An average book by any measure, John Grisham seems to be slowly running out of steam with his latest books. No longer is he writing the fast-paced legal thrillers that he became famous for like The Client, The Pelican Brief, The Firm etc.
The Last Juror is a slow-paced novel set in the back drop of small town USA in the 1970’s or so.
The story starts with The Clanton Times going bankrupt and being bought by 23-year-old Willie Traynor, formerly the paper’s cub reporter. Things plod along till they get a little interesting with the brutal rape and murder of a window in the town. After a less than riveting court hearing, the accused is sentenced to life imprisonment which in those days meant 8-10 years.
Sure enough in 9 years the murderer is released and the Jurors start getting killed one by one.
The book really doesn’t get interesting then either and since Grisham doesn’t exactly skip the 9yr period while the murderer was completing his sentence, the book rambles for quite a few pages, couple of hundred maybe. So by the time the interesting bit comes, you’ve managed to reach the end of the book, and oh yes.. the twist in the book is also easy to figure out longggg before it is revealed so you land up wondering how the characters in the book could be so dense.
Anyways as the title of my review says, it?s a book for a Wednesday afternoon when you are on a months vacation and really can’t find anything better to do with your time.