A Time to Kill

Gwen Hailey calls her husband Carl Lee at work, tells him their daughter, ten-year-old Tonya is missing. Carl Lee isn't all that worried though, because his wife tends to be, well a little protective. However when he gets home he's met with the news that Tonya has been raped by a pair of redneck types named Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard. Tonya had been left for dead and Carl Lee is seeing red. He's African American and does not believe the rapists are going to get what they deserve. Though they're arrested, Carl Lee knows how it goes in the South, so he goes to the courthouse and blows away those young good old boys, then he gets himself a lawyer.

Attorney Jake Brigance takes the case, which gets plenty of media attention right from the get go. It also draws the attention of the Clan, who do their best to intimidate both Jake (they burn a cross on his yard) and the jurors. Carl Lee is looking at the gas chamber if he's convicted and many want it so, however, there are many who believe Carl Lee had been justified. Tension is running high in the Mississippi town of Clanton. Jake's wife is afraid for their daughter Hannah. His secretary is afraid, too. The town doesn't need this, but it's got it.

And you may not need the tension in this book, nor the graphic scene detailing what happened to Tonya, but you should read this book. This is John Grisham's best work, it's his first novel, too. Everything John Grisham writes tops the bestseller lists and they should, but this book, well they need a whole new list for this book. John Grisham puts you in the South at a tense time and paints a picture so true it'll make your eyes bleed as you pour through the pages. He's written a book about a time in the South that the South would love to forget about. We were a different people then, thank the Lord we're changing. We're not their yet, but we're getting there.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

A Time to Kill is not for those with weak stomachs. In his first novel, John Grisham holds nothing back in describing man's inhumanity to man. If you like reading about violence that would make those with weak stomachs miss a meal, this is your book.

The premise of the book is a thought-provoking one: How would a Southern small town treat a crime by an African-American perpetrated with malice aforethought that it would have permitted a white southerner to get away with?

The book's best qualities are exploring the roots of racial prejudice.

For those who like legal thrillers where there's some action, this is far more than your usual courtroom drama. It comes closer to the kind of taut threat that permeated To Kill a Mockingbird. The only difference is that Grisham conjures up an intersection in time between the old and new South that never happened.

I found that the book was predictable in its over-the-top treatment of what would have made for good drama. But the extreme situations weakened the plot by making it seem unlikely. I suspect it was a writing method used to be sure that those who didn't know about the old South would appreciate the delicate nature of the emotions involved.

If you want to get a sense of how far Grisham has come, read this book and then The Client. Fortunately, Grisham learned how to back off from writing over the top and has become an excellent novelist.

You'll keep turning the pages of this book. I doubt if very many people put it down unfinished.

John Grisham has established himself as one of the premier American writers in the recent past. Almost everything he writes is gobbled up devoured by his fans and rightfully so. He has a great knack for drawing you in to the characters and then like a punch in the nose..he hits you with the hook. Time to kill already is a classic and will remain on the reading list for high schooler and collegiates for quite a while.

I find John Grissom to be an excelloent writter.

I find it hard to put down.

This book is author John Grisham's first novel. It is also, naturally enough, his personal favorite.

"A Time to Kill" had an indifferent reception from publishers. It was subsequently given a more prestigious release after the best selling success of "The Firm" and "The Pelican Brief."

I would probably rate "A Time to Kill" with three and a half stars, if that option were available to me on this web site. It is not a bad book, but it is awfully derivative. If you have previously read Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," much of the material in "A Time to Kill" is going to seem familiar to you. The time frame, the specific crime and the location have changed, but otherwise it is a short drive from a courtroom in segregated Alabama to a racist courtroom in Mississippi.

To put it another way, would you prefer watching the motion picture "In the Heat of the Night" with Rod Steiger or the weekly television series with Carroll O'Connor?