One of literature's most famous whistleblowers, attorney Mitch McDeere of John Grisham's "The Firm," will soon be back in action — and back in trouble.

Doubleday announced Wednesday that Grisham's "The Exchange," a sequel to his million-selling breakout book from 32 years ago, will be published Oct. 17. The new novel takes place 15 years after McDeere and his wife, Abby, helped expose underworld ties at a Memphis firm and fled for their lives. The McDeeres are now in New York, where he's a partner in the world's largest international legal practice.

"His work takes him across the globe, and not always to safe places," Grisham said in a statement. "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, and I hope readers have as much fun with the novel as I am writing it."

"The Firm" was Grisham's second book, after "A Time to Kill," and the basis for the hit film of the same name starring Tom Cruise. In 2012, it was adapted into a television series starring Josh Lucas and set a decade after the original story.