This was my second Grisham novel, but I was disappointed. The storyline was fine, I enjoyed the character of Willie, who saves the local newspaper in Mississippi in the 1970's, then begins to cover a sensational case of the brutal rape and murder of a young single mum. I ended up reading to finish, I just was not as invested as I would have hoped to have been. I enjoyed the family of Callie, and the dynamics between her and the young and inexperienced journalist/editor Willie. Their relationship blossomed and I enjoyed their banter about society of the times and Callie's weekly scrutinising of the errors in the paper. Mr Grisham writes well though, and as in my first book The Client, it's evident he knows his legal stuff, and you do feel in safe experienced 'legal' hands.

The Times was a very thin paper, and I knew immediately that it as in trouble. Heavy on the obits, light on news and advertising. The employees were disgruntled, but quiet and loyal. Jobs were scarce in Ford County in 1970. (PG 12)

This was a fun read and my 1000th book! Woohoo!

I enjoyed the flow of the story and the characters but it wasn't suspenseful like some of his other works. I liked the setting and year, which were Clanton, Mississippi in 1970. The story showed the injustice within the justice system and the small town vibes.

Great author that writes relatable people.

One of my favorite books!

I was very impressed. The first notable thing about this story is that while there is some courtroom time, it is NOT about a court case or a lawyer, etc, like many of Grisham's books. Grisham is a fine writer, but in this story about a small southern town and it's very young, very green newspaper editor/writer, he outdid himself. I'll warn that it doesn't have quite as much "excitement" and "suspense" as you occasionally find in his courtroom thrillers. It's more laidback than those, although there is some suspense and a touch of blood and gore. This story is about people. It's about a town that changes over time and the townsfolk who change with it - some with relish and some kicking and screaming. It's about Willie Trainer, the newspaper owner who comes to town, an outsider, buys the newspaper, and over time gains the respect, loyalty and love of the town he serves. The true beauty of this book, though, is the incredible way that Mr. Grisham introduces you to the characters and the townspeople. Each character in this book is a story finely woven. You're not reading/hearing that Joe Blow eats eggs for breakfast and is wearing black pants and a blue shirt. You learn about these people: their past, their present, and you look forward to their future. The writing is masterful in the creation of characters that we care about, are interested in and who shape this story. When I finished the story, I actually left the radio off for the rest of my ride home just so I could think about what a wonderful story it was and how much I enjoyed it.

Following Grisham's other non-courtroom drama's, specifically A Painted House, I see his talent is truly in character development. But, while A Painted House was good, it wasn't like this story. This had a much more satisfying plot, filled with wonderful characters, and an end that was somewhat expected, but that provided an end to a tale and to an era. I recommend this story. The narration was wonderful. Don't go into it expecting the same old Grisham, though. Go into it expecting a good story about people who touch you.

This review is in reference to the unabridged audio version and the narration was excellent on this version. This is definitely a book for the commute.

4.5 stars

*review for the abridged 6 CD audio book in German, read by Charles Brauer.

I'm not a big Grisham reader, but this has to be THE BEST one of his I've run across. It's not a legal thriller as much as a historical novel about a small town in Mississippi in the 1970s. The changes in society are documented through the lense of the town newspaper. Really well done, although tearjerky at the end.

No complaints about the reading. Competent and with (hardly) no mispronounced English.

Personal "doh"

Having moved to a small town, I understood and related to a lot of the issues that Willie dealt with in this book, such as how you dress and how you act and not being a "member" of the town unless you're at LEAST 3rd generation.. LOL, and beyond that I thought it was a great look at small-town problems, where people want to sweep things under the covers and some families have too much power. I also liked that the main character is a reporter, not a lawyer and that was a nice change of pace, even though it involves a lawsuit (of course!)

First half is ok, second half verbose, third half insipid. It’s a rudderless ship, this book. Meanders, tries to find its way back, fails miserably. Avoidable. It’s about a murder case, heinous. Could have been an exciting court room thriller. But, somewhere Grisham decided he needed to fill the pages with irrelevant details. Sheer waste of time.

Matthew Baltz

Mrs. Baltz

Pre-AP English 10

27 November, 2008


The Last Juror by John Grisham

This four year old book, The Last Juror, by John Grisham makes you think you are back in the 1970s experiencing all that the young Willie Traynor is experiencing. Willie is a young journalist who has just got out of college with a friend that told him the big money is in weekly local newspapers. Fortunately, Willie has a rich grandmother who gives him the money to buy one down Ford County, Mississippi.

Shortly after Willie buys the newspaper a young divorcée, Rhoda Kassellaw, is brutally raped and murdered. The only suspect is Danny Padgitt, a member of the infamous Padgitt family, a criminal family based right out of Ford County.

Danny Padgitt is found guilty of the rape and murder, but somehow gets out of the death sentence. Now the town is about to settle down, right? Wrong. Shortly after Danny is sent to the state penitentiary, the dual school system of a white school and black school is terminated. All the white citizens are up in arms, frantically trying to save money for an all-white private school.

This is all good for Willie’s up and coming newspaper, The Ford County Times, but eventually everyone starts to settle down. Not that it matters to Willie, he has other problems. A son of black woman, Miss Callie, he befriended wants to return and see his mother. Miss Callie is a well-educated, articulate women with eight children, all of which have a Master’s Degree in their respective fields. Unfortunately, there are some complications. The reason he was even ran out of town was because the wife of sergeant of the Highway Patrol cheated on her husband with him. Willie asks the sergeant if the young boy can come back if only to see his mother, but the sergeant had “vowed to put a bullet in Sam Ruffin’s head if given the chance.” They still sneak him in to see his mother.

Now the town has no more excitement for the newspaper to run. Willie decides he will visit every church in Ford County and write an article about it, and proceeds to do so. A few years later Willie learns that Danny Padgitt had gotten out of jail, and he is furious. Unfortunately, Danny’s lawyers had gotten the government to run his two 10 year sentences at the same time, instead consecutively.

Now, jury members are turning up dead, killed by a rifle shot. No one is sure who is doing this, but everyone thinks it is Danny, mostly because of a threat he issued to the jury at the trial, “You convict me, and I’ll get every damned one of you.” Even though he is the prime suspect, Danny has airtight alibis for all the times at which all the murders were committed.

Willie is absolutely positive that Danny is the one killing the jury members, but a revelation from Miss Callie, who served on the jury, changes his mind. He finds out that all the jury members that have been killed voted no on the death sentence for Danny Padgitt. Now he’s not sure who is killing the jury members. Is it Danny, and he is just killing them for sending him to jail? Or is someone else who is angry Danny didn’t receive the death sentence?

I think the theme of this novel was you have to do what you think is right even though it could be dangerous. This is exactly what Willie did by publishing stories about the trial that probably contributed somewhat to sending Danny Padgitt to prison. This was very dangerous because the Padgitt family had threatened him.

This was a very good book, even though it was rather long and a little bit slow in some places. The thing I liked most about this book was the ending, because you never expect it. Other than that I liked the fact that it had some reality to it. Yeah, this whole story together would probably never happen, but there are reporters today that are probably bribed or threatened to not write a story about something. The part I liked the least about the book was that it was a little tedious in some places. When it talked about renovating his house for example. Yes, that makes the story seem more real, but that fact doesn’t make it any less boring.





Page Count: 486
Genre: Realistic/Regional Fiction

Once again I've found myself in Clanton Mississippi. A fictional town that John Grisham has written about in several books, including his first book, A Time to Kill. The Last Juror takes place in Clanton, Mississipi, during the 1970's. Instead of Grisham's usual lawyer story, the main character is Willie Traynor, a reporter for the local newspaper.

The Times is a typical weekly newspaper that reports all the goings on in the small southern town. From the local crime to high school sports to the only time most people found their names in the paper...the obituaries. Traynor saw the paper as just a job, something between college and the Pullitzer Prize. Yet, the former owner drove The Times into bankruptcy and Willie was able to buy the paper for a song.

Soon after his purchase, Willie meets an African American lady named Callie Ruffin. A woman that Willie wants to write a human interest story about. She was the mother of 7 university professors with PhD's. These interviews took place on Callie's front porch during lunches of some of the best southern cooking Willie had ever tasted. These lunches would continue for years, missing only several Thursdays and was the beginning of a strong friendship between Willie and Callie.

Not long after Traynor's purchase of The Times, a vicious rape and murder was committed. It was the buzz of the town and helped to drive the circulation of The Times. After some debate over moving the trial to another jurisdiction, the trial stayed in Clanton. Callie Ruffin found herself the last juror chosen for the trial, the first black person to sit on a jury in Ford County. The jury was able to find Danny Padggit guilty, but couldn't sentence him to death.

After Danny was sent off to the Mississippi State Pen, everything settled down in Clanton. Willie Traynor built The Times into a very successful weekly paper. Then Padggit was released from prison and jurors began to be murdered. The whole town was on pins and needles. The remaining jurors were living under protection. Was Danny Padggit doing these murders, who else could it be? Will Miss Callie be the next juror killed? The Last Juror is a wonder story about a small southern town and the people who live there.

The first half of this book was about a rape/murder trial and conviction. Very well paced.
The smaller middle section lacked any intensity and concerned various topics - primarily the workings of a small town Mississippi weekly newspaper.
At this point I was on the fence with a 3 or 4 star rating and wondering where this was going.
The last 80 pages picked up the earlier pace and with a touching climax I settled on 4 stars.
Well written in the usual Grisham style.

What a waste. This was certainly not my favorite Grisham. I felt like he had a decent story going and then couldn't figure out how to finish it. Tried to work a few different angles in, but it just didn't work for me. The legal side (which is typically my favorite) was lacking. The main character was likable. He tries (and fails) to bring some type of religion or discussion of churches into the book. This one failed on several levels for me. Overall - just didn't enjoy this one.

Ο Γκρίσαμ εδώ είναι στο συνηθισμένο του δικαστικό στυλ. Ένας αποτρόπαιος βιασμός και φόνος γίνεται σε μια κωμόπολη του Μισσισιπί στην δεκαετία του 1970. Ο ένοχος καταδικάζεται σε ισόβια, που στην ουσία είναι μόνο μερικά χρόνια στη φυλακή. Την μέρα της καταδίκης του ορκίζεται να σκοτώσει όλους τους ενόρκους. Ο ήρωας του μυθιστορήματος είναι δημοσιογράφος αυτήν τη φορά, που προσπαθεί να καλύψει τα γεγονότα.
Ενώ η υπόθεση έχει αρχικά ενδιαφέρον, μετά ο συγγραφέας αναλώνεται σε πολλές λεπτομέρειες της ζωής της μικρής κοινότητας που κατά τη γνώμη μου, δεν προσθέτουν κάτι το ιδιαίτερο και είχα την εντύπωση ότι σε κάποια σημεία πλάτιαζε υπερβολικά. Κατά τα άλλα διαβάζεται αρκετά ευχάριστα.

I listened to the audio recording and it was excellent. The narrator was Michael Beck and he's amazingly talented, not just with the voices/accents, but conveying nuanced characterization, and hitting the pace just right. I don't know if I would have loved this story as much if I'd "read" it, since I tend to skim, and audio doesn't really allow that.

So my rec is to listen to the audio. It's exemplary. But I'm sure it's a great eyeball read too. Apparently Grisham just gets better and better. I had taken a long break from him because of sameness, but there's no sameness here.

Oh and I chose it because of the title and because of Grisham's legal thrillers, but the legal stuff in this book is actually low keyed. It's so much more than that, yet satisfies that itch as well with some cool courtroom drama.