A Time to Kill: A Novel (Jake Brigance Book 1) by John Grisham (Epub)

Description

The life of a ten-year-old black girl is shattered by two drunken and remorseless white men. The mostly white town of Clanton in Ford County, Mississippi, reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime—until the girl’s father acquires an assault rifle and takes justice into his own hands.

For ten days, as burning crosses and the crack of sniper fire spread through the streets of Clanton, the nation sits spellbound as defense attorney Jake Brigance struggles to save his client’s life—and then his own.

Don’t miss any of John Grisham’s gripping Jake Brigance novels:
A TIME TO KILL • SYCAMORE ROW • A TIME FOR MERCY

User’s Reviews

“Grisham’s pleasure in relating the Byzantine complexities of Clanton (Mississippi) politics is contagious and he tells a good story. . . . An enjoyable book.”—Library Journal“Grisham excels!”—Dallas Times Herald “Grisham is an absolute master.”—Washington Post “Grisham enraptures us.”—Houston Chronicle Amazon.com

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ Imagine if you will, you have a 10 year old daughter. She might be white or black, or quite literally any race for that matter. In any event, two young men of a different race than he, tie share spread eagle to a tree and proceed to rape and beat her within an inch of her life. What would you do as the parent of the young child? Would you wait for the legal system to run its course and mete out appropriate punishment, or would your first instinct be to take justice into your own hands? Suppose you lived in a part of the country where the system was biased almost entirely against you, how would you as a parent respond? This is the premise of John Grisham’s first novel, A Time To Kill. The book is a page turning thriller that studies this question while giving an in depth look insight as to how the legal profession works behind the scenes. We visit hope and we visit despair knowing that vigilante justice is not allowed in our society while our hearts cry out for justice to be extracted to the fullest. The novel keeps the reader hanging on until the very final pages and is well worth reading in its entirety because it not only looks at seething racial hatred in a fictional time ans place, it brings attention to the reality of hatred that exists in present day America. This is the second Grisham novel I have read and I can say he is on the list of one of my favorites!E

⭐ I’ve never read a Grisham book before, so decided to start with his first. A Time To Kill was released to little fanfare in 1989, and only reached a large readership when Grisham’s later novels took off. How does the book stand up 30 years’ on?Set in the south and fixed on the question of racism and justice, the book barrels along with a lurid plot that would seem improbable, were it not for the parallels to current events. The characters are recognizable to anyone who’s watched any number of crime dramas on TV, but nevertheless keep you engaged. Grisham’s new foreword makes it clear he has a keen fondness for the book and that his own personal experiences fuel the narrative.I like it. Great summer read, and there’s enough complexity to the central characters to make you realize how this was the start of a big career.

⭐ First attempt to read a Grisham novel. Written in 1989 you would think that Grisham understood racism. But to promote it through liberal use of the “N” word, confederate flags, confederate symbols and dialogue, and otherwise demeam and insult blacks is more than disappointing, it is unacceptable. He perpetuates racism through his words and story. Absolutely the worst book I have read – and I refuse to finish it. Yes, I am white. I am one who grew up fully exposed to racism. Even though I have worked a career in roles where I embraced the practice of affirmative action and equal opportunity, and promote anti racist work policies, I know in my head that I am racist and understand the need to become and be anti racist. It’s more than past time. It’s novelists like Grisham who perpetuate racism. Sure, a best seller, made him a ton of money but where is his effort to not write racist books?I would NOT recommend the book to be read by anyone. It is that bad. Shame on Amazon to continue to sell it. Sorry, but I needed to express my opposition to this book.

⭐ I had not read A Time to Kill since I was probably in my late teens, and reread it recently along with the other, much more recent Jake Brigance novels.I remembered this book as powerful, difficult, emotional, and shocking even at the time in its unflinching description of racism and racist violence in the Deep South.Decades later, I feel a little bit differently about this book. It opens, as Grisham’s books often do, with a brutally violent event, in this case the rape of a ten-year-old Black girl. Events unfold from there and we confront many questions about justice (and taking justice into one’s own hands), family, a corrupted (yet not always) legal system; we see the unutterable segregation and blatant racism that was still endemic in the South in the eighties; and we see the first blush of Grisham’s skill in legal procedurals – case research, jury selection, the trial itself – all the things that play into his later full-on legal thrillers.This is, after all, Grisham’s first novel, so there are places where the plot stalls, some awkward language (still amazing for a first novel written between legal briefs), strange omissions of what would seem to be important scenes, and so forth. In addition Brigance is a complex protagonist. He’s in no way a pure hero. He’s not free of bias himself and certainly not free of racism and very overt sexism. He’s arrogant and a publicity seeker. He has almost no use for women beyond his wife, especially if unattractive or over the age of forty. You may not like him – I’m not sure I do.That said, the story is still gripping and it’s a strong read. My final caveat is that this book is more than thirty years old. Its casual racial stereotyping and in particular the constant use of a word I won’t dignify with shorthand is very, very hard to take in 2021 (the later Brigance books avoid this, the second mostly and the third almost completely – but they are current era). I do recommend the book, especially if you want to read the later Brigance novels as this is his defining moment – but probably a good idea to try the sample and see how you feel.

⭐ Everyone has that one book they’ve meant to read but hadn’t gotten to it. A Time To Kill was that book for me. After listening to John Grisham’s podcasts, I decided to rip the book open and plow through. There was so much against Carl Lee that I was concerned Grisham had taken things too far but in the end I enjoyed the controversy and the only part I would change is a final scene for Row Ark. She deserves some kind of recognition. A wonderful novel and one that I recommend any thriller fan to read.

⭐ This book is one of Grisham’s best ever however, he left out one major part that I found highly disappointing. In the movie, you get to see Carl Lee Hailey testify at his own trial. Of course the book is more detailed than the movie however, Grisham does not put that part in the book. One would assume that he would put that in the book in great detail, Hailey on the stand, describing what he did. You get 3/4 of the way through the book and discover all is said is “Carl Lee testified and we adjourned at four”. What a major letdown. I was anxious to read that part. Also, if you’ve seen the movie, one of THE best parts was Jake’s summation. The book gives a very clipped version of that. Again, disappointing.

⭐ My girlfriends turned me on to John Grisham this year. This is the third book of his I read this year, and I just want to know why I waited so long. Most people probably know the story about the African American man that kills the trash that rapes his daughters. The killing was premeditated, there were witnesses. He confessed to doing it. Now was he guilty, or was he innocent.Yes this was in rural Mississippi, near Tupelo in a white majority county, set in the 1980’s possibly. You shouldn’t need much more than that for a story, but Grisham brings in some interesting side characters that border on sleazy and dishonest to assist Jake.

⭐ Overall, I enjoyed this book but at times it did seem to drag on.Carl Lee Hailey has taken the law into his own hands. His ten year old daughter was raped and let to die by two white men. This story is set decades ago when racial tensions were very high in the south. There is repeated use of the N word which people can find offensive but based on the time period of tbis book it is something that was said frequently and people not give it a second thought.Jake Brigance is an attorney who has agreed to represent Carl Lee who is a poor black man in the South. Jake to the case with less than a $1000 given to represent him. Carl Lee was upset when he learned that Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Wilard took his daughter and repeated raped her and disgraced her and left her foe dead. Carl wanted justice and did not think he would get it for 2 white men abusing a little black girl. Carl took matters into his own hand and served his own justice by killing those two. Now Carl is on trial.This book follows the tensions in the South and the KKK and Carl planning to kill them and then also how Jake had to deal with the outlash from the community for representing a black man.It was an interesting read in that this is how things were common back in the day with names said and threats. It also has Ellen, Jake assistant, a ‘yankee’ feom up North who views things differently than those who live in the South. I admit it was refreshing to see Jake tease Rufus Buckley, the opposing counsel and he get so mad when called the governor. Harry Rex who is in other John Grisham novels also shows up in this story as well.The verdict at the end of the trial could go either way. I won’t spoil it for you. The book could have been a bit shorter as no need to repeat about the national guard being out and the groups gathering for support but, still a good read and one of my favorite authors

⭐ I liked the book overall. I think Grisham did an amazing job of portraying the racial tone in the South, and in particular in Mississippi. I spent as much of my free time as possible reading the book because it was interesting and suspenseful. However, after I finished the book I was left with a few “That’s it?????” questions in my head and would have liked Grisham to fill in the blanks more, if you will.1. When Carl Lee ask Brigance why he chose the line of questioning towards the mothers of Cobb and Willard. Brigance says, “I’ll tell you later…” yet we never get to hear the conversation. I understand the reasoning behind the questions he asked, but still would liked to have read in more detail.2. I would have thought Carl Lee’s testimony would have been in the book. As much as was devoted to the psychiatrists’ testimony, I would have that just as much, if not more would have been written about the defendant, but there wasn’t. Pretty disappointing…3. After Ellen is in the hospital and Brigance talks to her dad, that’s the last we heard of her. I would have thought there would have been some sort of conversation Brigance had with her after the verdict was given. She was given such a strong role in the book I would have thought there would have been some sort of closure.4. No mention at all of the conversation between Jake and Carla about the verdict, the destruction of their house, nothing…As much build up as there was to the verdict, the last few pages seemed like a let down. I was looking for more closure than what was given. All of that being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book.

⭐ I bought this to re-read after A Time for Mercy came out, because I couldn’t remember the details of this. I’m sure I read this when it was re-released after The Firm hit big. I remembered the plot, but I didn’t remember what a jerk Jake was. I kept wondering how I got thru this book the first time. For most of the book, Jake has no redeeming qualities. Actually, none of the main characters, with the exception of maybe Carl Lee, have any redeeming qualities. That includes the wife, all the attorneys, the judges, the police.I realize this is his first attempt at writing, but he did love stereotypes. Thankfully, his writing improved.

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