Product Description

In 1970, one of Mississippi's more colourful weekly newspapers, The Ford County Times, went bankrupt. To the surprise and dismay of many, ownership was assumed by a 23 year-old college drop-out, named Willie Traynor. The future of the paper looked grim until a young mother was brutally raped and murdered by a member of the notorious Padgitt family. Willie Traynor reported all the gruesome details, and his newspaper began to prosper.

The murderer, Danny Padgitt, was tried before a packed courtroom in Clanton, Mississippi. The trial came to a startling and dramatic end when the defendant threatened revenge against the jurors if they convicted him. Nevertheless, they found him guilty, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

But in Mississippi in 1970, `life' didn't necessarily mean `life', and nine years later Danny Padgitt managed to get himself paroled. He returned to Ford County, and the retribution began.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #42364 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-11
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Like many of John Grisham's better books, The Last Juror is at its best when evoking the past--Mississippi in the early 1970s--and less effective when constructing the bait-and-switch plotting with which he makes a pointed argument about the law. When Danny Padgitt (one of a family of bootleggers that is effectively a large criminal conspiracy) is convicted of rape and murder, the jury cannot agree on the death penalty--and life sentences in this time and place are liable to be as little as nine years. Padgitt threatens the jury and when, once he is out, the jurors who heard his case start being executed, conclusions are there to be jumped to...

Grisham is arguing that justice has to be seen to be done, rather than specifically for the death penalty or even life-means-life sentencing. Though his case is loaded, it is never entirely sentimentalised partly because these events are seen through the eyes of one of his most engaging narrators--a young northern-newspaper editor out to make a name and a fortune for himself, but also committed to the truth and a saintly African-American matriarch who serves on the Padgitt jury. This is a deeply populist book, but never a stupid one. --Roz Kaveney

John Dugdale, Sunday Times
"…Grisham is as good as ever on colourful Southern types…taut thriller…"

T J Binyon, Evening Standard
"…wholly engrossing…"

Customer Reviews

First Grisham experience - very average
This review is from the perspective of a first time Grisham reader, so I hope it offers something different from his "core readership".

Having enjoyed several films based on Grisham books and being a fan of thrillers, I picked this one out of the large Grisham section in my bookshop. Having got to the end, I have to say I was left wondering what all the fuss was about.

Top start with the good points, the book is reasonably well written, and does well in immersing the reader in the small town in the South of the US that is the setting for the story. He develops characters well and the book has an interesting cast list. It's an easy read and not one that takes much effort or time - in a sense a perfect "holiday book".

On the down side, it really wasn't much of a thriller. Much of the early part of the book introduces the characters and the trial which sends the member of the local crime family to jail. None of this is a surprise as the summary on the book jacket tells you this will happen. After that, you get much more character development rather than thrills. The real "thriller" part probably starts 50 pages from the end, and is at a fairly gentle pace - really dictated by the very measured actions of the main characters. There is a twist (which I won't ruin), but it's not particularly shocking, and I got to the end thinking "is that it?".

Overall, it maybe my expectations were wrong, but while it was a fairly enjoyable read, it was almost wholly lacking in thrills, and certainly didn't have that page-turning-can't-put-it-down quality that a good thriller should have. With so many good thriller authors out there, it will be a while before I return to Grisham.

Great Page Turner
This book is one of JG top novels. When you get started you cannot but it down,itis a book that makes you tink and makes you wanna be the main character willie traynor

Comfort Reading
Whilst I don't wait breathlessly for the next Grisham, I do return to them every 3rd or 4th book as they are generally pretty consistent and enjoyable, and definitely easy to read.

This I found to be one of his better books, slightly different to the rest with the main trial over quickly and conclusively but the aftershocks felt several years later in the small Mississippi town of Clanton. It's told through the eyes of Willie Traynor, the young editor of the town's local paper who quickly realizes that the grisliest murder in town for years makes good copy and sells papers. His enthusiasm soon lands him in trouble with the dangerous family of the accused and the local sheriff however. The jury fail to send the perpetrator to the chair, a decision they will come to rue when Danny, murderer, rapist and member of said notorious and influential Padgitt family, is released after less than ten years.....

The story is well (slowly) paced, as Willie Traynor's deep friendship develops with Miss Callie, a descendant of the slave trade and the first black woman ever to sit on a jury, and the town moves on after the atrocity. Grisham enters Bryson territory in parts, with a thinly veiled attack on the Wal-Mart style store opening in town, changing its character for good. He captures small town coffee-shop gossip and mentality perfectly with some humorous asides. What some people may see as padding, others may see as charm and a keen observation on life in the Deep south in the 1970s.

Overall a good read, not a court room sizzler, but enjoyable all the same. I only wish the Padgitt clan had more of an input to spice it up a bit more....