Rating: 
Summary: It's not really a mystery, but it's still a great read!
Review: John Grisham's The Last Juror is a very good read, but it is not a mystery. It's the story of a college dropout, who finds acceptance after becoming a newspaper publisher. Grisham sets the story in Clanton, Mississippi. The setting of his first novel, A Time To Kill. Several of the characters from that book are back in this one. The unusual characters are what makes the book so enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: John Grisham at his Best
Review: Willie Traynor, a long-haired twenty-three-year-old, who drives a Triumph Spitfire, arrives in Clanton, Mississippi in 1970, with the bright idea of buying the Ford County Times with money he'd borrowed from his grandmother. According to one of his friends the paper would be a gold mine as long as he stayed away from controversy and just covered local news and local events, like church socials, basketball games and obituaries.But controversy comes calling when a young widow is stabbed and bleeds to death, naming Danny Padgitt as the man who raped her in front of her children before she dies. The Padgitt clan is a corrupt and vicious group of former moonshiners who've shifted the family business from booze to drugs. When Padgitt is convicted and sentenced to life, he swears revenge on the jurors and under Mississippi law, a life sentence can be as short as 10 years. In less than a decade, Padgitt is released and the first two jurors are killed. The juror of the title is Miss Callie Ruffin, an elderly black woman who takes a liking to Willie and begins inviting him over at mealtimes. She is the matriarch of a black family and is the last juror picked for the trial. Willie is worried about all of the jurors' safety, but he is particularly worried about Miss Callie, who in the years Padgitt had been in prison, had become a very close friend. Not only is THE LAST JUROR filled with the tension and suspense you'd expect from a book by Mr. Grisham, it also paints a detailed portrait of a small southern town, peopled with residents readers can't help but like. By the time you finish the book, you'll feel like you've been reading about family. Haley Lawford, S/V Cheerleader Too
Rating: 
Summary: COULD NOT WAIT TO PUT IT DOWN
Review: MY WIFE READ IT, SAID IT WAS OK. SHE AND I HAVE READ EVERY GRISHAM BOOK AND LIKED MOST. THIS BOOK BORED ME TO TEARS. IF IT WAS 10 CHAPTERS INSTEAD OF 40 PLUS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD SHORT STORY. DONT BUY IT, BORROW IT IF YOU MUST READ THE LATEST GRISHAM.
Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: This was an excellent book. I've read many of Grisham's books, lately I've been reading Stephen King. I've only begun reading again the past three months. I bought this book at an airport for my flight across the US. I picked it up on a Sunday and finished it on Tuesday. It was a great book, hard to put down. I was happier reading this book than I would have been watching my favorite TV shows. For me, that is saying quite a bit. Keeps you guessing til the end. Grisham comes through again!
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Summary: Grisham revisited
Review: When John Grisham's first book was published I read it and thought it mildly good. When the second book was published I read that one also and that one was not very good. I was not surprised when I read he had actually submitted it for publishing some years prior to the first one that WAS published. I concluded his writing was trite and perfect for fleshing out in movies. Even though I read two books a week on average I have successfully avoided reading any more of his until the other day when a friend gave me The Last Juror and not having anything else to read I read it. This book is trite, predictable, cliche-ridden and thoroughly boring. The main character writing in the first person is selfish, posturing and patronizing. His descriptions of his weekly food gorging are disgusting. I suspect this book was actually written chapter by chapter over a period of years when Mr Grisham was a student in a Mississippi high school and polished off for publication counting on todays' literary appetites i.e. The New York Times Best Seller Lists. However, I am surprised this latest one even met that smell test.
Rating: 
Summary: comfortable but no suspense
Review: Grisham weaves a book that is comfortable to read but which provides no suspense and no mystery. If you've ever wondered whast it would be like to live in a small Mississippi town in the 1970s (sitting on the porch, sipping sweet tea after a home-cooked meal) then you'd appreciate this book. It doesn't get much more exciting except for a snippet here and there.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Grisham
Review: I have read all of John Grisham's books. Some I loved (The Pelican Brief) and some I hated (A Painted House, The Chamber), but all were well written. The Last Juror is no exception. Like more recent of Grisham's books, this is more a narrative than a classic who done it. It is a fast paced, easy read (I finished it in four days). The climax appears to occur about half way through the story, leaving the reader to wonder what is in store for the last 100 pages or so. The author doesn't dissapoint, offering an all too real account of life in a small town in the South, adding a small twist at the end wich makes for a fun read. While this book lacks the complexity and intrigue of The Pelican Brief, it is a good read. Anyone who grew up in a small town will find the story compelling. You will identify with the characters. I liked it better than The King of Torts, the Bretheren and Run Away Jury which I thought were average efforts for John Grisham. If you like John Grisham, you'll like this one as well.
Rating:
Summary: Slightly misleading title, but a great book no less
Review: This book is a great one. A really interesting read. As a boy who was born in 83, it's really interesting to dive into the segregated world of the early 70's and see life on both sides of the track. This book is more or less about corruption. Corruption of politics, corruption of justice, corruption of the mind. Every character seems to have enough depth to have an entire book written about just them. With this in mind, trying to predict how the book will end will drive you nuts. The suprise ending had me, litterally, gasp out loud. When the moment clicks in your mind, you'll look back on the book and wonder how you didn't figure it out earlier. All in all, this is a fun read. I was able to crank this bad boy out in just under a week; i just couldn't seem to let the book sit on the table. I must say, I'm a huge John Grisham fan to begin with, so my review may be a bit biased. Buut anyone who doesn't feal their heart strings tug at the end of this book must be made of ice. Don't expect the thrilling, chapter after chapter of suspense. This book is a great story and, for lack of a better way to describe it, just feels real. In short, i loved it, you should buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: As thrilling as sitting on a porch watching paint peel
Review: After a hiatus from Grisham for awhile - I bought this one because all of the reviews said it was a THRILLER and had great characterizations. Something - up until now, he seems only have been able to do with one or the other. The book blurbs definitely overpromise and under-deliver. Supposedly it's about a jury case in which the jurors start showing up dead after finding the defendant guilty - that all occurs in about the last 50 pages. The rest is filled with endless points going nowhere, and is about as suspenseful as watching the sugar melt in iced tea - which he devotes a good paragraph too. In addition, he was apparently very hungry while writing this one. Endless pages are spent describing home-cooked southern meals and the general attitudes of Southerners in the 70's - which would be just fine if they moved the story along in anyway. But then there's really not much of a story to begiin with - so why not at least make you get up and get a snack while you're reading it???
Rating:
Summary: A laid back, charming novel
Review: John Grisham is back with an engrossing story of 1970's era Clanton, Mississipi. Willie Traynor is the narrator for this novel in which he buys the local newspaper at the young age of 23 and through this position witnesses all the ups and downs of the town for a decade. When a local woman is raped and murdered, Danny Padgitt is put on trial and convicted. Padgitt, related to a family of thieves and crooks, threatens the jury. Padgitt is sentenced to life instead of the death penalty, and is paroled in ten years. You learn this much by reading the summary of the book. Grisham then spends much time bringing the town of Clanton to life while slowly moving the plot along. Traynor befriends an elderly black woman named Callie Ruffin and often hangs out with Harry Rex Vonner. Traynor visits every church in the county and joins the fight in Walmart type stores invading small towns. While Traynor is the narrator of the story, I never got involved much with his character. While he is a reporter, he sees almost everything, he never really does much. I think Grisham intended Traynor to be the eyes through which we view this small town and all its charms. The plot moves along too slowly at times, but when it does pick up at the end, you feel like you know everything there is to know about the town and its people. Grisham is still one of the best out there. This novel is long and somewhat complex (especially when compared to some other efforts like the Summons.) I enjoyed this amusing and entertaining look at small town life and all of its crazy characters. I recommend this Grisham book to anyone.
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