- Hardcover: 368 pages
- Publisher: Doubleday; Limited edition (May 4 2004)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0385510446
- ISBN-13: 978-0385510448
- Product Dimensions: 16.8 x 3.4 x 25.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 885 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (347 customer reviews)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Grisham has spent the last few years stretching his creative muscles through a number of genres: his usual legal thrillers (The Summons, The King of Torts, etc.), a literary novel (The Painted House), a Christmas book (Skipping Christmas) and a high school football elegy (Bleachers). This experimentation seems to have imbued his writing with a new strength, giving exuberant life to this compassionate, compulsively readable story of a young man's growth from callowness to something approaching wisdom. Willie Traynor, 23 and a college dropout, is working as a reporter on a small-town newspaper, the Ford County Times, in Clanton, Miss. When the paper goes bankrupt, Willie turns to his wealthy grandmother, who loans him $50,000 to buy it. Backed by a stalwart staff, Willie labors to bring the newspaper back to health. A month after his first issue, he gets the story of a lifetime, the murder of beautiful young widow Rhoda Kasselaw. After being raped and knifed, the nude Rhoda staggered next door and whispered to her neighbor as she was dying, "Danny Padgitt. It was Danny Padgitt." The killer belongs to an infamous clan of crooked highway contractors, killers and drug smugglers who live on impregnable Padgitt Island. Willie splashes the murder all over the Times, making him both an instant success and a marked man. The town is up in arms, demanding Danny's head. After a near miss (the Padgitts are known for buying themselves out of trouble), Danny is convicted and sentenced to life in prison. As he's dragged out of the courtroom, he vows revenge on the jurors. Willie finds, to his consternation, that in Mississippi life doesn't necessarily mean life, so in nine years Danny is back outâ€"and jurors begin to die. Around and through this plot Grisham tells the sad, heroic, moving stories of the eccentric inhabitants of Clanton, a small town balanced between the pleasures and perils of the old and the new South. The novel is heartfelt, wise, suspenseful and funny, one of the best Grishams ever.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.
Review
“Never let it be said this man doesn’t know how to spin a good yarn.” —Entertainment Weekly
“John Grisham is about as good a storyteller as we’ve got in the United States these days.” —New York Times Book Review
“John Grisham may well be the best American storyteller writing today.” —Philadelphia Inquirer
From the Paperback edition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
“John Grisham is about as good a storyteller as we’ve got in the United States these days.” —New York Times Book Review
“John Grisham may well be the best American storyteller writing today.” —Philadelphia Inquirer
From the Paperback edition. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
After decades of patient mismanagement and loving neglect, The Ford County Times went bankrupt in 1970. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
After decades of patient mismanagement and loving neglect, The Ford County Times went bankrupt in 1970. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt
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Most helpful customer reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Last but not least,
This review is from: The Last Juror (Mass Market Paperback)
When I decided to read THE LAST JUROR about two weeks ago and bought it from my local store - the main reason was the summary I read on the cover recanting what seemed to be an exciting tale of a defendant being spared his life yet seeking revenge on the jury that convicted then sentenced him to life in prison. What I found the real story to be is following a young gumshoe news reporter and his experiences with the people in a small southern town. Yes, it begins with a murder and there is a significant plot surrounding it - but don't be fooled into thinking this is a legal courtroom thriller by any stretch of the imagination. It more so narrates a small towns activities and how a community reacts to rather big events such as the previously mentioned murder trial mixing in their traditions with politics, people and work. Also recommended: BARK OF THE DOGWOOD.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The first,
This review is from: The Last Juror (Mass Market Paperback)
This is my first Grisham book so I can't really argue the points that some have stated. I'm familiar with the movies which were made from his books, but the actual novels themselves have escaped my attention. With that said, I found THE LAST JUROR to be exceptional. I came to it with an open mind and liked the southern setting and story. It wasn't too violent and the characters were believeable. I also recently enjoyed another book called THE BARK OF THE DOGWOOD by Jackson McCrae. It wasn't anything like THE LAST JUROR but was very interesting and the writing is beautiful.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Great Small Town Story of truth and justice,,
By
This review is from: The Last Juror (Mass Market Paperback)
I thought this story of the little Southern town; its small town newspaper owner and its citizens was just a super read. I enjoyed the world of Willie as he became more known by the folks of this Mississippi hamlet.Mr. Crisham did an excellent jobe of developing his character in such a way that I couldn't help but read page after page wondering what adventure he would stumble into. Without hesitation I would recommend this book to all my friends.
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