Well, I loved The Firm. And it turns out it's been too long since I read it! Some folks won't be bothered by not remembering the details from the first book, but I am not one of them. I would have enjoyed this one more had I reread The Firm. Either way, it's a stronger book than this, but revisiting these characters was fun. 3.5 stars

This story is the continuation of the lives of Mitch and Abby McDeere who were the main characters in The Firm. However, this book can easily stand on its own, if you are not familiar with the first book.

Mitch & Abby live in Manhattan with their twin sons. Abby helps publish cook books, and Mitch is a partner at a huge global law firm. Mitch is tapped to lead a significant lawsuit case and he finds himself in a dangerous part of the world where safety was not a guarantee. This book is fast paced and intense as Mitch, his colleagues, and his family find themselves being watched closely and needing to act quickly to meet specific demands before someone loses their life.

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for this free digital copy for my honest review of this story.

Grishom is one of my favorite authors and he does legal thrillers exceptionally well but this is not one of them. This will sell a million copies because of his reputation not because of the story.

As a sequel the first four chapters talk about what Mitch and Abby’s life was like after they fled the Chicago MOB and the FBI in the novel, The Firm. The next chapter Mitch goes back to Tennessee for a pro-bono case for a one day trip that adds nothing to the sequelesence of this story and does nothing to move the story forward.

The story that follows is the actual plot of this story and it didn’t really make a lot of sense to me. A Turkish construction company is hired by Libya to build a bridge in the Sahara desert for $410 million. Libya doesn’t pay their bill so the construction company hires Mitch’s current law firm to sue Libya to get their money for them. An associate, Giovanna, working with Mitch, the head partner’s daughter is kidnapped as Mitch and the girl go to see the bridge.

Abby is used as the middle-person and given the ransom notice after being followed walking her kids to school and stopping in a coffee shop on her way in to work one morning. The ransom is for $100 million. Not only does this amount seem very outlandish but the kidnappers are unknown until videos begin to appear of the beheadings of 4 bodyguards that were with Giovanna.

Things that didn’t make sense to me were: why was Giovanna kidnapped, the unheard of $100 million ransom, why the British, Italian government and law firm partners would be expected to assist paying the ransom. If Abby was followed and “they” knew where her kids went to school, where she stopped for coffee every morning, who she spoke with, etc. why wouldn’t they know where Mitch and Abby’s kids were being hidden, Libyans make two attempts to locate and free Giovanna when they have no idea who has her or where they are holding her causing several other people’s brutal deaths in the attempts.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. We revisit Mitch and Abby. Mitch thinks he is done with death penalty cases and finished with difficult cases. He was so wrong. This story takes us all over the world in one wild ride. Unputdownable!!

Readers hoping for a high-quality sequel to John Grisham’s thriller, “The Firm,” may be disappointed. I found “The Exchange,” neither enlightening nor entertaining nor well-written.

The time is 2005. The place is Manhattan. Some fifteen years have passed since the events of “The Firm.” Mitch and Abby McDeere live on the Upper West Side. He’s a partner in the world’s largest law firm and does pro bono work on death penalty cases (which he doesn’t do in this story). She’s a cookbook editor. Their twin youngsters attend private school.

The novel’s first quarter catches readers up on what happened to Mitch and Abby after escaping from Memphis, the Mafia, and its captive Bendini firm some 15 years ago. It includes Mitch’s brief return to Memphis to investigate a death penalty case (that goes nowhere) and to meet with a former friend/colleague from the firm (who doesn’t want to reestablish their friendship). That first quarter has very little to do with the rest of the story. It struck me as a “back-story” dump designed to reacquaint us with Mitch and demonstrate what a good guy he’s become.

The remainder of the novel pits Mitch, Abby, and the mega-firm against: 1) Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan government to recover for a Turkish client some $500 million for a bridge it built; and 2) North African terrorists who kidnapped a young associate—the daughter of a dying senior partner—while inspecting the bridge and who want a $100 million ransom. Mitch deals with numerous businessmen, lawyers, security experts, and government officials as he navigates raising the ransom money and the logistics of the exchange. He and/or Abby “private-jet” to a number of exotic locations, including Rome, London Libya, Morocco, Maine, and the Cayman Islands.

“The Firm” was a thrill ride. It placed young Mitch—a very bright, hard-working, and engaging attorney facing a number of moral conundrums—and his compelling wife Abby at maximum risk. I remember eagerly turning pages as Mitch used his legal skills and cleverness to fashion a very elegant solution that avoided death at the hands of the Mafia and imprisonment by the US Government. The novel was filled with danger and conflict.

None of that cleverness, elegance, or excitement is present in “The Exchange.” It’s filled with thinly drawn characters. Mitch is charmless, self-righteous, easily annoyed, and contemptuous of anyone who doesn’t see things his way. The rest of the characters are “game pieces” to be moved around a board. There’s nothing about any of them that invites us to care what happens to them. We never do get to know much about the young associate who’s kidnapped, except that she’s brilliant and beautiful. Throughout the novel, she hardly speaks. That makes caring about what happens to her a challenge. And while the settings may be exotic, they’re not well described. I learned nothing about any of them that I did not already know. And I never came close to feeling like I was in the midst of the story.

The writing is very expository. We’re told what happens. But there’s little in the telling to involve or engage us. In many instances, what happens is tedious and humdrum—no more than a recitation of everyday actions (as mundane as: Mitch and Abby woke up and got out of bed. He took a shower. She made the kids eggs. Mitch came to the kitchen, hugged both twins, put on his raincoat, went out the front door and down the elevator, walked to the subway, and rode it to work.) Many scenes seemed pointless. Time after time, I found myself asking: Why did I just read that? Does it have anything to do with the story? Or is it just there to fill pages?

There is some adventure and suspense toward the end of the novel (about 85% of the way through, according to my Kindle.) But readers will have to go through a lot, including some moralistic lawyer-bashing, to get there. And the ending that follows is pretty ambiguous and not very satisfying.

I was so looking forward to this novel. I really wanted to like it. I just couldn’t. Which is why it’s getting only two stars.

My thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for providing me with an electronic ARC. The foregoing is my independent opinion.

I have enjoyed John Grisham's books for years. I felt honored to be accepted to review and given an advanced reader's copy of his newest book which is a follow-up to The Firm. I received the book from Doubleday from NetGalley and this is my own unsolicited opinion.
It was interesting to get a background story on Mitch and Abby McBride which covers fifteen years since their narrow and dramatic escape from the mob and criminal element of his former law office. Now, with a partnership in a world-wide law firm, a very comfortable apartment in NYC, and pricey private school for their twin boys, Mitch is asked to help retrieve a sizeable payment for a firm that was contracted to build a massive bridge in Libya. Seems simple enough.
Life once again turns upside down. Mitch is thrown into a fight for the life of an Italian partner's kidnapped daughter who is also a member of the firm. There is danger, intrigue, murder and international involvement. All interesting, at times tense and I felt for the ill father and his daughter. I have to admit to one disappointment. I kept waiting for 'a shoe to drop,' the connection to Mitch's past. I expected an in my face shocker but that didn't happen. I don't want to give anything away. It is a good story and I like it. It just wasn't what I expected.
It will be interesting to see if Mitch could be brought back for another book with his own firm.

Thank you, NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the copy of The Exchange by John Grisham. The book started out really well, then the 'action' started and the book bogged down. I really liked Abby's involvement and wish it could have been more about her instead of the endless pages of Mitch doing negotiations that introduced characters who didn’t appear again. Things picked up about 50% through and I really got involved. I guess I never understood exactly what the story's point was because so much was happening. It wasn’t a legal thriller and there was no real mystery, so I'm stumped about what I actually read. Luckily, there were some flashes of the old Grisham writing style, but not enough to let me love the book.

John Grisham is my favorite author for legal thrillers. His books never fail to keep my eyes glued to the pages as the drama unfolds. Many ethical and moral dilemmas are always brought forth with different character interpretations of what is right. This one involved international intrigue with law firms in several countries and lots of flying back and forth from country to country with negotiations happening everywhere it seemed.

Description:
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 favorite storyteller. It is now fifteen years later, and Mitch and Abby are living in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at the largest law firm in the world. When a mentor in Rome asks him for a favor that will take him 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.

My Thoughts:
This book has a lot of characters and a lot of details to keep track of what is going on. Not a problem as everything is front and center and about as dramatic and traumatic as it could be. The characters are vivid and come alive on the page. Mitch is once again in the center of a hurricane trying to hold everything together. There were definitely some things that were hard to believe - like how did Mitch get a license to practice law again? Why in the world was Abby picked as the go between by the kidnappers? You just have to suspend belief and go with the story. It was an engrossing read and I enjoyed it. I liked The Firm more though.

Thanks to Doubleday Books through Netgalley for an advance copy. This book will be published on October 17, 2023.

The Exchange is billed as a sequel to The Firm. It takes place 15 years later and yes, it has the same two main characters. But it’s hardly a sequel. The first 15% of the book does take Mitch back to Tennessee, but it’s literally a day visit. The real story starts when Mitch is sent by the international NY law firm where he’s now a partner to Europe to help with a lawsuit against Gaddafi and Libya over a construction project.
The action starts when Mitch’s associate (and the daughter of one of their senior partners), is kidnapped in Libya. It takes a while before a ransom demand is made. But action is a bit of a misnomer. Yes, there are ugly murders and failed raids by the Libyans. But, there were more meetings than I could count. Mitch spends a lot of time going from city to city but I didn’t need to hear about air travel and lunches. The main action seems to be begging various entities for money to pay the ransom. The suspense comes with Grisham repeatedly saying how many days were left until the deadline. It took me a while to realize the writing was part of the problem. It was just dry.
None of the characters were really fleshed out, even Mitch and Abby. This was a great premise - trying to convince all these entities, from countries to the partners of the law firm to cough up huge dollars to rescue someone. But the execution just fell flat. Parts of the plot made absolutely no sense. And the ending was anticlimactic.
My thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday for an advance copy of this book.

Many readers will love this sequel to one of John Grisham's most successful early books, The Firm. In The Exchange, we catch up with Mitch McDeere, now a successful law firm partner in New York, and Abby and he have twin sons. When a fellow law associate is kidnapped by terrorists in Libya, Mitch is called upon to help raise the ransom money and rescue her. Lots of action, which is balanced by Mitch's interesting reflections on life and values. I look forward to recommending this title -- Grisham fans will love it, and it makes a great intro to his work for those who are unfamiliar. It is definitely not necessary to have read The Firm or seen the movie. The Exchange stands alone.

I think this is going to make one heck of a movie, since I was practically sitting on the edge of my chair as I quickly read through this.
It has all the requisite parts of a Grisham novel and I don't think any of his usual fans will fail to enjoy it, but it isn't one of his best. It's almost like and add-on that was written for the sake of being an add-on. Which it kind of was. And that's okay, too.

Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. I admit I could not put it down.

I love Mitch and Abby’s adventurers! The book had a lot of high points then it seemed to level out and just when I was getting bored it steam rolled again. I loved how much a part Abby played. Good ending yet I feel it was sort of hanging there and we might get more later. Hopeful!

It’s great to have Mitch and Abby back, it makes me think of Cruise and Tripplehorn in the movie. I really liked the international setting, and as usual Grisham has the characters answering our technical questions, like details about hostage taking.
The book has a few too many boring details but overall I enjoyed it, 4 stars.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed as in this review are completely my own.

What happened to John Grisham? He used to write a tight thriller, and that’s what The Exchange could have been as Mitch McDeere star of Grisham’s bestseller The Firm spearheads efforts to negotiate the release of a kidnapped law associate from Libyan terrorists. All the elements of a suspenseful political thriller were in place and Grisham dropped the ball.
Instead of on-the-scene danger, violence and suspense we are behind the scenes, sitting in on strategy sessions, flying from one international meeting to another and failing to achieve the satisfaction that readers who invested the time in a full length book expect and deserve.
Would I recommend this? My answer is a definitive and unequivocal no.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of The Exchange by John Grisham. All opinons are my own. Well darn it. I had really high hopes for this latest book from John Grisham. His early novels were truly favorites of mine for the character development and the pacing. Sadly, The Exchange, lacks both of these. The premise is that we are years past the ending from The Firm and Mitch and Abby are now living in NYC and Mitch is a lawyer again. Huh? You are allowed to do that after stealing $10 million dollars. Well suspend disbelief and keep reading. There is a section that caught my interest where Mitch was going to be a part of a pro bono case back in Tennesee but that strangely went nowhere. Then the rest of the novel is Mitch, Abby, and Mitch's law firm trying to cobble together ransom money to save an associate who was kidnapped in Libya. The ending is unsatisfying, the pacing is so slow, and way too many characters. I am really bummed.

I LOVED The Firm, and have read it a couple of times and the seen the movie numerous times! I was excited to find out what happened to Mitch McDeere after his escape from the Bendini Firm. So, I'm thankful that Grisham filled us in with this sequel.

Mitch and Abby have a happy life in NYC with their twin sons. Mitch gets the opportunity to do some pro-bono work in Memphis, and he meets up with a bitter, old colleague there. The work doesn't pan out (not sure why this was included) and Mitch then takes on an incredibly exciting job working on a case with a bridge builder in Libya.

A kidnapping occurs, and Mitch and his wife Abby scramble to find the impossible ransom. Their lives are put in danger, and they running against the clock.

The Exchange is easy and fun to read, but there are A LOT of characters in numerous countries, and it got a tad confusing. It's an exciting story, but I found it to be predictable. I was really hoping for a strong "punch" at the end, and though I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, I finished it wanting a little more of a twist or something.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read and review The Exchange.

Mitch McDeere is back! After riding off into the sunset-- albeit a very dangerous and unpleasant sunset-- in "The Firm," Mitch and Abby are back in "The Exchange." Mitch works in New York City at the biggest lawfirm in the world and Abby is an editor for a food magazine. They have two little boys. Mitch is making the Big Bucks.

Then Mitch is assigned to a case involving a newly built bridge that Libya doesn't want to pay for. To me, this sounded like the equivalent of the teenager in the horror movie who decides to go down into the basement. "I'll be fine," they say.

The action amps up as Mitch first goes to Rome to begin working on the bridge case. It's suggested that it might be a good idea for Mitch and his team to see this bridge in person. Characters are told that Libya is pretty safe, plus you'll have security staff who know the road and the people. The pages practically turn themselves as the body count grows. Although they may suspect to the contrary, characters keep putting themselves in deadly peril.

"The Exchange" is extremely exciting. I read it in about 24 hours. If you enjoyed "The Firm," you'll want to catch up with Mitch and Abby. I've enjoyed all of John Grisham's books and "The Exchange" was no exception.

I received an Advance Reader's Copy from NetGalley and am writing an honest review.

I adored the novel The Firm and was delighted to see that Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Gene Hackman, along with a wonderful ensemble cast, who brought about a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat thriller, faithfully adapted the book into the 1993 film. I leaped at the chance to review this book when it was offered.

On the southern edge of Manhattan, Mitch McDeere and his wife Abby reside with their two young children. Mitch worked at Scully & Pershing, which saw itself as the best global investment firm. A minimum of 10% of every lawyer's time must be devoted to causes that Willie Backstrom has endorsed. At the time, Mitch volunteered at a Bronx homeless shelter for four hours every week.

Scully & Pershing have a few offices abroad, so Mitch was used to traveling internationally ever since he worked for them. The previous evening, Mitch was left alone, after meetings in the Libya office, things became problematic when they should have been simple. Mitch soon learns, in Libya, you trust no one. He finds himself involved in a diabolical scheme that puts the lives of Mitch, his family, and everyone he knows in danger. This time, the terrorists had the upper hand. Not like in Memphis, when he was able to stay one step ahead of the unscrupulous partners. Which the author does a superb job of quickly referencing people and events from The Firm throughout the novel.

It’s interesting how the story unravels. Technology had advanced in the fifteen years since he had been watched by the firm in Memphis. It’s unthinkable, Mitch and his family were once again under constant surveillance. This time, it’s by a terrorist organization. To protect family and the woman they threaten to kill, Mitch and his wife had to be calm. Mitch finds himself completely baffled, unsure of what to believe, and unclear of how to get out of this situation that is being played out on a global stage.

I enjoyed learning about Mitch, Abby and their kids and how they handle this life-threatening situation. The complex plot and the intriguing cast of characters made this a gripping international thriller that could be torn from today’s headlines. All through this horrific situation I admired Mitch and Abby’s high moral standards and their dedication to seeing justice done, I liked how Mitch learns the truth about his employer. It isn’t pretty. I couldn’t put this book down.

Surprisingly, I thought the author left things unresolved. Could he have left room for a third book in this amazing series? That would be fun! Maybe! This can be read alone, however reading The Firm beforehand will make it more interesting. This is an excellent book to read and would be perfect for a book group.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I requested and received a copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Nora St. Laurent
TBCN Where Book Fun Begins!
The Book Club Network blog https://psalm516.blogspot.com/

This sequel to The Firm is a thriller! Set 15 years after the time of The Firm, the early chapters are devoted to the 15-year time frame between the two books. Mitch McDeere is now a lawyer and partner in a mega sized international law firm, still married to Abby, with twin sons. When Mitch and a female associate travel to Libya on behalf of a client, they soon find themselves in grave jeopardy, which results in the kidnap of the associate. Mitch, Abby, and the firm find themselves in a frantic race against time, fraught with danger, to find the kidnapped associate. The plot twists throughout, and while there is very little courtroom drama, it is an exciting read that kept my attention throughout. While I had read The Firm long ago, the back story is well covered in this sequel, and it works well as a stand-alone. John Grisham has written a fitting novel to conclude the story of Mitch McDeere. I thoroughly enjoyed the book. Thank you to the author, publisher and Netgalley for my advanced copy of the book. The opinions of this review are my own.

This started a little slow filling in backstory from The Firm. Then it takes off with a law suit against Lybia over a bridge in the desert. Corrupt governments and terrorists are the catalysts for the McDeere's this time around. The tension builds in a race to come up with millions of dollars. There are references to The Firm but this could read as a stand alone without any trouble. Although The Firm is a five star read, this is pretty page turning follow up.

Copy provided by the publisher and NetGalley