The Firm is a 1991 legal thriller by John Grisham. It is the author's second published book, following A Time to Kill, and the novel that launched his widespread fame. The story follows Mitch McDeere, a young and ambitious lawyer who graduates at the top of his class from Harvard Law and joins a small, seemingly prestigious tax law firm in Memphis. The firm offers Mitch a dream job with a substantial salary, benefits, and perks, leading him to ignore the uneasy feelings he has about the overly secretive nature of the organization.
Soon after joining, Mitch is plunged into a nightmarish world of legal intrigue as he discovers that the firm is engaging in a massive tax fraud and money laundering operation, closely connected to the Mafia. When the FBI reveals the firm's illegal activities and pressures him to become an informant, Mitch finds himself caught between the deadly machinations of the criminal underworld and the demands of federal law enforcement. The firm's tight security, and the mysterious deaths of several associates under suspicious circumstances, serve to heighten the tension. Mitch decides to cooperate with the FBI, driven by his survival instincts and ethical considerations, leading to a daring plan to escape the firm's grasp with his life and bring down the criminal operation.
Along with his gift for intrigue and suspense, Grisham, a former practicing lawyer, brings his detailed knowledge of legal practices to The Firm. Acclaimed for both its pulse-pounding story and its chilling plausability, The Firm was an immediate bestseller and spent 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. The highly successful 1993 film adaptation, starring Tom Cruise as Mitch, expanded the novel's audience and propelled Grisham into the spotlight, establishing him as a master of legal thrillers.
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About the author
John Grisham
John Grisham is an American novelist, attorney, and politician, celebrated for his bestselling legal thrillers. He is the author of 47 consecutive #1 bestsellers, with his books translated into nearly 50 languages. He made his publishing debut in 1989 with A Time to Kill and in 1991 gained widespread recognition with his second novel, The Firm. His notable recent works include The Boys from Biloxi, The Judge's List, Sooley, and A Time for Mercy. His contributions as an author have been recognized with two Harper Lee Prizes for Legal Fiction and the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction. To date, nine of his novels, including The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, and The Rainmaker, have been adapted for film or television.
Born in 1955, in Jonesboro, Arkansas, Grisham spent his formative years in the Deep South. Several of his legal thrillers are set in the fictional town of Clanton, Mississippi, and reflect the region's complexities, particularly its struggle with racism. Before his writing career, he studied accounting as an undergraduate at Mississippi State University. In 1981, he earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law and then practiced criminal law for about a decade. He also served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990 as a Democrat.
Grisham is an active member of the board of directors of the Innocence Project and Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for crimes. He remains committed to correcting systemic flaws in the justice system and is an outspoken advocate against capital punishment. He is also a significant supporter of Little League activities and has a passion for baseball, a theme that occasionally surfaces in his non-legal novels. He makes his home on a farm in central Virginia.
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