John Grisham’s “The Exchange”

John Grisham’s “The Exchange” touted to be a sequel to his previous blockbuster novel “The Firm” starts off as a legal thriller and later shifts into an international suspense thriller involving an abduction. Mitch McDeere, the small town lawyer from “The Firm” returns in this novel as a partner in one of the top law firms - Scully and Pershing.

After the life threatening encounter with the Mob fifteen years ago, Mitch and his wife Abby have been living a normal life with their kids. Mitch is assigned a case which involves construction firm Lannak’s lawsuit against the Libyan government over unpaid dues for building a bridge in the middle of the desert. Luca Sandroni who was managing the case before, suffers from pancreatic cancer and his daughter Giovanna is chosen to work along with Mitch for Lannak. When Mitch and Giovanna decide to visit the bridge in Libya, Giovanna gets abducted and the security personnel accompanying her end up being brutally murdered on video. 

Who is behind the abduction? Is it the Libyan colonel? Is it Mitch’s past catching up with him? When they wait for an outfit or the people behind the abduction to make contact, Mitch’s wife Abby is being threatened with pictures of her family and a contact is made with a huge ransom demand. Abby is caught in the middle of a hostage negotiation as the kidnappers only communicate to Abby. Mitch and Abby try every possible source to come up with the ransom amount. Will they be able to rescue Giovanna alive with the clock ticking? Will they close in on the kidnappers?

A promising premise with a potential to become an engrossing international thriller is let down by tiresome sidetracks with very little action happening throughout. The hostage negotiation takes a backstage at one point and the side track involving the attempt to raise funds for the ransom takes center stage until it gets boring. By the time the novel gets back on track, it is too late. The unconvincing link up to “The Firm” at the end and an abrupt climax makes this novel a futile attempt at giving a sequel.