(I just came to know that there is an actual law firm in New York City that is a spitting image of the one in Grisham's book. A friend's daughter interned there and the 12 hour days, working weekends, meals and transport charged to clients, are real. The junior staff average about 2 years and burn out. Unreal!)The word that comes to mind after finishing this book is "polish." And I note that that is not capitalized. The prose is so smooth and the story-telling so casual and effortless that Grisham may write about the internal processes of the combustion engine and turn that into a thriller. The story itself is absent the hard corners that can get one hot and bothered, especially as it wire-walks between suspense and disbelief.
It helps to be successful and have the close attention of editors and readers to help provide the polish. Some have said that Grisham is writing the same story with minor variations every time. This may have merit in this case because of the similarities to The Firm, but this is fine by me. It's been a while since I read that book, and in fact a few years since I've read any Grisham.
Glad to see he hasn't lost the edge.
