Play Book Tag discussion

When a ten-year-old girl is raped, beaten and left for dead by two drunk men, the whole town reacts with shock and horror. When her father decides to take matters into his own hands and murders the two rapists, the town demands that he is arrested and sentenced to death for murder. The girl and her family are black. The rapists, and the majority of the people living in the town, are white. Amid threats, intimidation, burning crosses and KKK marches, Jake Brigance is doing everything he can to save his client’s life. This book was published in 1989, and one thing that really shocked me when I was reading this book was the power of the KKK and other white supremacists to still intimidate. Whilst I felt that this book was overly long, it was a gripping read with well-developed characters and an interesting setting, and it provided a thought-provoking reminder of not-so-distant obvious racial prejudice.

I read this some years ago, and long after Grisham became a best seller with his legal thrillers. I think this is actually the first book he wrote but it only got published after several of his other books. I was gripped by the story and thought it really quite excellent, with good writing.

Also the movie adaptation was quite fine - starring a really handsome Matthew McConaughy. 🤩

I do enjoy his legal thrillers - and consider The Firm a classic. There are things about his books that often irritate me as a lawyer, as a female lawyer, and as someone from a somewhat disadvantaged background who became a lawyer with the help of a lot of financial aid and odd jobs juggled with study (he has a habit to have many of his protagonists be a young male lawyer from a disadvantaged background with lots of student loans and as a result have sketchy morals and ethics).

I might have given this 5 stars? Or was I even rating books at the time I read it, I don't remember! Really liked it, though (along with the movie with Matthew McConaughy!)

This book is from a time when I read every book Grisham published. It has been a long, long time though. The Firm is also one of my favorites.