Kyle McAvoy, son of a small town lawyer, has a brilliant future.  He has a college degree, was editor of the Yale Law Journal, and has been offered a position as an associate by Scully and Pershing, a New York law firm reputed to be the largest law firm in the world.  Instead, he has decided to take a legal aid position helping immigrant workers in Virginia.

This is all for naught when he is approached by a shadowy figure, Bennie, who has a videotape of a frat party in which Kyle's drunken friends are allegedly raping a girl.  Kyle is not a participant but a spectator.  His presence on the tape will ruin his reputation and career. He is ordered to steal vital documents from Scully and Pershing to win an adversary's case against them.  Kyle does his best to circumvent what could be a criminal act in which he would lose his law degree and possibly his life.  He finally confides in his father.  They consult a prominent attorney and together with the FBI devise a plan to trap Bennie and his backers.

The Associates gives an in-depth, comprehensive picture of the life of associates in large law firms.  Their lives are in constant stress as they are pressured to provide billing hours, sometimes unnecessary, for clients...sometimes more than 20 hours a day.  One wonders why any sensible person would subject himself to this regime.  One wonders, also, about how legitimate the fees are that are charged by these firms.

I was disappointed in Grisham's latest offering.  It lacked the character development and the action of his previous novels.  I can only hope that his next work will be of the high caliber of his previous ones.