John Grisham, The Last Juror

The Last Juror by John Grisham is a well-written story with colorful characters and a fast-paced plot. This is definitely one of Grisham's best.

What can I say? Another brilliant bit of writing from John Grisham. The final coup was in the revelation (unwritten) that poor old Danny Padgitt had not in fact been carrying out his murderous threat but that Hank Hooten, previously mentioned and described, (almost as if to simply add colour) as a rather ineffectual second fiddle to the Prosecution Counsel, and then almost as if in a parallel plot in the shooting from the roof scene, had flushed Danny out and off the Island in a most twisted, bloody but brilliant plot, and carried out the final summary execution.

I found John Grisham, The Last Juror appalling. To begin with, the reader is lead into a false pretense of the general plot of the novel by simply reading the back cover of the book. In a section, which is on principal meant to offer a perspective reader only a glimpse into the adventure awaiting them within the text, this editor rather provides almost an entire summery of the novel (although neglecting to mention the 200 pages or so of sheer self-serving nonsense Mr. Grisham fills). Besides a basic lack of suspense, or more frankly, a basic lack of anything and everything this awful novel promises, my most fervent complaint is the blatant and unrelenting assault the author makes of the intellects of his reader. On the outside, this "fun" little read should be a cheap, drugstore mystery intended for airplane travels and summer laziness. However, during very, very long digressions from the main plot, Mr. Grisham insists on spouting his views of sex, religion, marriage, the south, the law civil rights, and anything else he can manage to lay his hands on. About half of the novel could be extracted due to the sheer pointlessness of the text. Even then, however, I'm afraid to say. Do not read this book. After you finish reading this review, never think about this book again. Your intelligence and your future time will thank me for it.

The Last Juror by John Grisham focused on a time when the civil rights movement was just starting to happen. I enjoyed the fact that Ms. Callie was the last juror selected. She was also the first black juror selected, and what I really thank Mr. Grisham for, is focusing on a black family who had a humble beginning and were very poor and uneducated, however each one of Ms. Callie's kids managed to attend college and receive PHD's.

Mr. Grisham focused on Ms. Callie's (even though she had no formal education) excellent diction, great English, and grammar skills, and she was a christian who accepted everyone unconditionally. She welcomed a stranger into her home for dinner, and accepted him as part of the family.

I guess I like this story because my parents and ancestors were raised in the south, and I find most southern blacks very friendly towards anyone.

The last juror touched me because I could relate to the civil rights struggles, and also to Ms. Callie and her family.

Excerpt form the book ... How much education did you receive? It was a sensitive question in a society where, for many decades, education had not been stressed. It was 1970, and Mississippi still had no public kindergarten and no mandatory school attendance laws.

She laughed, giving me the full benefits of those teeth. "I finished the ninth grade, Mr. Traynor."

Thanks for writing such a great book!

A true fan!!

John Grisham, The Last Juror - I loved the trial and the ending, but the ending kept you hanging, I thought.

The Last Juror

John Grisham

Doubleday, Feb 2004, $27.95

ISBN: 0385510438

By 1970 the Ford County Times went bankrupt sped up by local boycotts when the owning family began adding obits of Negroes to the newspaper. Former cub reporter Willie Traynor, who went north for college, drops out of school, takes over the troubled paper from the aging Caudle family to the dismay of most of the white populace of the Mississippi County.

Willie's paper gets a circulation boost when the police arrest Danny Padget for the vicious rape murder of Rhoda Kasellaw, a widow mother of two young children, who identified the culprit before she died. Being a spoiled member of a prominent family, Danny threatens the jurors if they convict him, which they surprisingly do as the evidence besides the deathbed statement of the victim is overwhelming. Less than a decade later, Danny is freed and the jurors are being killed off one by one. Willie, who admired the first black juror in the county's history, Miss Callie Ruffin, risks his life to keep her safe, but retribution is coming.

The insightful look at little things that add up to major social relationships in 1970s Mississippi during a time of revolutionary change is John Grisham at his best. Those minor items like an obituary for a deceased black person or the first black juror brings the era into stark reality. However, when the tale twists into a serial killer storyline, that subplot is very exciting, but also takes the focus away from the social lens of change and upheaval. Still John Grisham entertains his fans with a terse suspense tale that is

quite as superb as A TIME TO KILL, thus pleasing his vast readership.

Harriet Klausner