The Runaway Jury by John Grisham

I like to categorize books by how they address the themes of justice, vengeance, and redemption. For this one, whether justice is served will depend on one’s view of the parties involved in the story. There is an undercurrent of vengeance. No redemption, at least at the moral and spiritual level.

This is the fifth Grisham novel I’ve read, and I’d rank it as the second best one, second only to The Testament: A Novel. This is not a crime novel, in that there are no violent crimes, no detectives, no chasing criminals. However, it is full of criminals. It’s not a thriller but carries an undercurrent of suspense through to the end. I wanted to keep reading to see how things would turn out. I had my theory as to who Marlee and Nicolas Easter were. My theory was wrong. It was a book that I kept thinking, there’s no way it’s going to turn out this way. And yet that is exactly how it turned out. And that wasn’t disappointing, just surprising. I applaud Mr. Grisham for the ending.

The story revolves around a civil trial. A man died of lung cancer and his family is suing the tobacco company that manufactured and sold the cigarettes that the dead man smoked. Three packs a day. The trial is fascinating. There is a plethora of information given about the tobacco industry. What is true and what is fictional license, I don’t know. The things the two teams of lawyers did to try and win the case were also amazing and fascinating. Again, how much of that really goes on, I’m not sure. I suspect both the facts given and the methods are closer to the truth than we’d like.

The other thing I had not realized, or at least had forgotten, was how clean a novel Grisham writes. No profanity. No on page sex. No violence, but then violence wasn’t necessary for the story.

At times, the characterization is almost caricature, but I believe that’s intentional. Especially the characters that make up the jury. An eclectic set of individuals and fun to read about and watch as they try to arrive at a verdict.

The book was written twenty-eight years ago, but that doesn’t hinder its enjoyability. It’s also over five hundred pages long, so maybe too long for today’s reduced attention spans. However, it’s worth the read. Well-written. Fast-paced for something that has little to no action. Finally, a story that really made me think about the topics and the outcome.

I’ll rank this one number four. The other three above it are all must reads. The Runaway Jury is a four point five out of five stars. For the year, nine great books, and three good books. No duds yet.

1. The Record Keeper by Charles Martin
2. The Samaritan’s Patient by Chevron Ross
3. Days Coming by Pat Simmons
4. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham
5. The Maid by Nita Prose
6. Where is My Sister by Jane Daly
7. The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman
8. Black Cherry Blues by James Lee Burke
9. A Vanishing Act by Edwina Kiernan
10. Cali’s Hope by John Matthew Walker
11. Field Training by Patrick O’Donnell
12. Deadly Pursuit by Elle Gray

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