The Associate.

• Author: Mandell, David
• Position: Book review

The Associate

By John Grisham

Kyle McAvoy is headed for big things. A third-year law student and law review editor at Yale, McAvoy has a bright future. Job offers from Wall Street law firms promise a starting salary dwarfing what his father, a veteran attorney in York, Pennsylvania, could ever earn. Public interest groups also seek him, proposing a few years of challenging work before the move to Wall Street.

McAvoy's future changes forever on a cold New Haven day. A mysterious man named Benny follows him from a basketball game and confronts him with a cell phone video made during a night Kyle prefers to forget. As an undergraduate at Duquesne University five years earlier, Kyle and his roommates hosted a party, with most of the revelers becoming drunk. A female student, Elaine Keenan, claimed that she was sexually assaulted, but Pittsburgh police dropped the investigation, unable to determine whether the incident was consensual or forced. Having passed out in the haze of alcohol, Kyle has no memory of the alleged assault and was not accused of directly participating in it. Benny reminds the star law student that he could still be deemed an accomplice and that the statute of limitations has years left to run.

In Grisham fashion, Benny has a sinister offer for Kyle. If Kyle cancels his plans of public interest law and joins a Wall Street firm, Scully Pershing, the video will disappear. If he passes on the Scully Pershing job, the video may surface on the Internet or be sent to the Elaine's tenacious lawyer. Kyle will face years of prosecution, civil litigation, and humiliation, with his reputation destroyed. Kyle's career will die before it even gets started.

Benny's choice of Scully Pershing is no accident. Scully Pershing represents a defense contractor in a bitter law suit with a rival. Kyle's position with Scully Pershing will enable him to gather documents and deliver them to Benny. If caught, Kyle will be disbarred and disgraced. If he doesn't do as Benny demands, the video is lurking, ready for release. Kyle succumbs and to the shock of his father and friends, chooses corporate law over public interest practice.

While the opening moves swiftly in typical Grisham style, much of The Associate feels as if it has been rushed to meet a publication...