As a sequel to The Firm I felt that it didn’t really measure up. The wonderfully well-rounded characters, a typical Grisham specialty, it somehow lacking. Although the plot was plausible and realistic there wasn’t the usual twists and turns we expect from a Grisham novel. Finally, the ending was anticlimactic and a great disappointment. All in all I was underwhelmed!

Thank you to NetGalley and Doubleday Books who provided me with a copy of this book. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.

Delighted to include this title in the October edition of Novel Encounters, my column highlighting the month’s most anticipated fiction for the Books section of Zoomer, Canada’s national culture magazine. (see column and mini-review at link)

This is a voluntary review for a complimentary ARC kindly provided by NetGalley and the author/publisher.

Having liked the movie The Firm I looked forward to reading this book having read a few of his other novels. It starts out drawing the main character, Mitch McDeere, back to Tennessee but not really sure why except to confirm all bridges had been burned. The main story surrounds McDeere’s work for a large NY law firm that extends internationally. A kidnapping becomes center stage of the story, but overall the story fell flat for me, and making a connection with the characters didn’t happen. Wish it had been different.

The Exchange deceptively takes us initially into typical John Grisham territory, picking up on the story from years ago of Mitch and Abby McDeere. It's now 2005, and he's a partner in a big white shoe law firm in NYC. He returns to Memphis for the first time since leaving The Firm for a possible last minute representation of a man on death row. But that's where the similarities end as Grisham then takes us to a lawsuit based in Libya and lots of bad things happen.
I loved the different connections to The Firm, but at the end of the day, wasn't really sure what they added to the story. The ending was disappointing, with some storylines left hanging. The events in Libya were initially interesting, but then it seemed more about flying around on a variety of planes.
Thanks to Netgalley and Doubleday for the opportunity to read The Exchange in exchange for an honest review.

RIVETING!

In my opinion, Graham has released another novel that will fly up the charts and have readers scrambling to purchase it in all forms! THE EXCHANGE is riveting from start to finish. This novel is Grisham at his best – leading you worldwide to pursue justice and mainly to help a friend. Loaded with international intrigue, greed, lack of loyalty, espionage, and danger at every turn, Grisham provides readers with our old friend and good guy hero, Mitch McDeere, who does his best to take care of family first and his close friends second. Not the person you would want to provoke, or you will live to regret it if McDeere is on the case. Mitch heads up a host of other players working with several countries to meet the demand of a group of rogue soldiers in exchange for an irreplaceable commodity. That commodity is a treasure to all on Mitch’s team, and no price is too high – or is it? Mitch learns who his true friends are and, more importantly, where their priorities lie. This novel is a thriller from start to finish!

Not sure I've ever given a Grisham novel any rating less than 5 stars but, ya know, this one kinda sucks. I was so excited to read a sequel to The Firm. But alas. The characters are flat, the story gets real boring real quick. And the ending? I had to check to see if I missed some pages somewhere. Damn.

Thanks for the ARC, NetGalley folk.

I was provided an early copy for review. It has been many years since I read The Firm. The Exchange picks up several years later. It was a fast read with lots of suspense and plot twists. In my opinion it was good, but not as good as The Firm. Mitch and Abby were key characters but the plot would not have changed much had they not been in the story. There really wasn’t a lot that tied this story to The Firm. I felt like Grisham ran out of ideas and wrote a stand alone book, then changed the main characters names to Mitch and Abby.

It was wonderful to revisit the character of Mitch McDeere from The Firm. After all this character went through in that book, I was hoping for a happy life for him and his wife. It seemed like it until his firm sends him to Italy to help out longtime friend and colleague, Luca. Luca is in ill health and his firm is in the middle of suing Libya on behalf of one of his clients. He is sent to Libya along with Luca’s daughter, also an attorney. While investigating, Luca’s daughter is kidnapped and that sets off a whole new series of dangerous events. I couldn’t put this book down and was amazed at the amount of research that had to be done to make this book as good as it was. I highly recommend it!

Loved the twists and the return of the beloved Firm characters. The plot could be current news of the day. Enjoyed the suspense and mystery.

John Grisham's novel: The Exchange: After The Firm is an international suspense. The Exchange centers around the abduction of another colleague in this legal thriller that brings back Mitch McDeere, the hero of the novel, The Firm. I enjoyed the beginning and the end of this novel. Unfortunately, I found the middle a little slow with a lot of legal negotiations that went nowhere, very predictable plot. This can be a stand alone novel. Disappointing as I thoroughly enjoyed The Firm.

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for this Arc in exchange for my honest review.

If you like other John Grisham books, then you’ll probably like this one, because let’s face it, he’s cracked the code on writing books that appeal to the masses.

My interest in this book was to find out more about “The Firm” and the bizarre cult-like way a law company could exist and operate (cue conspiracy theories), so the first part of this book worked well for me as it re-introduced Mitch and Abby and got us up-to-date on everything that happened after “The Firm” ended.

After that, the book only held mild interest for me - not because it wasn’t well written - I just wasn’t ready for a whirlwind international fast-paced thriller with kidnapping and corrupt multinational businesses.

I’m sure I’ll watch the movie when it comes out… and I’m sure it’ll be great.

I am a huge John Grisham fan, having read and loved all of his books. That being said, The Exchange was a disappointment to me personally. I am sure it was the setting and the way it mimicked what is happening in real life today In the Middle East. I enjoyed the main character, Mitch McDeere and his wife Abby, but as it was touted to be a sequel to The Firm it did not live up to the hype in my opinion. The tension and pacing of The Firm was missing. Too many nefarious characters, meetings, and traveling and no courtroom drama whatsoever. I found myself very apathetic to the plight of the kidnapped daughter of Luca which made me sad. I usually inhale his books and this one took me a week to finish.
Many thanks to John Grisham, Doubleday, and NetGalley for affording me the opportunity to read an arc of this book, published on October 17th.

The Exchange by John Grisham picks up 15 years after The Firm ends. Mitch and Abby are living in New York with their twin sons. Mitch is partner in a big international law firm. Mitch and a partner in their firm’s Rome office are working on a case involving payment of a bridge in Libya. While visiting the site of the bridge, one of the firm’s associates (who just happens to be the Rome partner’s daughter) is kidnapped. After the kidnappers make contact through Abby, the scramble is on the raise the ransom.

It was nice to revisit some of the characters and places from The Firm. The first 20% was slow and I was having trouble building interest but then things picked up. Then, it just seemed to come to an abrupt end. I am a huge fan of Grisham novels and this one was good but not one of my favorites but definitely worth the read. Will be looking forward, as always, to reading his next novel.

Thank you to the Publishers and Net Galley for the ARC of one of my ALL TIME FAVORITE Authors, John Grisham.
The Exchange was a much needed reuniting with Mitch and Abby McDeere!

15 years after the craziest year of his life, and things get ramped up again internationally!!

Great Read and I hope there is another with the next adventure he takes!

Do you ever have something you loved way back in the past? Decades ago? Maybe a book or even music that when you opened up in the present day just read or sounded boring; maybe not stood the test of time? I think you know where I'm going with this.

I use to be a huge fan of John Grisham and "The Firm", "The Pelican Brief", "A Time to Kill" were some of my favorite books so I was very happy to get a copy of Grisham's current book "The Exchange" which is sequel to "The Firm"

This one takes place fifteen years later and Mitch is a partner at a huge law firm. We all forgot the consequences of what happens at the ending of "The Firm" and somehow Mitch gets to keep practicing law...... But water under the bridge as MItch is sent to Rome to assist with a lawsuit to collect a huge debt when one of his associates gets kidnapped with a huge ransome. The book quickly turns to Mitch and the firm trying to pay this ransom.

This could have been a great international thriller! But what kills it is the lifeless writing. Just empty characters with no personality. I honestly couldn't get over it espcially when it made the book more boring. Grisham is a great writer, and the plot does move along masterfully, but it's just Character A,B,C etc etc. No character has any distict personality and honestly Grisham should have not even made this a sequal to "The Firm" Just used new characters.

It's still John Grisham and if you loved "The Firm" you will get some value reading this book but take away that factor and it's average.

I really appreciate Doubleday Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book for free for a honest review and it's out now.

For more reviews and bookish posts visit: https://www.ManOfLaBook.com

The Exchange: After the Firm by John Grisham takes place 15 years after The Firm, following its protagonists, Mitch and Abby McDeere. John Grisham is a bestselling author, known for his legal thrillers.

Abby, a publisher of cookbooks, and Mitch, a lawyer for a very big, global, law firm, live in Manhattan with their two kids. Mitch is asked to go to Libya to help a construction company that has been stiffed by the Libyan government and is now suing.

Mitch’s co-council, and young Italian lawyer, Giovanna, have been kidnapped. The criminals are asking for a huge amount of money and even the large firm, their insurance, and the governments involved are unwilling to pay.

I enjoy Grisham’s books, but this one was disappointing. There is no courtroom drama, the characters are flat, and I didn’t learn a thing from reading it.

There are certainly some highlights, which make much of the book worth reading. Mitch meeting with former colleagues, and several negotiations with banks and governments for example.

The Exchange by John Grisham is supposed to be an exciting novel, but instead, we get tiresome sidetracks about raising funds, and an unconvincing conclusion. I can see where Mr. Grisham was going with this book, but the pace was lacking, the characters were not relatable, and I never got the overall point of the book.

A lot of traveling happens as well, which might play out well in a movie or a TV show, but it feels disjointed in the book. At times I was lost in what was happening when it came to the timeline, and I actually found the amount of traveling distracting and even boring.

I understood what was happening in the sequence of events, but I couldn’t figure out the point of the story, no deeper meaning, nothing about the greater good, or even getting justice for an injured party. The first half of the book got me hooked, but there was no big mystery, no plot twists, a linear story that is only exciting to the protagonists, but not the reader.

Fast, fun and a bit over the top, Grisham's latest book, The Exchange, brings back Abby and Mitch McDeere 15 years after The Firm. Married with two kids, the McDeere's have a good life and are doing well. Of course this can't last, and when a friend comes calling with a favor that plays to Mitch's skills, it seems like a no brainer to help. Of course it turns out to be nothing like a no brainer and soon Mitch and Abby are caught up in a deadly drama that takes them to Libya, Turkey and other places around the world and the bodies begin to pile up.

While not a Pulitzer prize winner, The Exchange does grab and keep your attention. The ending is a disappointment, but I hear that there is a sequel which will tie things up nicely, so I'll need to read that to learn what really happens. A great book for travel.

I was pleased to read this book to get reacquainted with Mitch Mcdeere! I was hoping for more though. It started off great but three quarters of the way through the continual discussion about getting the ransom became repetitive. I was disappointed that there really wasn’t much “edge of my seat” reading. It was a story about gathering ransom money. Even the ending was “unthrilling”.
Still happy to have read it though and hope there will be more of the McDeere’s in the future.

I was really excited to read this sequel to The Firm. Mitch McDeere and his family are back. This time Mitch is trying to save a young female lawyer from Libyan Terrorists. After a contract in Libya goes bad, Mitch’s law firm is brought in to wage a legal battle against Libya. But things go south very quickly.
I had a hard time reading this story with all of the real life stories coming out of the Middle East. I found the pace of the book to be kind of slow as well. Much of the story line seemed somewhat unbelievable. This is one that I would recommend you pass on unless you are a huge Grisham fan. Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday Books for this Arc in exchange for my honest review.

A huge yawn! A story about waiting and waiting and waiting , and nothing happening. Very disappointing for Grisham.