Rating: 
Summary: Page turner!!
Review: I was getting bored with Grisham so approached this one warily...and got really hooked. The characters are really well described and you care about what is happening to them. A real time capsule of what it was like in the South in the 70's. Don't miss this one!
Rating: 
Summary: Bait and Switch
Review: Thought it would be another great courtroom thriller like Runaway Jury or The Partner. Instead, it's a long winded, wandering human interest story.
Rating: 
Summary: A Bundle for the Grishamite, a speck of fun for others
Review: Look, this is not the firm. This is not the Runaway jury or rainmaker. This is more of the "time to kill" setting. Its a more relaxed book. A lot of description of the ppl of the town of county. Its more like the life and times of a particular village. Very Earthy. Thriller is secondary, the people here are primary. Divided into 3 sections. Book 2 section is very boring indeed. Its just to make it a decently fat book and increase word count. Not that great a novel, read it if you want to read every Grisham on the shelf.Very simple, kindergarden variety legal thriller. Black and white. Good guy, bad guy. Bad guy is very bad but keeps getting away. Comic book type. But I guess Grisham wanted it to be kind of caricaturish. Its abt a young who buys a newspaper and his decent ascend in making his paper successful commercially. On the way the paper and the owner (our protagonist) cover the story of a member of the (bad bad wolf) paget family. The guy has committed rape and there's a trial and well...considering there is not much to tell in this book, I dont want to spoil the teeny weeny speck of fun you'll have reading it.
Rating:
Summary: Boring, although not as bad as A Painted House
Review: In between the taut exciting thrillers Grisham used to wirte and the pointless drivel of A Painted House and Skipping Christmas. The first part was pretty good, not predictable at all, but then he just changed modes and starting droning on and on about boring small town life and didn't get back to the story until near the end. I long for the days of The Firm, A Time To Kill, The Partner, The Runaway Jury. Those were books I couldn't put down. It's been several years since Grisham's produced anything like that. This will be the last hardcover Grishal novel I buy--from now on, I wait for the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly Surprised!
Review: I haven't read any of Grisham's books since The Rainmaker, but my girlfriend convinced me to read this one because she really liked it. I found myself absorbed into the story and turned the pages until the end. Well-written, and a good read even for those folks who don't get into courtroom drama (like myself). The only dissapointment for me was a somewhat abrupt ending.
Rating:
Summary: I loved it
Review: Well, one thing this latest Grisham book is not short on is controversy. No, it's NOT a legal thriller in the sense of his other books, but the writing is something of a cross between THE FIRM and A PAINTED HOUSE. Grisham is merging his styles and ideas in this book. So many times we want our favorite authors to stick to one genre, but they're people as well as writers and need to grow. Give the guy a break. This is a good read. No, it's not a page-turner in the sense of some of his other books, but it's still better than most of the stuff out there. Also recommended: POMPEII and McCrae's BARK OF THE DOGWOOD
Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully Written; Restores My Faith In Grisham
Review: For me, just one reader, The Last Juror, stands out among all of John Grisham's novels as his very finest work. With The Last Juror, Grisham shows himself to be an author who has arrived at a point where he is able to pull it all together in a carefully developed, richly written story. The characters are introduced with great attention to detail and as a reader I was quickly drawn into the story and it's setting. The plot is strongly constructed and stays solid through the story's end. Each character is unusual and interesting enough to grow quickly interested in them; some even begin to feel like old friends by the end. The setting is nicely depicted and Grisham's prose really comes across with a sense of what it might be like to be in Clanton, Mississippi during the events of this story. At one level, The Last Juror is a story that revolves around the brutal rape and murder of one of Clanton, Mississippi's widows and the trial of the man accused. Yet, moreover, this is a story of a town, its history and traditions, its newspaper and of some of the local citizenry. Narrated by Willie Traynor, the young new owner (and outsider) of the town's newspaper, Grisham conveys some touching stories of Traynor's own development from a lackluster college dropout to a highly moral newspaper publisher. He weaves in some of the historical and present day tension between the black and the communities of Clanton, tells some of the story of the town's efforts to muddle through integration and richly communicates the story of one tremendously influential African American role model in the community. And, he does all this without being ponderous. The Last Juror while dealing with a sad incident has a real sense of personality and even a bit of comedy about it. From my perspective The Last Juror has some of the same rich feel of a novel I have long had great appreciation for, Staggerford, written by Jon Hassler. While Hassler wasn't a mystery writer, and his setting was Northern Minnesota and not the Deep South, the rich and complex writing about one town and it's goings on, has much the same feel. Kudos to Grisham on this one! Highly Recommended! Daniel J. Maloney
Saint Paul, Minnesota USA
Rating:
Summary: Southern storytelling at its best
Review: In "The Last Juror" Grisham returns to Clanton Mississippi, the setting for "A Time To Kill." When a young widow is brutally raped and murdered, she names her assailant with her last dying breath: Danny Padgitt, a son of the dangerous and powerful crime family that seems to own Clanton. Willie Traynor, the young reporter who buys the local newspaper when it falls into bankrupcy, covers the case in the paper and befriends Miss Callie, the matriarch of the amazing Ruffin family and the first black woman juror in Ford County. Danny is tried and found guilty, but he receives life imprisonment instead of the death penalty. When he is released on parole after only nine years and returns to Clanton, the jurors who convicted him begin to die one by one, and the remaining jurors fear for their lives. This novel features not only the setting of Grisham's earliest novel, but also the reappearance of its lawyers Lucien Wilbanks and Harry Rex Vonner. It covers some of the same issues of race and criminal justice. But if you are expecting this story to be similar to its predecessor, you might be disappointed. For one thing, the protagonist here is Willie Traynor rather than a lawyer. The story does contain some tense courtroom drama, but that comprises only part of the novel. Instead we see the gentler and softer-hearted Grisham as represented in some of his latest works such as "Bleachers" and "Skipping Christmas." After the fast-paced trial and while Danny is in prison, the story changes direction to indulge in some good old-fashioned Southern storytelling. Through the voice of newspaper owner Traynor, a northerner who views the town with the eyes of an outsider but who comes to care for its inhabitants, Grisham shows his affection for Southern small town life. Grisham's descriptions and characterizations are so lovingly crafted that I felt I had attended a goat barbecue, sampled some powerful moonshine, sat on the balcony above the town square gossiping with and about the locals, played poker in the backwoods, visited every church in the county, and had lunch on Miss Callie's porch. The story is peppered with humor and folk wisdom. The ending, although sad, is satisfying. I strongly recommend this novel for readers who appreciate both the vintage and newer Grisham works. Eileen Rieback
Rating:
Summary: Not a good read at all
Review: I read some of the other reviews raving about this book. I have to ask myself if we were reading the same book. This was a 50 page book written on 350 pages. Very little actual plot. Actually, it reminded me, at times, of a poorly edited movie. I hope Grisham hasn't lost it. I enjoyed the King of Torts immensely, but this one was a real dud.
Rating:
Summary: John Grisham Strikes Gold!
Review: I am such a JG nutt! He is one of the few writers I read in this genre. I usually read romance novels but every once in awhile I enjoy a good mystery and when I feel like a good mystery I go in search of a JG novel. I loved this story, thought it was thrilling! I know you will agree. Buy the book and see for yourself!
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