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Somewhere, in a comfy office in a prestigious law firm in Los Angeles, sits the Anonymous Lawyer (let’s call him AL), the ruthless partner in charge of hiring. AL has been at the firm for eighteen years, working around the clock—and spending as little time as possible with his family—working with one goal in mind: to someday become the chairman of the firm.
As AL performs his duties as the firm’s hiring partner, preparing to spend the summer babysitting the latest round of summer interns, he faces another challenge. The Chairman has just retired—and AL needs to win over The New Chairman and set himself up as The New Chairman’s eventual replacement. But he’s got to act fast—because The Jerk is after the chairman’s office, too. The Jerk has been at the firm as long as AL has—and they’ve been rivals ever since. The two of them have been waiting in line for their chance to become the firm’s chairman—and if The Jerk beats out AL, then his years of servitude have been a total waste.
Since AL really doesn’t have anyone to talk to (he has no time for friends, after all), he starts a blog to vent his frustrations. The only one who shares his secret is Anonymous Niece—a Stanford graduate who’s on her way to Yale Law School. On his blog, AL can rant in anonymity about The Jerk and his other co-workers—The Tax Guy, The Fat Guy, The One Who Missed Her Kid’s Funeral, The Frumpy Litigator. And he can devise his secret plans for his summer interns—The Suck-Up, The Musician, The Girl Who Dresses Like a Slut. Or at least he can until someone in the firm discovers the blog.
Anonymous Lawyer is a novel in the form of blog entries and email messages. The fictional blogger is shockingly brutal and, at times, pretty offensive—and that makes reading the book fun. I can promise that it won’t be long before you start giving the people around you anonymous nicknames and mentally writing your own blog about them. Especially in the beginning, this book is laugh-out-loud funny—so funny, in fact, that I found myself sharing lines from the book with anyone who would listen.
As the book progresses, however, it begins to drag. The blog entries, which were just plain fun to read, get bogged down by more and more emails from Anonymous Niece, as well as by various co-workers. As AL becomes more obsessed with bringing down The Jerk—and his blog becomes more fantasy and less reality—I found that it just wasn’t as much fun anymore. Granted, it was still fun—just not as much.
Despite the second-half lull, however, the book’s dark humor more than makes up for it—and I still recommend Anonymous Lawyer. It’s a fiendishly fun read.
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