountain of student loans and debt.
This version has both gainfully employed, living in Manhattan, using private jets, traveling the world without a thought to the cost. It felt almost too different. Sure it is good they are successful, but it feels wrong.
The story in The Exchange is gripping. Who doesn't like a kidnap for ransom story? It felt like it dragged along in a couple of spots, with the characters seemingly spending most of the book trying to come up with enough for the ransom.
Good characters, exciting settings for the story keep you reading.
I wanted more in the ending. It was over a little too soon and too anticlimactic. Grisham used to have compelling and exciting endings, often with a twist that you didn't see. And not always the ending you wanted, or hoped for. This was always moving towards the ending you expect. While not always a bad thing, I expected more.

I have read many Grishams, this was good. A few loose ends, but exciting from beginning to end. Recommended as an enjoyable fast paced lawyer story. It is set completely outside of a courtroom during Gaddafi’s reign so pre 2011.

Exciting from the start. I suspected several people who orchestrated the kidnapping and continued to guess. It was one roller coaster ride from one side of the continent to the other. Mitch and Abby were an awesome dual. In true Grisham style, this book did not disappoint!

Take an international joy ride with our beloved Mitch and Abby from The Firm, part 1 of this series. I had just re-watched Tom Cruise in the movie version of The Firm when I received the book for part 2: The Exchange. I could not help but imagine Cruise as Mitch while I read this fun and nostalgic story.. John Grisham does not disappoint and throws a few dispicable characters and unexpected incidents into the mix. Although Mitch is the only one who can make the exchange happen, you will once again find Abby right in the middle of it. Be sure to get on the pre-order list now! In the mean time reread The Firm and rewatch the movie! Thank you Netgalley and Doubleday for the ARC in exchange for this review.

This is a great follow-up to the Firm and I enjoyed that it's been updated to reflect the current times. Fans of the original book will love this one!

The Exchange: After the Firm was a slog for me. I was so excited to be granted an e-galley of this book, both as a Grisham fan in general and as someone who loved the Firm. A sequel to Mitch and Abby’s story? Yes please! However, it really was not what I expected. While Mitch and Abby were characters in this book, it was not really about their story. However, it starts out seeming like it will be. We get to see where they are with their lives and how well they are doing, and then watch as Mitch gets pulled into a death row case and is brought back to Tennessee, to do some digging for this case. In a blink o an eye, everything completely shifts. Almost as if the first part of the book was a separate novella and a new novella starts. The new novella is looking like it will be centered around a huge case about money that is owed on a bridge that was commissioned in the middle of the desert in Libya. In short order, this novella shifts to being about a kidnapping of another lawyer, and Mitch becoming the point person to raise the ransom that the kidnappers demand. No longer are we looking at a legal thriller, which is what I thought I was going to be reading, we now are in some kind of spy or international intrigue novel, that just wasn’t super interesting to this reader.

For me, it was actually hard to finish this novel. Which makes this reader super sad, as I was looking so forward to jumping into this book. Not a slam dunk for me, but I am sure some other Grisham fan's or fans of the spy novel, will be happy with it.

Thanks to Netgalley, John Grisham and Doubleday Books for the advanced e-galley in exchange for my honest review.

"Ordinary" man and wife become agents for the security firm of the law office of which the husband is a partner when a fellow lawyer ends up in dire straits in Gaddafi's Libya (pre-2011 assassination). Some interesting, unpredictable twists and turns along the way. and the back story for the primary protagonist is compelling. Great depiction of successful, "long-term" (15 year) marriage and positive female role models. Action puts the reader in the setting. Description of what happens to people in solitary confinement, and specifically the Gibbons law case, add to the apprehension. Good read, a little gruesome.

Once again, Grisham has written an exciting book that is impossible to put down.
His story is fast-paced, exciting and gripping. Yet, as a run-up to "The Firm," I would have found this story even more appealing if I had prior knowledge of what had happened in that story. As a standalone, the book was not as powerful as it might have been..
Yet, who can resist a Grisham novel? Not me--

Mitch McDeere and his wife Abby, once on the run from the Mob and a company of corrupt lawyers, have lived a safe and profitable life in New York, working for a successful legal corporation in recent years. The family has grown with the addition of twin sons. Called on to represent a construction company, hired to build a bridge in Libya and now suing President Quaddafi for payment and convinced that it is a straightforward assignment which he will share with a London-based lawyer from his firm, he agrees to go. When Giovanna, his partner, is kidnapped by a brutal gang of terrorists, the ransom is exorbitant and he must work with representatives of Italy, England, Libya and the U.S. to find the money to rescue her as horrific films of assassinations of her guards and attempted rescuers are flashed on the Internet. Will world leaders and the corporate world have compassion for one lawyer? Or will they think only of the tremendous loss of money trying to save her? John Grisham takes a cold-blooded, calculating plot and humanizes it by sharing the involvement of Mitch’s wife and children in the situation when we see how much this unknown group knows about the past history of this man and how far-spread its evil power spreads. I wonder if a sequel is in the works.

I love John Grisham books and “The Exchange” did not disappoint ! A fast paced, sit on the edge of your seat, holding your breath read!

I love Grisham's legal thrillers and; his character-driven novels. Since this book is billed as a sequel to The Firm, I was expecting another legal thriller. Not so. This book is more like an international crime drama--not my favorite type of read--but Grisham does a good job switching genres.

It's 2005 and fifteen years after Mitch McDeere and his wife Abby fled Memphis after exposing the corrupt practices of the Bendini law firm. They are now in New York where Mitch is a partner in the largest legal firm in the world and Abby is a cookbook editor; they now have twin boys, When Mitch's former mentor in Rome, Luca Sandroni, is diagnosed with cancer, he asks Mitch to take over a high profile case against Libya and dictator Muammar Gaddafi. During a supposedly safe trip to Libya, things go horribly wrong and suddenly Mitch, his family, and colleagues are in danger. Mitch once again teams up with Abby to try and outwit his adversaries.

First off, it is not necessary to have read The Firm to enjoy this book--Grisham does a good job of summing up the events from that book so feel free to jump right in. I liked the character updates and seeing that Mitch and Abby had flourished after their Memphis misadventures. I did think the book was a little slow getting to the main plot but once it got there, things picked up and the action was breakneck. In typical Grisham style, the plot was intricate with many moving parts and characters. Overall, I think this is a good book but as I said, this is not one of my favorite genres, and saying it is a sequel to The Firm is a bit misleading: it's not another legal thriller.

Thank you, NetGalley and Doubleday for an advance copy to review in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. The publication date is October 17, 2023.

I was lucky enough to grab this to read when it was made available to the first 200 readers. I had been planing on rereading The Firm before this one came out but i needn’t have worried. Other than the reintroduction of the main characters and refreshing my mind about the storyline this is a stand alone book. I really enjoyed it. I had a moments doubt about how he got away with stealing all that money and how nobody was still looking for him. But.It's a book. Stranger things have happened. Definitely recommend.

Wow, what an adventure. This book kept me on edge and at times I was holding my breath. It was so cool to catch up with Mitch and Abby. So good!