SOURCE: "Murky Maneuvers in a Lethal Law Firm," in Newsweek, Vol. CXVII, No. 8, February 25, 1991, p. 63.

Prescott is an American editor, nonfiction writer, and critic. In the following review of The Firm, he lauds Grisham's ability to write a compelling, though frequently improbable, plot.

What Robin Cook did for hospitals, John Grisham does for a law firm in his highly entertaining thriller, The Firm. What evil lurks within the file drawers of Bendini, Lambert & Locke, a private tax outfit in Memphis? You'd think a bright fellow like Mitchell McDeere, third in his Harvard Law class, might be suspicious when the partners offer him $80,000 to start, plus bonuses, a BMW, low mortgage, two country clubs and his school debts paid off. He'll work 100 hours a week at first, they tell him, but he'll be a partner and a millionaire in 10 years—and as for job security, nobody ever leaves the...