Mitch McDeere takes a job with a Memphis law firm specializing in tax law.

As he begins work, he learns that two of the newer associates were killed while boating in Grand Cayman.

Then an FBI agent approaches Mitch. The agent tells him that the firm is filing false tax returns for many of their clients and that the firm is owned by the mob. In addition, the agent tells Mitch that his home, office and car are being bugged and that he's being followed.

Mitch hires a private detective to look into the deaths of the two employees and of two others who died under qustionable circumstances. Mitch gets his answers but the detective is killed.

We follow Mitch's life as he changes from an ambitious employee to a man in fear of his career, his family and his life. He's not sure how he got into this situation or how he can escape it.

This is a well plotted novel. The reader is drawn to Mitch's dilemma and can visualize something like this happening. We hope for a successful conclusion.

The first Grisham I read and still the gold standard in legal fiction as far as I'm concerned. I love the way this story is told and how it all plays out.

Fast paced and easy to read. It takes you into the world of the lawyer, tax accountant and the mafia. Look before you leap...everything on the outside isn't what it appears to be on the inside.

This was amazing well-written. So masterfully put together. I felt so smart reading it.

The plot is amazingly thought-out. Even if I sat for two minutes to think about what would happen next, I knew I wouldn’t get it. There are so many details and little intricacies that are woven into the plot built-up like a near finishing game of jenga.

The characters did leave you wanting a little more. I’ll admit it was hard to connect, because the narrative was very plot driven. There wasn’t much character development either. But the plot makes up for it in spades.

I think I will definitely be devouring all of Grisham’s books in the near future.

Another amazing book by John Grisham. This, so far, is the best book he has written. I loved his The Pelican Brief and thought there couldn't be any book which would top it but he surprised me by writing such an awesome novel. The characters were very real and most of all, I loved the end of this book. the whole book was very real. I really liked Wayne Tarrance. Too bad he failed. But I was happy for Mitch and Abby in the end. That was nice.

This was my first John Grisham novel and it won’t be my last. I really enjoyed The Firm!

I didn’t know what I expected from this book when I first started it but I knew that something was fishy about the Bendini, Lambert and Locke firm. I mean, seriously they were just so creepy asking all those questions about family and stuff. For such an intelligent man, Mitch can be dumb and ignorant sometimes. I understand the need to be the best and to make loads of money but wow; he took the meaning of workaholic to a whole new level. I respect the fact that he didn’t want to trust the FBI at first but come on! Give them a chance to help out, look at what you, your wife and your brother’s lives ended up without their help. I wish we had more character development for Abby though. She just seemed like Mitch’s sidekick most of the time. I adore Ray, I really wanted more scenes with him. Tammy was also an interesting character. I loved how she does all that spy stuff to help Mitch and his family.

The plot kept me on the edge of my seat almost all the time. I couldn’t put it down because I really wanted to know what would happen next. I love all the twists and turns especially in the last few chapters. The ending was a bit of a letdown though but it didn’t spoil the rest of the book for me.

I would definitely be reading more of John Grisham’s work!

Listened. That was a good one.

Hard to believe, but there was a time when the word "lawyer" wasn't synonymous with "criminal," and the idea of a law firm controlled by the Mafia was an outlandish proposition. This intelligent, ensnaring story came out of nowhere--Oxford, Mississippi, where Grisham was a small-town lawyer--and quickly catapulted to the top of the bestseller list, with good reason. Mitch McDeere, the appealing hero, is a poor kid whose only assets are a first-class mind, a Harvard law degree, and a beautiful, loving wife. When a Memphis law firm makes him an offer he really can't refuse, he trades his old Nissan for a new BMW, his cramped apartment for a house in the best part of town, and puts in long hours finding tax shelters for Texans who'd rather pay a lawyer than the IRS. Nothing criminal about that. He'd be set for life, if only associates at the firm didn't have a funny habit of dying, and the FBI wasn't trying to get Mitch to turn his colleagues in. The tempo and pacing are brilliant, the thrills keep coming, and the finish has a wonderful ironic flourish. It's not hard to see why Grisham changed the genre permanently with this one, and few of his colleagues in a very crowded field come close to equaling him. --Jane Adams

I felt dirty for enjoying this book, hence the three stars. You can't help but power through Grisham's story but it is just so incredibly mindless and over-the-top that I am almost certainly dumber for having read it.
If I remember correctly it was the poor character development that really pissed me off - the protagonist is superhuman in every way, it's as if Grisham has just selected Mitch's qualities from a moronically obvious list titled 'characteristics that will appeal to pulp corporate thriller readers'; brother died in vietnam, other brother a rogue, he barely sleeps, works 100 hr weeks, has an unusually sharp memory, studied hard and came near top of his class despite hardship, was a football star, hot girlfriend, and if I remember correctly (though I could be wrong) he runs like 7 miles a day? That really annoyed me - not because it stood out among all the other ridiculous qualities, rather because the lack of consideration inherent in having a character who can do more than is physically possible with his time is symptomatic of the general thoughtlessness of the novel. Who the hell can run 7 miles a day while attending uni full time, studying, spending time with a girlfriend and working night shifts to pay his way through uni?
I was amazed this was so popular. And it surprised me when I found out that Grisham was really a lawyer, because the book is entirely lacking in believability regarding the details of legal practice.

Rarely is reading a book just as mindless as watching bad TV. Grisham novels are an exception.

In den frühen 90ern hatte ich mal eine kurze, aber durchaus freudvolle Grisham-Phase. THE FIRM hatte ich aber damals nicht gelesen - wohl weil ich mir damals keine Hardcover leisten konnte, der Megabestseller in der Stadtbibliothek immer ausgeliehen war und dann zwischenzeitlich der Film rauskam. Am Strand von Koh Samet habe ich die Lektüre nun, fast dreieinhalb Jahrzehnte später, nachgeholt, und überhaupt erstmals seit damals einen Grisham gelesen. Vieles funktioniert immer noch, Tempo und Intensivierung hat er handwerklich durchaus drauf - auch wenn manches durch heutige Augen erstaunlich clumsy erzählt ist. Vielleicht lese ich jetzt auch noch die 2023 erschienene Fortsetzung, von der ich bisher noch nichts wusste.

An excellent legal thriller. One of John Grisham's best novels.

The story centers on a young intelligent lawyer, Mitch Mcderee who takes a job with a tremendous firm, having been seduced by their huge financial offerings.

After he was hired by `The Firm,' almost everything started great. The firm loves him very much that they even pay back all of his student loans and also furnished his new house in his beautiful new neighborhood because they said it is to make him feel at home. The lives of Mitch and his wife Abby are completely and drastically changed weeks after he was hired by the firm. It turns out that they're being set up with a disorienting atmosphere. Now, the couple suspiciously found strange things happening...people getting killed by boat bombs.

Reminders to intelligent young lawyers out there: Joining a law firm from hell can be dangerous to your health :p

This book is really interesting, well written and absolutely irresistible. I'm on a mission to read every book that Grisham wrote because his books never disappoint me.