The Last Juror by Grisham, John

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER - In 1970, one of Mississippi's more colorful weekly newspapers, The Ford County Times, went bankrupt. To the surprise and dismay of many, ownership was assumed by a 23 year-old college dropout, 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 courthouse 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.

Don't miss John Grisham's new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM!

Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Doubleday Books
Published: 02/03/2004
Pages: 355
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.39lbs
Size: 9.50h x 6.60w x 1.11d
ISBN: 9780385510431

Accelerated Reader:
Reading Level: 6.8
Point Value: 19
Interest Level: Upper Grade
Quiz #/Name: 78192 / Last Juror


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 10/01/2003 pg. 56
BookPage 02/01/2004 pg. 9
Publishers Weekly 02/02/2004 pg. 59
Entertainment Weekly 02/13/2004 pg. 74
New York Times 04/04/2004 pg. 20
Library Journal 10/01/2003

About the Author
John Grisham is the author of forty-seven consecutive #1 bestsellers, which have been translated into nearly fifty languages. His recent books include The Judge's List, Sooley, and his third Jake Brigance novel, A Time for Mercy, which is being developed by HBO as a limited series.

Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.

When he's not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.

John lives on a farm in central Virginia.