The Partner
Audiobook review
John Grisham is a great audiobook choice for long road trips. His plots are complicated without being convoluted, his protagonists likable but not overbearingly sweet, the villains believably evil, and there’s enough suspense to keep you engaged between rest stops. Grisham also describes mundane legal proceedings in an interesting manner. Yet having listened to several of his audibooks, I’ve noticed an unfortunate trend in his writing that is evident in his 1997 novel.
Patrick Lanigan, a partner in a Mississippi law firm, apparently dies in a car crash. Soon after his funeral, however, the firm and one of its clients are robbed of $90 million; convinced Lanigan faked his death and stole the money, the client conducts an international search which eventually leads to Brazil, where Lanigan has indeed been hiding. Lanigan turns himself over to the FBI, which leads to a trial that uncovers fraudulent military contracts by the client as well as a money-laundering scheme by the law firm. Lanigan wins his freedom, although he doesn’t hold on to the money he stole.
As the audiobook neared the three-quarter completion mark, one very large plot detail remained unexplained - how did Lanigan fake his death? While that mystery is indeed solved, the answer comes from that unfortunate trend I alluded to earlier: the last-minute revelation. I’ve listened to enough Grisham audiobooks to notice how he resolves some plot issues by introducing a detail not previously mentioned or even hinted at earlier; this novel’s reveal involves a man with a chronic illness and, I kid you not, a large chest freezer. While mysteries in the real world are indeed often solved by surprising revelations, fiction isn’t always expected to mimic reality. Readers (well at least this reader anyway) want subtle hints of the big reveal earlier in the narrative; the feeling that we actually saw it all along is very satisfying. Grisham’s last-minute revelations are like the deus ex machina from ancient Greek tragedy, a contrived manner of tying up loose ends. He’s a talented writer who shouldn’t have to resort to such a cheap device at the end of his stories.
Despite the disappointing way Lanigan’s fake death is revealed, “The Partner” is an entertaining story. Frank Muller’s performance on the audiobook is also pretty good.