A Time for Mercy, John Grisham
Court room drama that concentrates on the behind-the-scenes legal processes rather than the actual court drama. Nevertheless, the book still is a engaging read.
Synopsis
Jake Brigance, the protagonist of A Time to Kill, John Grisham’s classic legal thriller is back. This time he’s at the epicenter of a sensational murder trial that bitterly divides the citizens of Clanton, Mississippi.
A Time to Kill is one of the most popular novels of our time. It established Jake as a classic American hero—a lawyer who seeks truth and justice at all costs, even when his life and reputation are on the line.
Brigance returned in 2013’s Sycamore Row, in which he once again found himself embroiled in a deeply divisive trial.
Now, in A Time for Mercy, Jake is the court-appointed lawyer for Drew Gamble, a young man accused of murdering a local deputy. Many in Clanton want a swift trial and the death penalty, but Brigance sees it another way. Once he learns the details of the case, he realizes he has to do everything he can to save Drew—who is sixteen. Jake’s commitment to the truth puts his career and the safety of his family at risk.
Filled with all the courtroom machinations, small-town intrigues, and plot twists that have become the hallmarks of the master of the legal thriller, A Time for Mercy emphatically confirms John Grisham’s reputation as America’s favorite storyteller.
There is a time to kill, a time for justice, and A TIME FOR MERCY.
Richard says
Grisham delivers a good read, consistently and dependably. However,. A Time for Mercy bogs down in detail occasionally.
A reader who is particularly interested in learning more about court procedures and legal processes in the USA, will find this book to be a bounty of legalese information. You learn about court procedures, about various legal terms and processes in the American system, far more than you may want to know.
The book is a legal process primer nearly as much as a novel.
As a novel, this book has disappointing lulls all due to its insistence on being educational tool for learning about American justice, American courts and the American legal system.
The story is engaging and has many entertaining aspects to it. It evokes readers’ emotions, from anger to sadness as the trio of mother, daughter and son are subjected to extreme family abuse. The abuse is so extreme, the son, Drew Gamble, kills the abuser. The story is founded on the court case against Drew.
Grisham does an excellent job of developing the suspense about whether Drew will be found guilty of murdering a police office, the step father abuser of the family. A verdict of guilty in this instance means the death penalty.
Grisham is a superb writer and this book maintains his status as such. However, because of so much attention to legalese, the book occasionally bogs the reader down with too much detail.
I was also disappointed with the ending. It was a wan way to bring the story to a close, kind of just letting it dissipation into blah !
Because it is written by Grisham, it is still an entertaining read, but it is not one of his best because of his excessive concentration on the legal system and its details in the US.
