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Tadiana ✩Night Owl�'s Reviews > The Partner
The Partner
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Tadiana ✩Night Owl�'s review
bookshelves: legal-eagles, mystery, suspense, you-call-that-an-ending
Apr 30, 2015
bookshelves: legal-eagles, mystery, suspense, you-call-that-an-ending
A man jogging down a lonely road in Brazil is kidnapped and tortured, accused of being Patrick Lanigan, an American lawyer who was thought to have been killed in an automobile accident four years earlier--about the same time that $90 million disappeared from his law firm's offshore account. If he really is Lanigan, everyone wants a piece of him: his former partners, the client that the money came from, his wife, the insurance companies, the feds . . . Everyone. So is this guy really Patrick, and if so, what's his plan?
I thought this was a highly entertaining legal thriller--implausible maybe, but who cares as long as it's fun?--until the very end. It lost a whole star with that ending. If you're going to pull off a twist like that, it needs some additional foundation. Foreshadowing. Something.
It felt like a cheap shot, manipulative and tacked-on, and left me more annoyed than an insurance company out a few million dollars. Or at least as annoyed as a reader out several hours and $26.50.
My recommendation: rip the last few pages out of the book and pretend they were never there. *plugs ears* Lalalala!
I thought this was a highly entertaining legal thriller--implausible maybe, but who cares as long as it's fun?--until the very end. It lost a whole star with that ending. If you're going to pull off a twist like that, it needs some additional foundation. Foreshadowing. Something.
It felt like a cheap shot, manipulative and tacked-on, and left me more annoyed than an insurance company out a few million dollars. Or at least as annoyed as a reader out several hours and $26.50.
My recommendation: rip the last few pages out of the book and pretend they were never there. *plugs ears* Lalalala!
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
April 30, 2015
– Shelved
April 30, 2015
– Shelved as:
legal-eagles
April 30, 2015
– Shelved as:
mystery
April 30, 2015
– Shelved as:
suspense
April 30, 2015
– Shelved as:
you-call-that-an-ending
Comments Showing 1-22 of 22 (22 new)
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Kim
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Apr 30, 2015 01:44PM
I went off Grisham quite early in the piece. I remember reading his first novel and thinking that it read like a screenplay. Then I discovered it was being made into a film. I assumed (no doubt quite unfairly) that this had been the point of writing it in the first place.
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I thought I'd never find a reason to read a novel by John Grisham in my life, but if a part-time dictator commanded it, I'd probably read most of one.
Joe wrote: "I thought I'd never find a reason to read a novel by John Grisham in my life, but if a part-time dictator commanded it, I'd probably read most of one."I would never demand that anyone read a John Grisham novel! I use my dictatorial powers only for good.
fairly describes the disappointing ending.
Hated the ending. Not worthy of Grisham. Not my favorite. Will there ever be one like The Firm again?
David wrote: "Hated the ending. Not worthy of Grisham. Not my favorite. Will there ever be one like The Firm again?"Not at this point! And I agree about the ending.
Loved the ending. Corrupt guy gets served what he served others. Just because we followed his point of view around for a few hundred pages doesn’t make him right. I had to think about it for a few days but finally came to this conclusion.
Never expected the ending but nevertheless I really love this from grisham
I guess that ending just really rubbed me the wrong way, but I can certainly see how other readers would enjoy it. No right or wrong here; as far as I'm concerned it's a matter of opinion. :)
I just finished this book and I'm so confused about that ending. Why?
BellaGBear wrote: "I just finished this book and I'm so confused about that ending. Why?"The idea, I’m sure, was, let’s do a surprise twist ending! ... but it doesn’t work here for a lot of readers (like me) because it comes so completely out of left field.
I loved the ending. He deserved it. I never believed that everything could be so perfect.
Tadiana ✩Night Owl� wrote: "BellaGBear wrote: "I just finished this book and I'm so confused about that ending. Why?"The idea, I’m sure, was, let’s do a surprise twist ending! ... but it doesn’t work here for a lot of reade..."
Yes indeed! I don't like suprise endings just for the sake of it. A bit of hinting throughout the book would have been nice.
And so we'll all agree to disagree about the merits of the ending of this book. :) But yes, I'm with BellaGBear: surprise twists need at least a little bit of foundation in what came before so they're not a total blindside. At least IMO. Whether or not the character deserves what happens is a different question. (view spoiler)
Tadiana ✩Night Owl� wrote: "And so we'll all agree to disagree about the merits of the ending of this book. :) But yes, I'm with BellaGBear: surprise twists need at least a little bit of foundation in what came before so they..."True, we'll never agree. And it was an entertaining book. (view spoiler)
Great ending, upped my rating one star.
Chris wrote: "Great ending, upped my rating one star."😁
I rated it 4 stars 5 pages before the end and came back to rate it 3 stars when I finished just like you haha
I think the foreshadowing comes in the form of the fact that the stars aligned so perfectly for the protagonist that something had to not go his way. It is very subtle, but after reflection on this unique style, I thought it was pretty clever. The twist does come seemingly out of left field, but then again, I don’t think it would be a “twist� if it didn’t.
Hmm. Personally I feel like twists need, if not foreshadowing, at least some clues in the prior text so that the reader doesn't feel blindsided. Megan Whalen Turner is good at this kind of thing. But it's been so many years since I read this one that I really can't weigh in on it in detail any more. :)
I've just finished reading it and I thought the same about the red. Hugely disappointing. I'm yet to write a review, I found after about half way through it was getting irritating, Patrick's evasiveness was annoying.
Standard comeuppance. He could’ve gone to the FBI instead of stealing the money and filed for divorce.
