Not the MJ song.

Book 6 - A mystery or thriller

 

The Last Juror by John Grisham

 

A brief perusal of the 2015 Reading Challenge, and a much less brief perusal of my small, yet always growing, library left me with one question: Does John Grisham write mystery's/thrillers?

Papa came to the rescue after a slightly brief-er perusal of his John Grisham collection. At first I wasn't too sure when he pulled out The Last Juror. The cover and title sure seemed ominous, and I didn't doubt it's ability to be thrilling and/or mysterious. His travel to the bookshelf had been so brief, in fact, that I wondered if he hadn't based his selection primarily on the cleverly worded critic on the bottom of the front cover.

"One of his best: a thoughtful and atmospheric thriller" New York Times

Please draw your attention to the word 'thriller'.

Alas, I have discovered, after a full front to back reading, that there are indeed thrilling themes and moments of mystery. Although, the main case that starts the thrilling is no mystery at all. The actions that come later in the novel have one sitting around with many questions and no answers. As many authors will do, pieces of the story are excluded, and the reader is left at the end of the story without the most hope of ever figuring things out. There is just too much information left out.

Upon reading the first few chapters of this novel, I found myself connecting well with the main character's new job.

A big city kid moves to little Canton in Ford County, Mississippi after attending a few unfinished years at university. He has a job as a reporter for the local newspaper and soon finds himself in a position to buy the newspaper from its slowly fading owner.

The past owner took to writing obituaries, and little else, while the paper's distribution declined steadily. With the new kid on the job, the small town paper starts to grow and evolve into something never seen before in Ford County. As a lover of writing and an admirer of words, I find the life of a newspaper reporter entirely thrilling. There was a time I thought I could take on journalism, I don't know if I could be so completely nosey though.

I won't spread too much of the story around, but after a murder occurs and a jury is ordered, the town picks a side; and isn't happy with the end results of the trial. But the real fear starts when the murderer gains parole and, allegedly (here's where the details become few and far between, and the reader is left to assume one person; but question many things), starts to gain revenge on the jury members.

I must confess, I didn't really see the thrilling nature of the novel until about half way through it. This may be because I often read novels that are rather fantastic and perfectly exciting, but I'm not so sure.

As Papa recommended this novel to me, I am now passing it along to you. Working in the field of law, I quite enjoy reading about stories that are maybe, at times, a little far fetched. If you enjoy reading about legal stories, please pick up a John Grisham, and thank me later.

 

Cause this is thriller, thriller night, this is t-bear signing off