The Last Juror

A Novel

By: John Grisham

Narrated by: Michael Beck

Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

In 1970, one of Mississippi's more colorful weekly newspapers, The Ford County Times, went bankrupt. To the surprise and dismay of many, ownership was assumed by a 23 year-old college dropout, named Willie Traynor. The future of the paper looked grim until a young mother was brutally raped and murdered by a member of the notorious Padgitt family. Willie Traynor reported all the gruesome details, and his newspaper began to prosper.

The murderer, Danny Padgitt, was tried before a packed courthouse in Clanton, Mississippi. The trial came to a startling and dramatic end when the defendant threatened revenge against the jurors if they convicted him. Nevertheless, they found him guilty, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

But in Mississippi in 1970, "life" didn't necessarily mean "life," and nine years later Danny Padgitt managed to get himself paroled. He returned to Ford County, and the retribution began.

©2004 Belfry Holdings, Inc. (P)2004 Random House, Inc., Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Here [John Grisham] is back in the fictitious town of Clanton, Miss., re-establishing the storytelling skills and sense of place that put him on the map....The Last Juror does not need to coast on its author's megapopularity. It's a reminder of how the Grisham juggernaut began." (The New York Times)

Grisham at his best.

This book holds your interest from beginning to end. It’s a wonderful story of a community and a young man coming into his own. It’s also a crime novel that keeps you guessing. Michael Beck does a fantastic job as narrator.

Just a good read. Tops enjoyment-plot twists

Long detailed story/great characters. New kid on the block makes an indelible figure in Clanton

Hank Hooten

I loved this story! Had me shaking my head, I can't wait for the next Grisham read!

Grisham Hitting His Prime

If you don't read this book you're missing something.

The only thing wrong with it is the title. I have to wonder if he thought it up or his publisher suggested it in order to capture the Grisham audience who wants one more sensational lawyer novel from the guy who has clearly defined the genre as it existed in the late 20th century.

The title implies that it is about a JUROR. It's not. It's not even about a lawyer. The trial is not the centerpiece. It is merely a defining moment in the evolution of a town and of a whole society.

People often talk about JFK's death or Vietnam as the moment when America "grew up". The fact is that it didn't happen all over America at the same time. America is not one culture - it is many small cultures.

This story is specifically about how this one small county in the deep south evolved from 1970 to 1980. Civil Rights hit. Vietnam came home to roost. Suburbian sprawl hit. The old ways were going and the new ways were coming. The piece of the story involving the Padgetts was not at all about the crime or the trial. It was about the way their influence on the community came to an end. It was about the "good 'ol boy" network fading.

This is Grisham combining the best of what he has learned after years and years of writing best seller after best seller. The suspense of the trial, the aftermath - this is what he has done repeatedly and he still does it exceedingly well. He doesn't stop there, though. He adds to it some of the basic human emotions that he's begun to write about in books like A PAINTED HOUSE.

John's writing has been good since he first hit the scene. It's getting even better now. Much of the appeal of his earlier sutff has been in teaching us about some of the ins and outs of courtroom and big law firms. He's done that already.

Now he's moving onto another plane and I think it's outstanding.

Michael Beck is a fine narrator as well - right up there with the great Frank Muller.

Misleading title, good book

John Grisham is good at painting detailed views of little Southern towns and gradually drawing you into them so that when you're done with the book, you miss all your friends that you have to leave behind there. I was expecting some sort of thriller with a suspenseful ending. What I got instead was a beautiful portrait of a life that had some suspenseful, but very real, circumstances in it. I really enjoyed this listen.

a great read

It was nice having a main character that was not a lawyer. I've read all his novels and this one was really great.

Insightful, Suspensful, and Entertaining

This books provides an incredibly insightful and witty examination of the life in the rural Deep South. As with all Grisham books, the story does not lack the expected excitment and suspense. Excellent book!

Hated to have it end

I very much enjoyed The Last Juror, and while I felt that the story had its dry spots, I understand that this is often due to my impatience with the development of characters, locations, history, etc. John Grisham always does a fine and necessary job as usual, and ties it all together in his typically enthralling and surprising way.

An unbelievably moving encounter with Ford County

John Grisham issues another tear-jerker with this one!

Before Jake Brigance, and before Lucian Wilbanks' disbarment, Willie Trainor bought the Ford County Times, and became its chief editor.

Fresh out of college, new to the south, and. young to boot, Willie makes quick friends, and even quicker enemies.

Mr. Grisham gives his readers another glimpse of life in idealic Clanton, Mississippi, atnd then leaves us in utter shock!

Loved This Too!

Love John Grisham and the Clanton stories. This is one of the best. Michael Beck is the BEST narrator. I wish he read them all!