Rating: 
Summary: Return to his Roots!
Review: In this book, John Grisham returns to his southern small town roots such as in "A Time to Kill". This book shows what life is truly like in many small towns in the rural South. I could see many characters that I grew up with incorporated into this story. I think it is one of his best ones lately. John Grisham is an excellent auther and can hold his own with any mystery writer anywhere!
Rating:
Summary: Southern Comfort
Review: What probably throws most people off with this book (and I'm speaking of Grisham fans here) is that it isn't like anything else he's written. "A Painted House" probably comes the closest, but even that's not a good comparison.The wonderful thing about Grisham is that he's constantly growing and changing--refusing to get tied down to one style or get in some kind of a rut. The problem with this is that his devoted readers want him to always be the same. Tough situation. But regardless of his style changes, he does remain constant in one way: his books are all done well. The characters are all believable and human, and his prose is finely crafted. The story in "The Last Juror" isn't that shocking, but this is Grisham's attempt to blend his courtroom thrillers with his more "literary" attempts, and it works wonderfully. Also recommended: McCrae's "Bark of the Dogwood" and Conroy's "Prince of Tides."
Rating: 
Summary: Makes a promise it doesnt deliver
Review: It's apparently true that each great writer has only a few great books in him. For those who enjoy Grisham's story-telling talent and dont care if a book goes absolutely nowhere, "The Last Juror" may be tolerable. But dont lie to us and tell us it's a mystery. Dont tell us it's about a murder and the additional murders that take place when the killer is released from prison. Be honest with us -- tell us it's just a simple, easy-going story about a small-town newspaper guy and the small-town people he meets. I got 7/8 of the way through this one and realized I was just wasting good time on a bad book. I couldnt finish it.
Rating: 
Summary: It's not really a mystery, but it's still a great read!
Review: John Grisham's The Last Juror is a very good read, but it is not a mystery. It's the story of a college dropout, who finds acceptance after becoming a newspaper publisher. Grisham sets the story in Clanton, Mississippi. The setting of his first novel, A Time To Kill. Several of the characters from that book are back in this one. The unusual characters are what makes the book so enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: John Grisham at his Best
Review: Willie Traynor, a long-haired twenty-three-year-old, who drives a Triumph Spitfire, arrives in Clanton, Mississippi in 1970, with the bright idea of buying the Ford County Times with money he'd borrowed from his grandmother. According to one of his friends the paper would be a gold mine as long as he stayed away from controversy and just covered local news and local events, like church socials, basketball games and obituaries. But controversy comes calling when a young widow is stabbed and bleeds to death, naming Danny Padgitt as the man who raped her in front of her children before she dies. The Padgitt clan is a corrupt and vicious group of former moonshiners who've shifted the family business from booze to drugs. When Padgitt is convicted and sentenced to life, he swears revenge on the jurors and under Mississippi law, a life sentence can be as short as 10 years. In less than a decade, Padgitt is released and the first two jurors are killed. The juror of the title is Miss Callie Ruffin, an elderly black woman who takes a liking to Willie and begins inviting him over at mealtimes. She is the matriarch of a black family and is the last juror picked for the trial. Willie is worried about all of the jurors' safety, but he is particularly worried about Miss Callie, who in the years Padgitt had been in prison, had become a very close friend. Not only is THE LAST JUROR filled with the tension and suspense you'd expect from a book by Mr. Grisham, it also paints a detailed portrait of a small southern town, peopled with residents readers can't help but like. By the time you finish the book, you'll feel like you've been reading about family. Haley Lawford, S/V Cheerleader Too
Rating:
Summary: COULD NOT WAIT TO PUT IT DOWN
Review: MY WIFE READ IT, SAID IT WAS OK. SHE AND I HAVE READ EVERY GRISHAM BOOK AND LIKED MOST. THIS BOOK BORED ME TO TEARS. IF IT WAS 10 CHAPTERS INSTEAD OF 40 PLUS IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A GOOD SHORT STORY. DONT BUY IT, BORROW IT IF YOU MUST READ THE LATEST GRISHAM.
Rating:
Summary: Great book!
Review: This was an excellent book. I've read many of Grisham's books, lately I've been reading Stephen King. I've only begun reading again the past three months. I bought this book at an airport for my flight across the US. I picked it up on a Sunday and finished it on Tuesday. It was a great book, hard to put down. I was happier reading this book than I would have been watching my favorite TV shows. For me, that is saying quite a bit. Keeps you guessing til the end. Grisham comes through again!
Rating:
Summary: Grisham revisited
Review: When John Grisham's first book was published I read it and thought it mildly good. When the second book was published I read that one also and that one was not very good. I was not surprised when I read he had actually submitted it for publishing some years prior to the first one that WAS published. I concluded his writing was trite and perfect for fleshing out in movies. Even though I read two books a week on average I have successfully avoided reading any more of his until the other day when a friend gave me The Last Juror and not having anything else to read I read it. This book is trite, predictable, cliche-ridden and thoroughly boring. The main character writing in the first person is selfish, posturing and patronizing. His descriptions of his weekly food gorging are disgusting. I suspect this book was actually written chapter by chapter over a period of years when Mr Grisham was a student in a Mississippi high school and polished off for publication counting on todays' literary appetites i.e. The New York Times Best Seller Lists. However, I am surprised this latest one even met that smell test.
Rating: 
Summary: comfortable but no suspense
Review: Grisham weaves a book that is comfortable to read but which provides no suspense and no mystery. If you've ever wondered whast it would be like to live in a small Mississippi town in the 1970s (sitting on the porch, sipping sweet tea after a home-cooked meal) then you'd appreciate this book. It doesn't get much more exciting except for a snippet here and there.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Grisham
Review: I have read all of John Grisham's books. Some I loved (The Pelican Brief) and some I hated (A Painted House, The Chamber), but all were well written. The Last Juror is no exception. Like more recent of Grisham's books, this is more a narrative than a classic who done it. It is a fast paced, easy read (I finished it in four days). The climax appears to occur about half way through the story, leaving the reader to wonder what is in store for the last 100 pages or so. The author doesn't dissapoint, offering an all too real account of life in a small town in the South, adding a small twist at the end wich makes for a fun read. While this book lacks the complexity and intrigue of The Pelican Brief, it is a good read. Anyone who grew up in a small town will find the story compelling. You will identify with the characters. I liked it better than The King of Torts, the Bretheren and Run Away Jury which I thought were average efforts for John Grisham. If you like John Grisham, you'll like this one as well.
| 
