Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
Hardcover Description:
In 1970, small town newspaper The Clanton Times went belly up. With financial assistance from a rich relative, it's purchased by 23-year-old Willie Traynor, formerly the paper's cub reporter. Soon afterward, his new business receives the readership boost it needs thanks to his editorial efforts and coverage of a particularly brutal rape and murder committed by the scion of the town's reclusive bootlegger family. Rather than shy from reporting on the subsequent open-and-shut trial (those who oppose the Padgitt family tend to turn up dead in the area's swampland), Traynor launches a crusade to ensure the unrepentant murderer is brought to justice. When a guilty verdict is returned, the town is relieved to find the Padgitt family's grip on the town did not sway the jury, though Danny Padgitt is sentenced to life in prison rather than death. But, when Padgitt is released after serving less than a decade in jail and members of the jury are murdered, Clanton once again finds itself at the mercy of its renegade family.
When it comes, the dénouement is no surprise; The Last Juror is less a story of suspense than a study of the often idyllic southern town of Clanton, Mississippi (the setting for Grisham's first novel, A Time to Kill). Throughout the nine years between Padgitt's trial and release, Traynor finds acceptance in Clanton, where the people "don't really trust you unless they trusted your grandfather." He grows from a long-haired idealist into another of the town's colorful characters--renovating an old house, sporting a bowtie, beloved on both sides of the color line, and the only person to have attended each of the town's 88 churches at least once. The Last Juror returns Grisham to the courtroom where he made his name, but those who enjoyed the warm sentiment of his recent novels (Bleachers, A Painted House) will still find much to love here. --Benjamin Reese
Average Customer Rating:
Its all good
Grisham is one of those writers that I will pick up without knowing what the book is about or what others think. His writing is engaging and he is masterful at suspense. This book is no exception. If he keeps writing them, I'll keep buying them.
Anthony Wilbon, Author of "The Enigma of Njama"
Definitely not his best work
I found the storyline of this book to be very interesting, but it kept deviating away from the story and introduced way too many characters, that in my opinion, had little or nothing to do with the story. It's almost as if this was a short story stretched into novel length. Either that or the author was under a deadline to crank the next book out and this is the result. Still overall it wasn't terrible, but still not one of his best works, that's for certain.
I'm on p.400 out of 486; still waiting for a juror to buy the farm
But hey, I usually dump a book in less than 100 pages if it's not good. This is my first Grisham book, given to me in a stack of other "thrillers". Having only seen the movie adapations of a couple of his other books, I expected something similar, especially after the blurb on the back ominously intones "[imagine deep movie trailer voice here] as tension swirls around Clanton, men and women who served on a jury nine years ago are starting to die one by one--as a killer exacts the ultimate revenge...." dunh-dunh-duuuuuuuuuunh!
But I guess it's wise to not pay too much attention to the blurbs companies put on books to sell them. Heck, you're ruining part of your pleasure if you've even read the Amazon blurb above.
This book may not have been the spine-tingling courtroom page turner/murder mystery I thought it would be, but it sure has been a pleasure to spend my spare time with. Great characters, believable dialogue, engaging situations, humor, even some social commentary--nothing over the top. Any one who has spent any of their lives in a small town will recognize Clanton. It also reminds me of some of the more charming Stephen King stories that are more about people than horror, such as Shawshank Redemption.
So, I haven't reached the end yet, but I don't regret any of the time I've spent with the book. I would recommend it for those in-between times when you're taking a break from the heavy literature or heavy non-fiction.
Can't find the book you're looking for? Then try Google.
DVD's
Its all good 
Definitely not his best work 
I'm on p.400 out of 486; still waiting for a juror to buy the farm 
