Hodder to publish ‘landmark’ follow-up to Grisham’s classic novel The Firm

Hodder & Stoughton has announced plans to publish a “landmark” new novel by John Grisham: The Exchange, a  follow-up to his 1991 novel The Firm.

UK and Commonwealth rights to the book were acquired by Hodder m.d. Oli Malcolm and publisher Oliver Johnson from David Gernert at The Gernert Company in New York. It will be published in hardback, e-book and audiobook on 17th October 2023.

The Exchange will see the return of Mitch McDeere, the protagonist of The Firm, which was adapted into a film, released 30 years ago this year, starring Tom Cruise.

Johnson, Grisham’s long-time UK editor, said: “One day in spring 1990, as a junior editor struggling to make his mark, I had the luckiest break of my infant career – at that time submissions from literary agents didn’t arrive with an elegant electronic ‘ping’ but by courier in large Jiffy bags.

“On that particular day, some four hundred pages of typescript thudded into my in-tray. Inside was a novel called The Firm by an unknown Southern writer called John Grisham. I started reading it right away. Each of the 400 pages was hypnotically readable and viscerally exciting. A few hours later I was convinced I had in my hands a potential global bestseller. The rest is history – The Firm launched the career of one of the world’s bestselling authors. We are incredibly excited to be publishing The Exchange this autumn. It’s sure to thrill millions of fans as much as its famous predecessor 32 years ago."

Grisham said: “When last seen in The Firm, Mitch McDeere and his wife Abby were fleeing Memphis with the bad guys in hot pursuit. Now they’re back, 15 years later, and living in New York where Mitch is an international lawyer and a partner in a mega-firm. His work takes him across the globe, and not always to safe places. During a trip to Libya, his trusted associate is kidnapped and an execution is threatened unless an enormous ransom is paid. Only Mitch can facilitate the exchange. I hope readers have as much fun with the novel as I am writing it.”