The Associate by John Grisham

I love John Grisham. He is one of my all time favorite authors. I buy his books on the day they are released, as I believe I have said in previous posts. So, this book was no exception. I counted the days until its release. I went and got it on my lunch hour from work. I started it and I put. it. down.

Although I loathe to say anything negative about him, I had a really hard time reading this book. I actually just finished it over the weekend - unheard of for me to take so long to read a Grisham book. For me, personally, this book was a disappointment. I could see what he was trying to do, BUT. To me, he made the lead character look like an idiot.

*Spoilers!* (nothing major, just a little bit of detail)

The lead character is graduating at the top of his class from YALE LAW SCHOOL. He is the Editor of the Yale Law Journal (or whatever it's called), and is supposed to be an intelligent person. So, how in the world does someone who is that smart allow himself to be blackmailed with a video that shows two of his friends / roommates engaging in questionable activity? He is not even in the video when the questionable activity happens, but according to one of their sources is passed out in a chair during this video.

Hello? Seriously? We are supposed to believe that a relatively intelligent person would let himself be blackmailed with that? The whole premise of the blackmailer is "ruining his reputation" even if he wasn't one of the participants.

So, that just totally ruined the book for me. I can't believe in a stupid lead character. And there wasn't much of a resolution at the end, either.

Let me state again, I love Grisham. So, this book will not in any way deter me from going out on the next book release date and getting the latest book. This is really the first book of his that I didn't like, but I still read it.

Did anyone else read it? U2Bwb? What are your thoughts?