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Despite the low opinion most people have of lawyers and politicians, some members of those professions may redeem themselves! One such man is John Grisham who renounced both callings in order to become a full-time writer of fiction. While his first novel, A TIME TO KILL, was only moderately successful, Grisham's subsequent legal thrillers (together with a couple of non-legal novels) have all firmly cemented his reputation as a fine author. While the title of THE LAST JUROR implies yet another thriller full of court drama, the legal aspect plays second oboe to the tale of a young newspaper owner as he matures in a small town in Grisham's favourite semi-rustic Ford County, Mississippi. In 1970, Joyner William Traynor -- he prefers to be known as Will but instead becomes lumbered with Willie -- joins the Ford County Times before finishing his journalism degree. The Clanton newspaper goes bankrupt and Traynor bumbles himself into ownership of the journal, courtesy of his grandmother BeeBee. The newspaper has not been a remarkable weekly recently since the owner had devoted his time and the paper's space to obituaries. It is not, therefore, very difficult for a young man, even as callow and ignorant as young Traynor, to build up circulation and business. The county is virtually owned and run by a criminal family named the Padgitts. Politicians are in their pockets and their life is very easy until the day one of their youngsters rapes and murders a young mother while her children are nearby. Willie Traynor attends and reports on every aspect of the trial. The process of jury selection is fascinating, particularly the inclusion of the first black woman, Callie Ruffin, to serve on a jury. Willie had met Miss Callie when researching a human interest piece on her remarkable family. Despite being ill-educated herself, she is proud to have given birth to children almost all of whom have achieved doctorates and become professors. The reader watches Willie as he stumbles through the minefield of reporting on the trial. He manages to make a name for himself as a 'fearless' newspaperman whereas he is, in fact, simply ignorant. His stories inflame the people of Clanton and the rest of Ford County who, unsurprisingly, see Danny Padgitt as the true and heartless villain that he is. When Padgitt is found guilty, he threatens the jurors, saying he will get every last one of them. While the verdict of guilty is unanimous, the sentencing is not. The jurors do not recommend the death sentence but, instead, life imprisonment which, according to Mississippi laws, and unknown to the jurors, means only a few years. Willie prospers in the town, falling into ownership of the neglected mansion where he lives much as he fell into ownership of the newspaper. As the bonds of segregation loosen in the southern state, Traynor increases the popularity of his weekly as he attends in turn every church within his circulation area. Then comes the blow. Danny Padgitt has been seen roaming freely despite the thoughts of the population that he is being held in prison. Shortly thereafter he is out on parole -- and the first of the jurors at his trial is murdered. While the anomalous laws of Mississippi are examined by the ex-lawyer author, Grisham admits he has taken liberties with the history of them in order to produce a more effective story. The balance of interest is, unlike many of his books, on the social side rather than the legal side of the tale. His baddies are vague, threatening figures but, again unlike those of several of his more recent thrillers, his goodie characters are quite likable. The pace of the story is not that of a runaway racehorse or a Saturday afternoon matinée but is pleasant and involving . One trusts that his subsequent tales follow the route of this one rather than, say, his previous novel KING OF TORTS.
Reviewed by Denise Wels Pickles, February 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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