The Last Juror: A gripping crime thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of mystery and suspense

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The Last Juror is a 2004 legal thriller novel by John Grisham, first published by Doubleday on February 3, 2004. [1] Plot introduction [ edit ]

A broker. The 4th Juror is logical and persuaded by reason. At the same time, he harbors classist views of the defendant, and he believes the boy more likely to be guilty because he is poor. Eventually, he is persuaded by facts to vote for an acquittal. Similar to the last Grisham book I read, I kept waiting for the drama or excitement but it didn't really happen and I felt let down by the ending. That said, I still had to read to the end which is Grisham's specialty; drawing a reader in so they have to know what happens. Grisham has experienced much success with the silver screen. More than eight of the novels he has written have been adapted into films and performed well at the box office. This includes The Firm, which became a film in 1993, and was later made into a TV series.

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Grisham's storytelling genius reminds us that when it comes to legal drama, the master is in a league of his own.’ – Daily Record

Daring to report the true horrors of the crime, Willie makes as many friends as enemies in Clanton, and over the next decade he sometimes wonders how he got there in the first place. But he can never escape the crime that shattered his innocence or the criminal whose evil left an indelible stain. Because as the ghosts of the South’s past gather around Willie, as tension swirls around Clanton, men and women who served on a jury nine years ago are starting to die one by one - as a killer exacts the ultimate revenge. Over the course of the story, Grisham introduces many of Clanton, Mississippi's residents and local characters, people like politicians, war veterans, and decaying aristocracy who make the town colorful and unique. The rattling of the bed woke Michael, who then got Teresa up. They eased from their room and crept down the dark hall to see what was happening. Michael opened the door to his mother’s bedroom, saw the strange man on top of her, and said, "Mommy!" For a second the man stopped and jerked his head toward the children. It's fine if Grisham wants to write something different than a legal thriller, but I wish his publishers didn't advertise this book as if it was. I really didn't want to read a book about small town southern life, especially a particularly boring southern town, but that is pretty much what this book is about. I found the characters to be uninteresting, particularly the main character. I thought it absolutely ridiculous that he sold the paper at the end so he could stay in the town and basically do nothing. The part where he went around to all the various churches in the area did nothing for the plot and it didn't even change his character mentally or spiritually. What was the point???? As a lawyer, Grisham also made changes, switching from being a tax lawyer to trial lawyer, stating a dislike for the burdensome “complexity and lunacy” tax lawyers often face. His career as a trial lawyer was never fated to last long as well. Having graduated from law school in 1983, Grisham was elected to his state’s House of Representatives that same year, serving the Democratic Party until 1990. His legal practice lasted a decade.

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Not really a courtroom drama or legal thriller; instead this novel focuses on the media in a small town in Mississippi. A night nurse at a hospital in Harlem who grew up in a poor neighborhood. The 5th Juror is offended at the generalizations that some of the other jurors make about the boy because he grew up in a slum. However, the family began to move around to different areas, still south of the Mason-Dixon Line, while Grisham was in his youth. They settled down again in Southaven, Mississippi and that is where the young John Grisham became determined to be a baseball player for his profession. However, his mother had different aspirations for her son and began grooming him for college, although she herself had never received a formal education. The German title is "Die Liste" = The List. Since I normally don't compare international titles until I'm about ready to write a review - if at all - I had no idea the original was "The Last Juror." She trembled and managed to shake her head. She couldn’t see what he looked like. He threw her to the floor of the cluttered closet, face down, and yanked her hands behind her. He took a brown wool scarf an old aunt had given her and wrapped it roughly around her face. "Not one sound," he kept growling at her. "Or I’ll cut your kids." When the blindfold was finished he grabbed her hair, snatched her to her feet, and dragged her to her bed. He poked the tip of the blade into her chin and said, "Don’t fight me. The knife’s right here." He cut off her panties and the rape began.

While hanging around the courts in 1984, Grisham met a young girl with an intriguing story to tell about a case in which she was involved. The things she told him about her life touched him so much that he began to write his first novel based on her story. It was published in 1989 and is called Time to Kill. As a new author, Grisham had difficulty finding a publisher for his first book. He finally found one that was willing to let him have a printing of 5,000 copies.An architect, father, and the single initial “not guilty” vote. The 8th Juror argues that the men should take their time in coming to a verdict. He slowly and painstakingly examines the evidence and testimony to decide if there are grounds for a conviction. The 8th Juror is patient and compassionate, and he often humanizes the defendant in the face of others’ rash, biased judgements. In the ensuing years, as the Times becomes highly successful and steadily increases circulation, Willie keeps an eye on Padgitt. He campaigns against the extremely favorable conditions which his family procured for him in prison. However, Padgitt is paroled after nine years. Immediately after his return to Clanton, two of the former jurors are killed by a sniper rifle and fear spreads through the county. Callie's children and neighbors organize to guard her day and night. The Padgitt family offers alibis as to Danny's whereabouts during the murders. This is taken with great skepticism, but with no tangible proof to the contrary, the authorities hesitate to take action. The book is narrated by Willie Traynor, a recent college dropout who has just started a job at the local paper in the small fictional town of Clanton, Mississippi. Though Willie has recently been forced to admit to himself that he will never be the star reporter he once dreamed of being, a financial opportunity soon presents itself. The paper Willie works for goes bankrupt, and with a loan from his wealthy grandmother, Willy buys it so he can run it himself. The novel is divided into three parts. The first covers the trial of Danny Padgitt, the second focuses on Willie adjusting to life in Clanton, and the third includes the main events, the murder of the jurors.