Friends

This is my review of the book A Time to Kill by John Grisham which I read recently. I seem to be reading a lot of historical fiction recently so this made a pleasant change in that it was set within the last 30 years. It is a story all about the tensions in the south of of America between black and white, right and wrong, truth and lies.

Sadly Carl Lee Hailey's 10 year old daughter is raped and nearly killed by a couple of drunk rednecks. Carl then proceeds to execute the two hoodlums for their crimes. He is then arrested and charged with murder. If found guilty then he will face the gas chamber.

The exciting tale is mainly about the lead up to and the ensuing court case. Jake Brigance is hired to defend Carl, but as it is such a high profile case other lawyers want to get in on the act and take it away from him, as whatever the outcome it will be a most famous case.

Will the trial be a fair one – Certainly if the Klu Klux Klan have anything to do with it they will try their up most to prevent Carl from being let off.

Tensions get so bad that the National Guard is called in to stop riots and to try to defend and protect the key players, but things don't go to plan, especially when the KKK decide to turn up the heat.

The book is a real page turner and having read other books by John Grisham I know that it is not possible to take the outcome for granted. He does allow his characters to face the death sentence. This was an enjoyable page turning book and I will record this as book 24 week 22 fiction 22 (audio books 4) non fiction 2

Friends, this is my review of the book The Runaway Jury by John Grisham, which I read recently. I enjoy reading books by John Grisham, and this did not disappoint. In fact it pleasantly surprised me as it was a totally unexpected plot line.

The gist of the story was a court case about possible damages smoking caused, and if smoking did cause damage, then what level of fine/compensation would be awarded by the jury. The tobacco industry firms who were in the doc, employed a jury manipulation firm to manage the result of the court case so it hopefully results in a ruling in favour the tobacco industry. Lots of money being spent on dirty tricks, on both sides of the law.

Of course gradually as the court case progresses not all goes to plan, both for the judge who is preceding over the largest case he has ever had and also for how the jury behaves. To say more would spoil the plot so I will not, except to say that there were twists and turns that were not expected. Also and maybe this is because in the UK we have a different jury system, it was interesting, lending to the question do people actually try and control court cases like this or was it all just fiction.

What ever it was an enjoyable read and quite a page turner. So this was book 3 week 2 fiction 3, (audio book 1) non fiction 0.

Friends this is my review of the book The Partner by John Grisham, which I read recently. - What an addictive book, seemingly we know exactly what has happened within the first 50 pages. Then through a legal investigative process what we thought was true gradually becomes unravelled. The story is all about how this process is carried out.

So not spoiling the plot too much Patrick a partner in a lawyer firm disappears, and it is assumed that he has died in a car crash. Large amounts of money then go missing. Four years later he turns up in a small town in Brazil, where he is kidnapped and tortured. His kidnappers are trying to find what has happened to the money.

The FBI, and the press become involved, and the local legal system is played off against the state one. Everybody starts legal actions against everyone else, and it looks like Patrick will be charged with murder..

The twists and turns were very clever, and I did not imagine any of them before reading the solutions.

A very enjoyable book as book 36 week 29 fiction 33 (9 on audio) non fiction 3

This is my review of the book The Chamber by John Grisham, which I have read recently.

I have had this book sitting on the side for nearly a year, waiting for the courage to read it just in case the ending did not turn out the way I would like. I can't disclose if this was a necessary precaution or not as that would give the game away. 

So like all good thrillers this has a finite time line, in this case the death sentence – death by gas, and the book makes great emphasis on letting us know how many days are left before the fatal time of one minute past midnight, every couple of chapters or so. 

Our hero is Adam Hall a recent graduate and now in his first year at a top Chicago law school, and his prospective client is on death row for the murder of two Jewish Children in a horrific bombing 20 years before.

All is revealed as to why does Adam wants this case and his relationship with the accused. The plot line cleverly weaves between the past and the present whilst at the same time gives interaction between all the various family members.

I liked the way John also explores the relationship between the accused and his warders, especially as he has been waiting on death row for a number of years and they have become his pseudo family, making up for the problems and issues with the real ones. 

The description of how they test out the gas chamber before the big event is fairly gruesome, and really makes one feel for the characters being described. It is a very compelling book as one wants to get to the end to see what happens – does he get off or not? 

It was a good book and I certainly related to the characters described within it. This was book 41 week 30 (I did finish it last week but we are recording when I actually get round to writing the blog article) fiction 39 (11 on audio) non fiction 2