Editorial Product Review:

Item Description:
When Carl Lee Hailey guns down the hoodlums who have raped his ten-year-old child, the people of Clanton see it as a crime of blood and call for his acquittal. But when extremists outside Clanton hear that a black man has killed two white men, they invade the town, determined to destroy anything and anyone that opposes their sense of justice. Jake Brigance has been hired to defend Hailey. It's the kind of case that can make or break a young lawyer. But in the maelstrom of Clanton, it is also the kind of case that could get a young lawyer killed. 'The best thriller writer alive' - Ken Follett, 'Evening Standard'. 'Grisham is a natural storyteller' - 'Daily Telegraph'. 'A giant of the thriller genre' - 'Time Out'. 'Leaves one eager for more' - 'Spectator'.

Amazon.com Review:
This addictive tale of a young lawyer defending a black Vietnam war hero who kills the white druggies who raped his child in tiny Clanton, Mississippi, is John Grisham's first novel, and his favorite of his first six. He polished it for three years and every detail shines like pebbles at the bottom of a swift, sunlit stream. Grisham is a born legal storyteller and his dialogue is pitch perfect.

The plot turns with jeweled precision. Carl Lee Hailey gets an M-16 from the Chicago hoodlum he'd saved at Da Nang, wastes the rapists on the courthouse steps, then turns to attorney Jake Brigance, who needs a conspicuous win to boost his career. Folks want to give Carl Lee a second medal, but how can they ignore premeditated execution? The town is split, revealing its social structure. Blacks note that a white man shooting a black rapist would be acquitted; the KKK starts a new Clanton chapter; the NAACP, the ambitious local reverend, a snobby, Harvard-infested big local firm, and others try to outmaneuver Jake and his brilliant, disbarred drunk of an ex-law partner. Jake hits the books and the bottle himself. Crosses burn, people die, crowds chant 'Free Carl Lee!' and 'Fry Carl Lee!' in the antiphony of America's classical tragedy. Because he's lived in Oxford, Mississippi, Grisham gets compared to Faulkner, but he's really got the lean style and fierce folk moralism of John Steinbeck. --Tim Appelo

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Customer Rating: - Good Grisham book
I haven't liked Grisham's newer books or the ones he writes in partner with another author. I hadn't read his first book and was looking for some good old fashioned Grisham. Crime, suspense and justice. A Time to Kill delivers. The uncomfortable subject of race in the south is at the center of this story and Grisham doesn't shy away from it. His characters have to explore tough questions and pass judgment on themselves and others.

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Customer Rating: - Terrible!!!!
I never recieved the product, and when I wrote to complain they said that basically, it cost them more to ship it than they actually made, so they aren't going to do anything about it.

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Customer Rating: - Your Eyes Will Bleed as You Pour Through the Pages
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

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Customer Rating: - A Visceral Look at Small-Town Justice in an Imaginary South

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.