Book Review-Older Books 13

The Last Juror, by John Grisham.  Published by Doubleday, February, 2004, 355 pgs.

The town of Clanton, Mississippi in 1970, has one weekly newspaper, The Ford County Times.  Its current owner, who suffers from some mental imbalance (it could be the plate in his head), has run the paper into bankruptcy.  Willie Traynor is a 23-year-old college dropout, who has been working as a reporter. He manages to buy the paper and settles in to turn this rag around.

His first week in charge there is a violent rape and murder, witnessed by two young children and with the victim naming her assailant.  It seems like an open and shut case to this young and idealistic editor-in-chief.  The named man is Danny Padgitt, and his family has owned the town and sheriff for more than a few decades.  Any law enforcement that has gone after any Padgitt has died mysteriously or disappeared.  But Willie reports the news and the more spectacular and sensational the better.  It goes to trial and the evidence stacks up where it comes down to the jurors.  Before the jury is sent to render the verdict, Danny threatens every juror that if they convict him, he’ll get every one of them.  Danny is found guilty and rather that given the death penalty, he is sentenced to life in prison.  Well in 1970, in Mississippi, “life” is not necessarily “life”.  He eventually got paroled and soon jurors were being systematically murdered.

During Danny’s time in prison Willie Traynor kept the paper going and making a profit.  He is now less idealistic, but still believes in right and wrong and that’s how he runs his paper.  Miss Callie is a black woman that Willie writes about early in his career, she also happens to be one of the jurors.  She is also, the first black juror in Clanton history.  Their friendship spans his time at the paper and plays a significant part in Willie’s growth into adulthood. 

John Grisham continues to write enjoyable novels, with engaging characters.  This book is at times a slow read, but it realistically shows the south in the ‘70’s, especially in the way things stood in many very small towns.  It has a surprising ending and frequently the action comes at just the right time.