I have finally finished The Associate. Kyle has brought in not only his personal lawyer, who he consistently maintains is one of the few people he trusts, but also the Department of Justice and the FBI. They are the only people Kyle has told the full story too, until he tells his father and Dale, his fellow employee and budding romance partner. Kyle has shared his sketches of Bennie, as well as his assistants Nigel and a few other "thugs" that follow Kyle around, with the FBI. Feeling confident that they can capture Bennie, the FBI sets up a trap at one of the spots Bennie set up to meet with Kyle. As far as Kyle knows, Bennie is unaware that Kyle has gone to the feds, however, the FBI receives a surprise when they bust through Bennie's hotel window: it is vacant. Long before then, Bennie had exited the hotel and is likely long gone. The government has relocated Kyle to Pensacola, Florida while they do their best to nap Bennie and keep Kyle safe. However, Kyle refuses to become a part of the witness protection unit, becomes bored in Pensacola, and is soon back in the city. He has made up his mind that he doesn't want to work for Scully and Pershing anymore, and informs the partners higher up on the corporate food chain that he has reason to believe a spy is working for them. Like Dale, he is moving out of the city back to his roots, and plans to start up a smaller law firm, McAvoy and McAvoy, with his father. He has realized his intrinsic desire to get back to being a lawyer with "real clients" and doing what he loves. The story ends at this point, with no clear indication of what happened with Bennie, Joey Bernardo, nor Elaine and the rape allegation.
Personally, I really enjoyed the book. John Grisham is a very capable thriller novelist, and he captured my attention from beginning to end. Kyle was exactly the protagonist I crave reading about, and his thoughts and actions throughout the novel kept me wanting not only to read more, but to know more about Kyle's character. Grisham did a good job of developing Kyle throughout the novel, descriptively detailing Kyle's careful line between innocent pawn in a master plan and master crook and thief of corporate secrets. Kyle maintains this desire to keep his hands clean throughout the book, and the way Grisham paints him as senile to his peers even though Kyle knows he's sane was very interesting.
That being said, I absolutely DID NOT enjoy the ending. It simply ended, without any wrapping up of loose ends or anything of the sort. In my opinion, Grisham should have done something before ending the book, be it: explain Kyle's triumphing over Bennie, Bennie's maintained chokehold on Kyle's life, Elaine dropping the rape charges and having the whole plan disintegrate, Elaine pushing the rape charges harder, or even some sort of cliffhanger. However, this abrupt ending wasn't a cliffhanger at all, it simply...ended. Maybe if I read more of Grisham's work, I will discover that he has a knack for this, in which case I don't think I want to read him anymore. However, the ending of The Associate did not detract from the truly compelling story that it really was.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Book #2 Blog Entry Three
I am about two-thirds through The Associate, by John Grisham, and it is getting very good. Now that he has been forced to comply with the mysterious men who control his life, Kyle is now working at Scully and Pershing, the largest law firm in the world. His nose is forced to the grindstone, he's working intense hours and he has had to put his personal life on hold. Little is known about the actual lawsuit that Kyle is supposed to be extracting secrets from, except that it involves two mammoth large companies each fighting for a bigger cut of a government funded project involving a top-secret military hypersonic bomber. Bennie, the leader of the men who are blackmailing Kyle, has continued his constant following of Kyle, including placing tails on him and bugging his entire apartment. Kyle has struck up a "romance" with one of his cubicle mates at work, and he has also began to confide in Joey Bernardo, one of his college roommates involved in the rape allegation. Kyle and Joey are working on out-smarting the bad guys, but thus far it seems nothing is working and Elaine, the girl who cried rape, is sticking to her story.
So far in the novel, Grisham has developed the plot in a very slow, deliberate way. Already it is clear that unlike Harlan Coben (the author of my first novel) Grisham is more concerned with the development of Kyle's character than with unexpected plot twists and turns. So far, Kyle has avoided officially handing over any "government secrets" to Bennie so that he can keep his conscience clear. We are also seeing his personal life develop. Even with his round-the-clock hours at the office, and everything going on in his life, the fact that Kyle is still coming off as the person he really is and is even in a new romance tells that he is still in charge of his sanity. I have absolutely no prediction as to what will happen next, however, I know I would prefer a happy ending for Kyle. However, if Grisham decides to be a different author than I assume him to be, he very well might spell out a disappointing ending and a victory for the bad guys. I wouldn't think any less of the book either way, I'm just looking forward to reading more of this compelling book.
So far in the novel, Grisham has developed the plot in a very slow, deliberate way. Already it is clear that unlike Harlan Coben (the author of my first novel) Grisham is more concerned with the development of Kyle's character than with unexpected plot twists and turns. So far, Kyle has avoided officially handing over any "government secrets" to Bennie so that he can keep his conscience clear. We are also seeing his personal life develop. Even with his round-the-clock hours at the office, and everything going on in his life, the fact that Kyle is still coming off as the person he really is and is even in a new romance tells that he is still in charge of his sanity. I have absolutely no prediction as to what will happen next, however, I know I would prefer a happy ending for Kyle. However, if Grisham decides to be a different author than I assume him to be, he very well might spell out a disappointing ending and a victory for the bad guys. I wouldn't think any less of the book either way, I'm just looking forward to reading more of this compelling book.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Book #2 Blog Entry Two
The Associate - John Grisham
I wrote my first journal on Digital Fortress, by Dan Brown, but I switched my book to The Associate so that's what I will write blogs 2 and 3 on.
The novel begins telling the story of Kyle McAvoy, who appears to be a clean cut, hardworking law student and citizen. Kyle is the coach of an inner city youth basketball team, and near the end of one of his games, he sees a mysterious man in a suit enter the gym. The man, along with a partner, approaches Kyle after the game, and pressure into talking to them about an alleged rape by Kyle years ago. The men claim to be FBI agents, and after Kyle "checks their stories" he talks to them about the night in question. He can recall nothing after blacking out from drinking too much, but swears he never touched the girl. Kyle gets blackmailed into meeting with another man claiming to be a Pittsburgh prosecutor (where the incident took place) and reveals to him everything about his family life, job happenings, and the night in question. Most of all, Kyle does not want these men to publicize the alleged rape, fearing his life will go down the tubes. All this seems to be at a breaking point,until the "prosecutor" reveals to Kyle the truth: his "prosecutor" occupation, the "FBI men"--none of them are actually who they said they were. In fact, they work at a law firm, and they created this ploy to recruit Kyle to come work for them. (cue dramatic music)
Only four chapters into this book, and I am reeeeeally hooked. My grandma was the one who recommended it to me, and so far, I've eaten up every word Grisham has written. Kyle is exactly the prototype of protagonist I enjoy--clever, curious, and full of potential to do good. However, I crave seeing him be swallowed up by the dark side of life, and although I do want him to come out on top, I've found that even more so I want to simply know what happens next, regardless of the consequences. To be honest, I don't have any predictions for this novel, or at least not yet. With the Dan Brown novels that I've read before, although I obviously can't predict what happens next, I can more or less play out much of the novel in terms of ups and downs for the protagonist, based on other Dan Brown novels that I've read. However, I may find out that Grisham doesn't always reserve happy endings for his protagonists, which would be just fine with me. I'm anxious to see how the rest of the book goes, so if it's alright with you, I'm gonna end this journal now and go read.
I wrote my first journal on Digital Fortress, by Dan Brown, but I switched my book to The Associate so that's what I will write blogs 2 and 3 on.
The novel begins telling the story of Kyle McAvoy, who appears to be a clean cut, hardworking law student and citizen. Kyle is the coach of an inner city youth basketball team, and near the end of one of his games, he sees a mysterious man in a suit enter the gym. The man, along with a partner, approaches Kyle after the game, and pressure into talking to them about an alleged rape by Kyle years ago. The men claim to be FBI agents, and after Kyle "checks their stories" he talks to them about the night in question. He can recall nothing after blacking out from drinking too much, but swears he never touched the girl. Kyle gets blackmailed into meeting with another man claiming to be a Pittsburgh prosecutor (where the incident took place) and reveals to him everything about his family life, job happenings, and the night in question. Most of all, Kyle does not want these men to publicize the alleged rape, fearing his life will go down the tubes. All this seems to be at a breaking point,until the "prosecutor" reveals to Kyle the truth: his "prosecutor" occupation, the "FBI men"--none of them are actually who they said they were. In fact, they work at a law firm, and they created this ploy to recruit Kyle to come work for them. (cue dramatic music)
Only four chapters into this book, and I am reeeeeally hooked. My grandma was the one who recommended it to me, and so far, I've eaten up every word Grisham has written. Kyle is exactly the prototype of protagonist I enjoy--clever, curious, and full of potential to do good. However, I crave seeing him be swallowed up by the dark side of life, and although I do want him to come out on top, I've found that even more so I want to simply know what happens next, regardless of the consequences. To be honest, I don't have any predictions for this novel, or at least not yet. With the Dan Brown novels that I've read before, although I obviously can't predict what happens next, I can more or less play out much of the novel in terms of ups and downs for the protagonist, based on other Dan Brown novels that I've read. However, I may find out that Grisham doesn't always reserve happy endings for his protagonists, which would be just fine with me. I'm anxious to see how the rest of the book goes, so if it's alright with you, I'm gonna end this journal now and go read.
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