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The Juror Abridged

The Juror Abridged

List Price: $17.00
Your Price: $17.00
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Only Partly plausible
Review: The premise, jury tampering, is plausible and smacks of John Grisham's The Runaway Jury, with a twist at the end of the trial. It is at this twist that I feel the author takes leave of reality and slips into fantasy where the all-knowing villain can bug, anything, track anything and thwart any attempt to capture him, without explaining how all this was accomplished. A little foray into cults, a little sex and a lot of violence make this novel less plausible

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The trial's OK, but why go on after that?
Review: The story opens with a great premise - a mobster on trial for murder has his psychotic friend and enforcer select one member of the jury, and threaten all she holds dear unless she can persuade the rest of the jury to return a verdict of "not guilty". While the book deals with the trial and the deliberations of the jurors, it's gripping, terrifying, and makes you wonder what could possibly happen next.

But then the verdict comes in - and you discover that there's still a third of the book left - and from that point on, the story takes a sharp turn into overkill. What happens after the verdict is given is totally unbelievable - although, to Green's credit, the eventual resolution of the story did pique my interest again. The characters of the Teacher and Annie are totally believable - again, right up until the verdict is read, and then I couldn't believe a thing they did afterwards.

The best character in the story? Slavko Czernyk, the private detective who's killed off about halfway through. What a pity. If Green had made him the principal character, or if he had resolved the plot almost immediately after the verdict, this would have been a compelling, un-putdownable thriller. As it is, though, this book reminds me of a lot of movie reviews I've heard recently - great first and second acts, but it collapses in the third act.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Entertainment with a little extra
Review: This novel doesn't pretend to be anything other than a diversion. It gives the reader exactly what he bargained for. Beyond that the book provides a deeper level of characterization than you usually find in such novels. I particularly enjoyed how attractive the author made the villain. It added an element of excitement. I also liked the way the main character faced up to the private quality of her trendy art boxes. On the other hand, I found the young boy's sexual obsession with the juror's girlfriend odd and out of place. It was kind of distateful without contributing anything to the plot. That is just a quibble however, this is a good airplane novel.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Entertainment with a little extra
Review: This novel doesn't pretend to be anything other than a diversion. It gives the reader exactly what he bargained for. Beyond that the book provides a deeper level of characterization than you usually find in such novels. I particularly enjoyed how attractive the author made the villain. It added an element of excitement. I also liked the way the main character faced up to the private quality of her trendy art boxes. On the other hand, I found the young boy's sexual obsession with the juror's girlfriend odd and out of place. It was kind of distateful without contributing anything to the plot. That is just a quibble however, this is a good airplane novel.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Characters revealed, love protrayed!
Review: Very interestingly, the author is able to grip on to your attention with its constant change in the plot and switching between characters. I am baffled by how a twist in one's life can result in so much change.

Initially, I had thought what a weakling Annie was for having succumbed to the pressure and demand of "The Teacher" but to soon realise that she is in fact stronger than I have thought. Her want to protect Oliver (her son) is a testimony of her inner strengths and courage! This is clearly shown towards the end when the author clearly depicts her emotions; which also resulted from the chains of events that had happened.

I am particularly intrigued by the charms of Zach Lyde ("The Teacher" - known with several other names in the books) of his strong instincts, his wealth of knowledge. The author managed to develop this central character of the novel to an extent that makes one feel terrified, and really hoping that there's wouldn't be such a person that exists in this world who can work powerfully on the psychology of others.

The light touch of the book, and yet a strong point driven across was about the greatness of motherly love - how much a child means to his/her mother and to what extend she will be there to protect the child. Such an important lesson and yet so succinctly put across by the author.

A great novel for a good weekend read. You find it hard to put the book down once you start reading it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Characters revealed, love protrayed!
Review: Very interestingly, the author is able to grip on to your attention with its constant change in the plot and switching between characters. I am baffled by how a twist in one's life can result in so much change.

Initially, I had thought what a weakling Annie was for having succumbed to the pressure and demand of "The Teacher" but to soon realise that she is in fact stronger than I have thought. Her want to protect Oliver (her son) is a testimony of her inner strengths and courage! This is clearly shown towards the end when the author clearly depicts her emotions; which also resulted from the chains of events that had happened.

I am particularly intrigued by the charms of Zach Lyde ("The Teacher" - known with several other names in the books) of his strong instincts, his wealth of knowledge. The author managed to develop this central character of the novel to an extent that makes one feel terrified, and really hoping that there's wouldn't be such a person that exists in this world who can work powerfully on the psychology of others.

The light touch of the book, and yet a strong point driven across was about the greatness of motherly love - how much a child means to his/her mother and to what extend she will be there to protect the child. Such an important lesson and yet so succinctly put across by the author.

A great novel for a good weekend read. You find it hard to put the book down once you start reading it.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I was expecting something else
Review: With a title like "The Juror", and a blurb by Scott Turow (Presumed Innocent) on the cover, I was expecting a legal drama/thriller, which this book isn't.

The characters of Annie and the Teacher are good, but the one you identify with is Slavko Czernyk, and there isn't enough of this guy in the book ..

A word about the Teacher - Turow compared this character to Hannibal Lecter, saying "The Teacher makes Hannibal seem like a vegetarian." I don't think it's fair to compare these two villains, since they are two different kinds of villains that evoke different emotions from the reader. Hannibal evokes fear, you are scared of Lecter. While the Teacher evokes anger, you aren't scared of him but you simply hate him. So while both these villains are great, it isn't fair to compare them ..

Overall, Green is a passionate writer & this book is worth a read. But don't expect a lot of courtroom scenes and legal stuff (like in Grisham's and Turow's books), this is a good thriller with quite a lot of action (especially towards the end).

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: I was expecting something else
Review: With a title like "The Juror", and a blurb by Scott Turow (Presumed Innocent) on the cover, I was expecting a legal drama/thriller, which this book isn't.

The characters of Annie and the Teacher are good, but the one you identify with is Slavko Czernyk, and there isn't enough of this guy in the book ..

A word about the Teacher - Turow compared this character to Hannibal Lecter, saying "The Teacher makes Hannibal seem like a vegetarian." I don't think it's fair to compare these two villains, since they are two different kinds of villains that evoke different emotions from the reader. Hannibal evokes fear, you are scared of Lecter. While the Teacher evokes anger, you aren't scared of him but you simply hate him. So while both these villains are great, it isn't fair to compare them ..

Overall, Green is a passionate writer & this book is worth a read. But don't expect a lot of courtroom scenes and legal stuff (like in Grisham's and Turow's books), this is a good thriller with quite a lot of action (especially towards the end).


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