John Grisham's novel, The Exchange After, left me underwhelmed as its characters failed to come to life, even the central figures, Mitch and Abby. Initially, the book held immense potential, exploring the intricate challenge of rallying nations and law firm partners to contribute substantial funds for a daring rescue mission. Regrettably, the execution of this captivating premise fell flat, leaving me yearning for more. Certain plot elements defied logic, leaving me perplexed, while the conclusion lacked the anticipated crescendo, ultimately leaving me unsatisfied.

We first met Mitch McDeere and his wife Abby in John Grisham's The Firm, the novel that launched him into superstar of thriller writer fame. Now, after 15 years initially on the run and then working his way into partnership in a leading law firm with a beautiful view from the 48th floor and an enviable life in Manhattan, Mitch finds himself embroiled in an international imbroglio, which seems to only be handled by jumping into private jets and staying in hotels like the Ritz or the Hassler. I get the opinion that Grisham has further plans for Mitch. No proof of that or teasers at the finale of this fast-paced, back to doing what he does best novel, just a gut reaction. Also, who knew Grisham was such an epicure? As much page space was devoted to fine meals (both consumed and laying ignored) as to the thriller at hand, and the fact that Abby has found life as a cookbook editor with a kitchen equipped for her authors to practice their scrumptious experiments on Mitch and his family. At times, the novel made me more hungrier than spine chilled.

Thank you to Netgalley and Doubleday for the advanced reading copy. I was excited to receive the e-book, as I have not read a John Grisham book in quite some time. Starting off nicely, I expected the usual legal intrigue; however, the story soon turned into a middle east hostage/terrorist situation for which Mitch McDeere had become involved and was ultimately put in charge. The details were interesting enough to keep my interest, although I would have expected more tense interactions and possibly even a twist. It was a good read that moved along nicely, but not a great one. Recommended.

2.5 stars. Many thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for the advanced readers copy in exchange for my honest review. Of course, thank you as well to John Grisham!

So now for the honest review. I was very excited for the sequel to The Firm, which was one of my favorite books of all time. I still remember buying it and staying up late to finish it and then a few years later rushing to the movie theater to see the film. I was intrigued at the beginning: death row and the potential of crooked cops, maybe drawing Mitch back to Tennessee? The visit to the former colleague who was in jail and now was out, is he involved somehow? When Mitch gets back to New York, he heads to Rome and then Libya and it’s like he first part of the book never happened. Ummm? It literally never comes up again.

Move onto the new story which was very not legal at all but now a kidnapping terrorist situation. I never really understood why Mitch seemed to be the point person for raising the ransom, He was not the CEO of the law firm nor any sort of hostage specialist nor any government bigwig. Just couldn’t figure out why he was the one seemingly in charge of this entire thing, At this point, I am still waiting for the first part of the book to be addressed somehow in this new situation. So, as a thriller, it was marginal, there are much better craftsman at this sort of thing. I didn’t see this as the sequel to Mitch and Abby’s story. I kept waiting for the magic of “The Firm” but it didn’t deliver that. I’m sure the book will be very
successful but for me it was not it.

4 stars --- This book is a true thriller and a sequel to The Firm, 15 or so years later. Mitch McDeere is involved [with his new NY Law Firm] in a kidnapping by terrorists seeking ransom money as Mitch flies all over the world trying to raise the huge sum of money needed to save the person kidnapped, an associate at his law firm.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me access to the book prior to official publication.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley.

This book features the same main character featured in the blockbuster book and movie, The Firm. The story takes place 15 years after Mitch McDeere escaped from his Memphis law firm in that book (which was actually published in 1991, 32 years ago). Mitch is now with a giant law firm and lives in New York City. He takes on an assignment to recover over $400 million for a construction company who built a bridge in Libya. Libya is refusing to pay. When Mitch leads a crew to visit the construction project, disaster strikes and lives are lost and a female lawyer is kidnapped. The abductors seek $100 million in ransom. Will anyone choose to pay the ransom and be able to raise that much money of they do?

While this book is highly readable, there is quite a bit of repetition and several chapters that are filler, having nothing to do with the main plot.

The conclusion is especially disappointing. It is the opposite of a twist - it ends exactly as one would expect. And the reader never finds out many things: like who were the abductors, like did Libya pay the $400 million owed to the contractor..

This is not the typical John Grisham legal thriller so it was very disappointing.

This short book is a sequel to “The Firm” about Mitch who has now moved to a different law firm and is a partner. He takes an international case representing a construction company versus a Liberian group. He is negotiating the ransom for release of a lawyer. There are no surprises in the story and it refers to the situation Mitch and his wife Abby dealt with in the previous book.

Not worth reading

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.