|
Each February, a Grisham novel hits the stores and immediately scores a place at the top of the bestseller list. What ensures this success? Some of it has to do with predictability; some with unpredictability. Cracking the spine of a Grisham thriller, readers know they find themselves submerged in a legal battle. The characters that will be encountered and the social issues that might be addressed are unpredictable. This combined with the effects of law and the legal system on everyman --- and just plain good storytelling --- makes Grisham's books intriguing adventures. THE LAST JUROR does not disappoint at any of these levels.
Many readers think Grisham's first book was THE FIRM, but that book was not Grisham's first publication. A TIME TO KILL was his first shot at courtroom fiction. Fifteen years ago, with a press run of 5,000, a small Southern publisher published A TIME TO KILL in Grisham's home state. The book received little notoriety until the popularity of THE FIRM and Grisham's second blockbuster, THE PELICAN BRIEF. After its re-release, A TIME TO KILL reached not only the bestseller list but was also a popular movie
THE LAST JUROR is set in the fictitious town of Clanton, Mississippi, in Ford County, which readers may recall was the setting for A TIME TO KILL, Grisham's first book. The events that are the narrative of THE LAST JUROR are recounted through the eyes of Willie Traynor, a Memphis-born and eastern-educated journalist. He comes to Clanton because one of his fellow journalism students advised him that a small local newspaper was in fact a gold mine; in addition to printing newspapers, his presses would make him fast money. After a short-term internship for the Ford County Times, the paper is forced into bankruptcy. Fortunately, Willie has what every young entrepreneur needs to start a business: a wealthy relative. With $50,000 borrowed from his grandmother, Willie rescues the paper from bankruptcy and begins his career as editor, publisher and reporter for the Ford County Times.
Potential readers need not fear that Grisham has written a tale of journalists and the woes of publishing a weekly tabloid. Be assured that the Grisham formula of crime, courtrooms and attorneys is still a cornerstone of this novel. In fact, savvy Grisham readers will note that several of the attorneys who they previously met in A TIME TO KILL also are characters in this novel.
The crime that forms the foundation of THE LAST JUROR is a brutal rape and murder committed by Danny Padgitt, scion of a powerful outlaw Ford County family. Residents fear Padgitt will use his power and influence to escape punishment for his crime. The trial occupies a substantial portion of the book and reaches an ugly climax when the defendant, upon completing his testimony and leaving the witness stand, turns to the jury and announces, "You convict me and I'll get every damned one of you."
One of the jurors threatened is Miss Callie Ruffin. Willie meets Miss Callie as he is writing a local interest article about her unique family. All of Callie's children, save one, have overcome the segregated life of Mississippi in the 1960s to become college professors. Like many blacks in that era, they left the South to accomplish their goals. Traynor goes to Miss Callie's house in order to write about this remarkable woman and the rest, as they say, is fate. Miss Callie is selected to be the first African American to serve on a jury in Ford County. She is the last juror selected in the trial of Danny Padgitt.
There is something loving and stirring when John Grisham writes about his native Mississippi. His affection for his home state shows, as he describes not only the people of the South but the lifestyle they have cultivated. As Grisham describes the region during the tumultuous time frame of the Civil Rights era and the Vietnam War, he is honest enough to acknowledge both the good and bad of the region. Reading Grisham, the reader is struck by the fact that the South is not as evil as most Northerners often portray, but also not as noble as most Southerners would like to believe.
In addition to the historical ruminations about his beloved South, Grisham delivers the twisting and turning conclusion that his readers have grown to expect. THE LAST JUROR may be the best of his recent novels. Just like Miss Callie's comforting home cooking, it is pleasant to have another John Grisham novel on the reading table --- and it's as satisfying to complete this as it is to finish a fine meal of Southern cuisine.
--- Reviewed by Stuart Shiffman
• Click here now to buy this book from Amazon.
© Copyright 1996-2009, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
Back to top.
|
