The Exchange: After the Firm | John Grisham | Thriller Book Review

Count me among the millions of fans who revisit the godfather of legal thrillers, The Firm, frequently. This used to be one of my go-to books when I was home sick, finding comfort in the familiar story and always enjoying the intricacies of the plot. Mitch McDeere must be one of my favorite literary characters of all time. And despite the differences in the film adaptation, Tom Cruise was absolutely outstanding casting. He delivered the Mitch McDeere from the pages of the book, and that is rare.

Like many readers, I’ve wondered if John Grisham would revisit Mitch at some point. A satisfying ending but of course he had so much life left to live and brain power, I’ve wondered what happened after the explosive conclusion to The Firm. Finally, we got some answers in Grisham’s upcoming thriller, The Exchange: After the Firm.

About the Book | The Exchange

Setting and Context

The events of The Exchange take place about fifteen years after the events of The Firm. Mitch McDeere is 41 years-old, still married to his wife Abby McDeere, and they have two sons. Abby and Mitch live in Manhattan, where Mitch is a partner at Scully & Pershing (a global law firm) and Abby is a cookbook editor.

Plot

After spending time overseas following their escape from the corrupt law firm Bendini, Lambert & Locke, Mitch and Abby finally have the life they could have had if Mitch hadn’t accepted the offer in Memphis. Mitch is at one of the high-paying, high-profile law firms in New York City, he’s a partner, and he works on cases for their wealthy global clients in addition to a few pro-bono cases each year.

Mitch is tired of the pro-bono work, where he has taken on (and lost) a series of death row cases. This is taxing, not just to lose, but to feel he didn’t provide justice to his clients. He agrees to help out with a lawsuit for Luca Sandroni, a partner at his firm out of the Rome office who’s dying from pancreatic cancer. Mitch and Abby spend a good deal of time in Italy during the years they fled the mob, and Mitch is happy to help his colleague and friend out with the case.

The client is a Turkish construction company that is suing the government of Libya for an unpaid debt of $400 million. At Luca’s request, Mitch takes the case and agrees to let Luca’s daughter Giovanna—an associate at the London branch of their firm—come with to assist. When on their travels to see the bridge that is at the center of the lawsuit, Mitch comes down with severe food poisoning and Giovanna goes to the site without him.

While on her outing, the drivers and guards protecting her are murdered and Giovanna is kidnapped. In the wake of this horrible event, a mysterious woman contacts Abby with explicit instructions that the price to return Giovanna alive is $100 million. As videos of violent murders populate the news and the media becomes aware of the beautiful, young attorney who was taken, the pressure is on to figure out how to get her back.

Amidst the struggles navigating foreign governments, the firm’s insurance policy, and raising the money to secure her return, Mitch can’t help but wonder who is really behind the crime and whether their efforts will be enough to save her. Did Mitch’s past come back to haunt him?

Review | The Exchange

This is a gripping story and a reminder why John Grisham is a perpetual best-seller when his books come out each fall. The Exchange leans much more into a crime thriller than legal thriller (though some legal commentary is included throughout). You won’t find a courtroom or even an extensive legal narrative throughout the book.

This book could have featured any lead, though Grisham chose to make this Mitch McDeere’s story. I enjoyed the book a lot, though it felt more inspired by Tom Cruise the actor than Mitch McDeere the character. Fast-paced and engaging, this book delivers a great plot but may disappoint readers who were looking for a stronger tie to the Mitch McDeere we fell in love with.

What I liked

Mitch was still largely the man we grew to love, with the humility of a humble upbringing, the vendetta against his in-laws that he will never drop (despite urging from his therapist to do so), and the passion for doing the right thing even when it makes his life more difficult.

The Exchange read like a sliding doors moment where we saw the life Mitch and Abby would have had if they never went to Bendini, Lambert & Locke—that small Memphis firm that lured him with big money and community. Mitch turned down some of the biggest firms in New York to take that job (and surely Scully & Pershing was one of those offers). Now he is at one of those firms and living the comfortable, secure, boring life of a lawyer who works too many hours, has enough success to spend some time with his family, and has settled into middle age.

I appreciated seeing what could have been with Mitch (even if it is like a $20,000 suit that doesn’t fit but looks damn fine). I loved that Mitch never got over his in-laws thinking he wasn’t good enough for their daughter. This petty rivalry that plays out largely in Mitch’s head (he has learned not to articulate his snide comments to Abby) is a delightful nod to the first book. I felt myself thinking, “hold onto the grudge, Mitch! Don’t feel obligated to let them off the hook!”

Mitch made a brief stop in Memphis and he visited his favorite restaurant as well as his old friend Lamar. I won’t reveal what happens there but I was glad to see that scene was included (I read an interview with Grisham that said he planned to cut it).

The kidnapping plot was very interesting, and I found myself wondering how the whole thing would play out. Through a tense series of events, Mitch works with a few others to figure out how to pay the money and secure a safe return. The ending was fitting for the story in this book.

What didn’t work

I feel the need to be blunt so others go into the book managing their expectations—this is more of a standalone Mitch McDeere novel than a sequel to The Firm. That the Chicago Mob just let Mitch go about his life, walking through the streets of New York City with a family and a career and very little security—that surprised me.

The book barely addresses the mafia crime family who is surely never going to forget that Mitch betrayed them and took down their entire law firm managing their extensive money laundering. The Mob never forgets, right? But so far, they have left Mitch alone. I wanted the follow up to what really happened, and the book only nods to it. This would have been a solid standalone book in Grisham’s catalog, but I did think it loosely dropped the ball on the return of the beloved Mitch McDeere.

Overall thoughts

I really liked this book and definitely recommend it. It’s a thrilling premise and I was engaged in the plot the whole way through. However, as a huge fan of Mitch McDeere and The Firm, I wish it had felt like a true follow up to that story and more authentic to the character arc from the book.

I also thought that one interpretation of this book is that Mitch barely escaped his decision to take the job in Memphis. Perhaps this is an overcorrection from Mitch, to go towards a boring, safe legal career where his biggest complaint is that he doesn’t like the pro bono work he takes. Unfortunately for Mitch, he learns that the safer option wasn’t so safe afterall. Abby is pulled directly into the center of the kidnapping, and now he has kids to worry about.

The beginning included some great scenes where we learn some about what happened to Mitch and others following the events of The Firm. There’s a fun little twist later in the book that also pulls together those events.

The audiobook is the format I recommend. The narrator Edoardo Ballerini is probably my favorite narrator for most crime, legal, and spy thrillers. He does a great job in other genre as well. He lends an easy tone, the right inflections, and handled the variety of accents with ease. One of my favorite narrators and certainly a perfect choice for The Exchange.

A few other tidbits

I felt better reading the interview with John Grisham in TIME because it was clear he knew this wasn’t the most authentic follow up and he had his signature charm about it. When the interviewer expresses what I did (that they expected the Mob to come back), here was the response from Grisham:

“Grisham, in his disarming way, agrees with me. ‘That’s the biggest problem with the book,’ he says, with more zeal than distress, as if congratulating me for solving a puzzle. ‘Fifteen years later, where’s the Mafia? That’s a huge problem.’”

He goes on to discuss that he brought up the very issue with his editor that this didn’t feel authentic to Mitch’s story and the fallout from the prior book, but he mentions that the Mob isn’t gone and this might not be the final chapter for Mitch. I was relieved to hear it! I linked the interview and there are lots of good nuggets so I don’t want to spoil those, but I will share one final thought that helped me contextualize The Exchange, even if it wasn’t what I expected:

“I was afraid to bring Mitch back because, you know, he’ll always be the guy in my first big book […] At the same time, you can’t take this stuff too serious. Let’s bring him back and have some fun. I like the story, now that it’s done. And there’s a possibility of doing it again.”

A third Mitch McDeere book, perhaps?? All is forgiven if you deliver that, Mr. Grisham!

About the Author | John Grisham

John Grisham is an expert storyteller, whose unforgettable characters fight for justice in a world that isn’t always fair.

John Grisham is the author of forty-seven consecutive #1 bestsellers, which have been translated into nearly fifty languages. His recent books include The Judge’s List, Sooley, and his third Jake Brigance novel, A Time for Mercy, which is being developed by HBO as a limited series.

Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.

When he’s not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.

John lives on a farm in central Virginia.