The Firm

Bookworm's Sanctum

Fruit of Choice:

The Firm

Plant Responsible:

John Grisham

The Flesh and Gist:

Mitch was one of the top three students in Harvard. He was a law student - with an aptitude in tax-law. He was offered with tempting jobs in New York and Washington. While he was contemplating on which to take, one mysterious firm with unheard of name - the Bendini - lured Mitch with a pay with so many zeroes that Mitch finally knew which job to take.

Despite a basic salary, he was offered with a mortagage for house, a luxurious BMW and many perks. His wife, Abby, was hilarious. They were staying in a crammed apartment and they were not about to turn down an offer that would change their life forever - for the worst. They never suspect anything until one day, an FBI rookie approached Mitch and told him about the ownership of the firm - by Mafia.

Though filled with doubts, Mitch finally believed it as his hired detective, whose job was to get info about the mysterious death of the firm's past employees, was killed and he was tailed and bugged by the firm. 

He was told that the turnover rate in the firm is practically nil. Now he knew why. No one was fired but there were those whose death were suspicious. He was warned by the firm not to contact with the FBI. He pretended to do so while secretly cooperated with the FBI, as well as an associate of the dead detective, to dig up the illegitimate files that would prove the handling of illicit money by the firm. He cooperated with the Bureau on 2 conditions - to get 2 million bucks and getting his brother, Ray, out of prison.

After the running and hiding for months, finally he also escaped from the FBI's surveillance as he had other plans. With the FBI and the mob behind his trail, Mitch escaped to live. But he was too smart and too wealthy for them. Ultimately, he taped his testimony - something he needed to do for months if he participated with the FBI to indict the firm but he was reluctant to do so due to the long time frame - which was 16 hours in length.

He also wired a total of 10 million bucks to his preferred bank. He wired 2 mill for his parents-in-law whom he dislike as they despised his poverty-stricken background back then. Another 1 mill was wired to the associate of the dead detective whom helped him a lot.

In the finale of the book, Abby and Mitch along with Ray lived on the lam, though now much less with fear since the firm was indicted and the FBI left them alone. Their only source of fear was the Mob.

Review:

Like the other books by John Grisham, the plot is full of twists and mysteries as the true identity of the Firm was shrouded in the dark until late in the story. Grisham did a great job of showing how law is used - with good or devilish intent.