The lawyer is only human, after all he has a family to provide for and a job to do despite the difficulties it poses. Grisham builds on the lawyer’s initial skepticism of the racial tensions being an issue, then the dawning on him of the backlash that he and his family may have to endure if he continues to be involved in the case. Throughout the story, Grisham doesn’t paint anyone as a complete hero, and only a select few characters are portrayed as truly evil. While there’s a lot of sympathy for Carl Lee, especially among the black townsfolk, there is also a sizeable slice of opinion that vigilantism, whatever the provocation, is wrong and then there’s the minority of white supremacists, who think that Carl Lee should be lynched. Grisham carefully balances his characters so that we get to see both sides of each argument in the trial, particularly on vigilantism and capital punishment.

The events, the situations, the verbal exchange, and the emotional states have all been described meticulously. The book has a simple and straightforward plot, with detailed character traits and personalities. It follows the life of the lawyer (Jake Brigance, also a white), who is trying to secure the man’s acquittal at a trial before a predominantly white jury. This was Mississippi, where for years whites shot blacks for any reason or no reason and no one cared where whites raped blacks and it was considered sport where blacks were hanged for fighting back.Ī Time To Kill is the story of a black man (Carl Lee), who is on trial for killing his daughter’s rapists – who were whites. A Galaxy British Book Awards winner, Grisham is one of only three authors to sell two million copies on a first printing, the other two being Tom Clancy and J. As of 2012, his books have sold over 275 million copies worldwide. His first novel, A Time to Kill, was published in June 1989, four years after he began writing it. He practiced criminal law for about a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from January 1984 to September 1990. degree from the University Of Mississippi School Of Law in 1981.

Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and received a J.D. His books have been translated into 42 languages and published worldwide. is an American novelist, attorney, politician, and activist, best known for his popular legal thrillers.

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