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.