Customer Reviews

A Time to Kill

5 star:		(220)
4 star:		(58)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

fast pace action gives the reader a great read. I will be looking for John's next story and but him in my collection.

I should say even I liked it more than "The Firm". great writing. great explain of location and places. wonder if John G. could write such good if he weren't a lawyer himself ! I'd like to see the movie was made based on this novel.

John grisham who is about to publish this fall an interesting work the racketeer,the same title as famed carole lombard's first film,in one of his early works deals with one of his favorite themes:innocence. All the trademarks are here the alleged criminal and how he is dealt with in the legal system,by lawyers,judges,the medical community and others in the legal profession. Here there is a twist and a change..just for your discomfort. Although the author draws on his experience with the black-white community in chicago,he transports that mental conflict to the fictional town of clanton,as in the clanton gang and ford county,with the sheriff and the posse,personified as the mob,and does innocence have any chance to shine through...and what do people really want? This is one of his longer efforts,his recent works have been shorter,and he is a much filmed and celebrated author,almost like he writes a novel with movie like characters for a coming adaption. We also have here a trauma as a young black girl is raped by two men,a murder,vigilante like,but the author finds that justified. Are vigilante murders or wars justified..I recall years ago a group of clerics in the u.s. with much media exposure doing a study in which war,and murder,are justified as moral concepts,from a religious perspective...and here we have a black religious community in part,and all ford county is abuzz. The author also has a way with names which serve as puns,clanton as a city(the clanton gang,which i recall in my youth gene l coon wrote an interesting but violent,the violence turned people off at t he time,under the pseudonym lee cronin 'spectre of the gun' on the old Star trek)and also a character Buckley,like the old conservative writer,an ambivalent figure,whoose deeper insights on human nature people didnt always take well on the right,so we have all these ideas in this novel...and a psychiatric panel diagnosing the client,which as a group are a pet peeve for him,not the field,or the science,but just how the process corrupts them. That is the theme of a Grisham novel...in the legal system,who do people,learned and insightful,become bad and unethical?
In fact practice a kind of mental torture...as the innocent are often done away with..this is a legal drama and the action is there,he really doesnt go into psychological or sociological examination....a novel of innocence as portrayed in the legal system here in ford county...a drama played out all too often close to you

A Time to Kill is not for those with weak stomachs. In his first novel, John Grisham holds nothing back in describing man's inhumanity to man. If you like reading about violence that would make those with weak stomachs miss a meal, this is your book.

The premise of the book is a thought-provoking one: How would a Southern small town treat a crime by an African-American perpetrated with malice aforethought that it would have permitted a white southerner to get away with?

The book's best qualities are exploring the roots of racial prejudice.

For those who like legal thrillers where there's some action, this is far more than your usual courtroom drama. It comes closer to the kind of taut threat that permeated To Kill a Mockingbird. The only difference is that Grisham conjures up an intersection in time between the old and new South that never happened.

I found that the book was predictable in its over-the-top treatment of what would have made for good drama. But the extreme situations weakened the plot by making it seem unlikely. I suspect it was a writing method used to be sure that those who didn't know about the old South would appreciate the delicate nature of the emotions involved.

If you want to get a sense of how far Grisham has come, read this book and then The Client. Fortunately, Grisham learned how to back off from writing over the top and has become an excellent novelist.

You'll keep turning the pages of this book. I doubt if very many people put it down unfinished.

The story in this first novel from John Grisham has enough clichés that the reader knows very early the book's conclusion. Despite appearing at first to be Matlock-type story, there's enough action in both the main and side plots to keep the pages turning. The author clearly knows the rural South. One complaint about this and all Grisham's book is when the plot is over the ends very suddenly. The rush to end leaves several side-plots unresolved or poorly resolved.

This is not just a book, it is a spectacle to behold. I was literally biting my nails as this book reached its climax, as Clanton, Mississppi, a small unsuspecting southern town becomes the home of the biggest trial in the nation. The racial tension is this book is palpable, and it is the driving force behind what makes this story so compelling. This small town becomes a virtual war zone. Fantastic! I can't even find the words to describe how amazing and unbelievable a read this was!

I have read a lot of Grisham books and this one is by far my fave. It is also one of the few book-turned-movie of Grisham's that was not ruined by Hollywood. It's a story centered around a horiffic crime and a father, Carl Lee, who's love stops at nothing to protect his daughter. The problem is it is Clanton, MS in the 1960's and the criminals are white and the victim is a poor little black girl. Carl Lee consults a young lawyer, Jake and hints that he plans to kill the 2 boys who raped his daughter and left her for dead. The little girl miraculously survives, but Carl Lee does not let the 2 boys live, thus Carl Lee is arrested and hires Jake to represent him. The state's attorney is well-known and has tried many cases, unlike rookie Jake.

Now we have a town divided between race and who the real victims are. Jake's family is threatened and the Klan becomes more active. Klan and civil rights groups from all over the country come to protest and provide support for Carl Lee in front of the court house of the tiny town square. As the trial progresses, Jake has to proove himself in the likes of many seasoned lawyers--his closing statement is amazing. The story is compelling, profound and gut-wrenching. This is certainly the best of Grisham.

"A Time to Kill" really challenges the American legal system. Ideals and morality are put up against racism and prejudice. Has you rooting for Brigance the whole time. Outstanding book.

John Grisham has written some good books and some bad ones. A TIME TO KILL, his first novel, is not just good--it is great. As such, it stands alone among his work both for theme and for style.

The story is a compelling one, about a black man in a small Southern town, a town bigoted by definition, who openly kills the two white men who have raped his daughter.

The plot is exciting. Grisham grapples with moral issues as to right and wrong. The consequences of acting as both judge and jury in exacting justifiable revenge, but a revenge that nonetheless is in direct contradiction to civil law, is examined from many perspectives.

This book shows that Grisham is a fine lawyer, and that he also is a lyrical writer.

Overall this is an incredible book as the first one from any author, but I like other books from Grisham better. The book becomes very slow after the first 100 pages, and the ending is rushed a bit. IMHO, if would be better if 20 more pages could be spent on ending, but 100 pages cut in the middle.