The Last Juror
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The Last Juror is a novel by John Grisham first published by Doubleday on February 3, 2004. This is the 17th novel by John Grisham, who is famous for his novels such as The Firm, The Client or The Rainmaker. The book is a legal thriller and is written in the first person.
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[edit] Plot introduction
The story is set in the fictional town of Clanton, Mississippi. (The name may have been a combination of the real town names of Canton and Clinton, Mississippi. [citation needed]) The timeline of the novel is from 1970 to 1979. Clanton is also the venue for John Grisham's first novel A Time To Kill which was published in 1988. Some of the characters appear in both novels with the same occupation and characteristics. Although A Time to Kill was published sixteen years before The Last Juror, it was set in the present, so presumably it took place in 1987 or 1988. Therefore the characters which appear in both novels, such as Lucien Wilbanks and Harry Rex Vonner, have matured. Like most John Grisham novels, it starts with a description and then introduces the main character, in this case Willie Traynor, only a couple of pages into the novel. The novel is divided into three parts of approximately equal length.
[edit] Plot summary
In 1970, a 23-year-old college drop-out by the name of Willie Traynor comes to Clanton, Mississippi for an internship at the local newspaper, The Ford County Times. However the editor, Wilson Caudle, drove the newspaper into bankruptcy through years of mismanagement. Willie Traynor decides to buy the paper spontaneously through money from his rich grandmother and becomes the editor and owner of The Ford County Times. Shortly after this, a member of the notorious and scandalous Padgitt family brutally rapes and kills a young widow named Rhoda Kassellaw. The murderer, Danny Padgitt, is tried in front of a jury and was found guilty. Prior to being sentenced, Danny threatens to kill each of the jury members, should they convict him. Although they do find him guilty, the jury cannot decide whether to send him to life in prison or to Death Row, so Danny is sentenced to life in prison at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, also known as Parchman.
After only nine years in prison, Danny Padgitt is paroled and returns to Clanton. Immediately, two juror members are killed and one is bombed. Jury member and close friend of Willie, Miss Callie Ruffin, reveals that the recent victims were the jurors who were against sentencing Danny to Death Row. Convinced that Danny is exacting his revenge, as promised, the judge of Clanton issues an arrest for Danny Padgitt. The novel comes to a startling end when a former lover of Rhoda Kassellaw guns down Danny Padgitt in the courtroom by positioning himself on the balcony. Willie later discovers that the assassin is also a schizophrenic and would often hear the voices of the victim's children in his head, convincing him to murder Danny and the three jurors who voted against his conviction to Death Row. After nine years of ownership Willie Traynor sells The Ford County Times.
[edit] Characters in "The Last Juror"
- Joyner William (Willie) Traynor
- Calia Ruffin
- Baggy Suggs
- Wiley Meek
- Danny Padgitt
- Lucien Wilbanks
- Harry Rex Vonner
- Sam Ruffin
- Rhoda Kassellaw
| Preceded by The King of Torts |
John Grisham Novels 2004 |
Succeeded by The Broker |
[edit] External links
| John Grisham's novels (as of 2006) | |
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1980s: A Time to Kill |
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| Non-Fiction | |
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2000s: The Innocent Man |
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