Doubleday will publish the sequel to John Grisham’s bestseller The Firm this fall. The new legal thriller, titled The Exchange: After The Firm, will mark the return of protagonist Mitch McDeere; publication dates is October 17.

The announcement was made today by Grisham’s publisher, Suzanne Herz, EVP, Publisher Vintage/Anchor Books, and rights to the work were sold by David Gernert at The Gernert Company.

The book will be published by Doubleday in hardcover, as an ebook, and in audio by Penguin Random House. Anchor will published it in trade paper a year later. An announced hardcover first printing of 1.5 million copies has been set .

“When last seen in The Firm, Mitch McDeere and his wife Abby were fleeing Memphis with the bad guys in hot pursuit,” says Grisham. “Now they’re back, fifteen 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 and I hope readers have as much fun with the novel as I am writing it.”

The Firm has not been out of print since its first publication in 1991. The movie version starring Tom Cruise, released 30 years ago, is the highest-grossing Grisham adaptation to date with a box office of over $270 million.