A Time to Kill

by John Grisham

        When a 10-year old black girl is found beaten and brutally raped by two southern redneck deadbeats, her father Carl snaps and takes justice into his own hands. Carl waits as the two men are taken to their hearing in the courthouse, and when they are close enough, he charges out shooting them both. Carl is soon arrested on charges of murdering these men. In this desperate time, he turns to small town lawyer Jake Brigance to take his case. Jake is used to taking small time cases and only enough to just get by. Jake knows that if he wins this case it could make his career.

        Jake is a young, but an extremely intelligent small town lawyer in Clanton, Mississippi. Jake takes the case knowing the outcome Carl wants will be hard to get. Carl wants to escape the gas chamber, however the town will not look favorably of a black man that has killed two white men, especially when the audience is an all white jury. It infuriates many that if Carl was a white man, avenging his daughter would have been dismissed and he would never have been taken to court. Jake puts together a small team in order to try and prepare for this case. Jake soon realizes that this case not only puts Carl's life in danger, but his own life, and his families life in danger as well. With growing violence between the black community members and the Ku Klux Klan this case soon captivates Mississippi.  In no time, things start escalating and Jake comes up against more obstacles then he can imagine.

       John Grisham's novel has become one of my favorite books. While difficult to read at times because of the brutal way he describes the child's rape, the premeditated murders, and the harshness of racial inequality, this book was very hard to put down. It touched on very tough subjects that still evoke a lot of emotion despite the time that has passed. Grisham's attention to detail and ability to evoke such emotion is why I enjoyed this book so much. Many readers feel that his attention to detail can sometimes be overkill and that even the smallest of items is easily two paragraphs long. What readers need to realize is that John Grisham is a lawyer and knows the "ins and outs". This makes his writing very powerful and full of descriptions that only help to immerse the reader into the book. My advice? Soak in the details, sit back, and enjoy this emotional ride.

Rating: 5 out of 5

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