5 Stars for A Time to Kill: Jake Brigance Series, Book 1 (audiobook) by John Grisham read by Michael Beck.This is an amazing legal thriller. Grisham really plays with the idea of right and wrong. I need to see the movie again. I’d forgotten how great this story is.

This one was really good. Hard to believe it was John Grisham first novel. This is a legal thriller and much more. The story took place in Mississippi. Two rednecks rape a ten year old black girl. Her father shot them dead in front of the courthouse and Jake Brigance is the criminal defense attorney who represented him. I read Sycamore Row a while back but didn't know it was second in the series. The third book, A Time for Mercy will be released on Oct 13th, 2020.I really like this book although...

A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1), John GrishamA Time to Kill is a 1988 legal thriller by John Grisham. It was Grisham's first novel. In the small town of Clanton, in fictional Ford County, Mississippi, a ten-year-old African-American girl named Tonya Hailey is viciously raped and beaten by two white supremacists, James "Pete" Willard and Billy Ray Cobb. Tonya is later found and rushed to the hospital while Pete and Billy Ray are heard bragging at a roadside bar about their crime. Tonya's distr...

Considered Grisham's best novel by many readers far more perspicacious than moi, this well-written, emotionally-charged thriller certainly delivers. While it doesn't rank as my eye's own personal apple, I can certainly see why it is esteemed by fans of both the legal-thriller and Grisham. Despite being fast-paced and a true page-turner (what I would call a popcorn-read), there's a gravity and social conscience that pervades the story and adds a weight to the narrative. There is depth here, more

This 1988 first Grisham novel is outstanding. 10 of 10 stars!

Original Mid-90s Star Only Review – 5 StarsRe-Read in 2020 Review – 4 StarsYou will notice a drop in the stars above, but you can take that with a grain of salt. It is still a great book that will pull you in and not let go. If you are familiar with Grisham’s work, this is where it all began, and I think some consider it mainly downhill from here. Not necessarily a big downhill – but it sure does seem in some aspects like he was at the top of his game for his first few novels. He mentioned in hi...

2.5 stars. One of my least favorites of Grisham's books, and that's saying something. Actually I kind of liked The Pelican Brief and one or two of his others, but mostly they strike me as mediocre writing combined, more often than not, with pulpit-pounding and breast-beating about some particular legal issue. In this case the setting is a murder trial for a African-American man who gunned down his 10 year old daughter's rapists, who are stereotypical Southern white trash racists who tried to mur...

This was John Grisham' s very first book.He dreamed of getting it published,and went through innumerable rejections.It was largely ignored,when it was first published.Grisham was inspired by an actual court room case to write it.It is about rape,retribution and racial violence,in the American South.A young black girl is raped,and her outraged father takes justice into his own hands.A young defence attorney tries to save his life,only to find himself in danger.And then comes all that racial viole...

I confess that when one of my book clubs made this our monthly selection, I approached it with more than a little trepidation. I knew that this was Grisham's first book and that when it was first published as a hardcover, he could hardly give it away. Sales were so poor that there was initially no paperback release. Only after the success of The Firm and other of Grisham's books was this one finally resurrected and released in paperback.Like most of Grisham's other readers, I jumped aboard the t...

This book totally rocked my world! I had asked for a legal thriller as a recommendation and I'm glad to have this one suggested! The racial tension in this story felt as real as it did in To Kill A Mockingbird. I felt I was right there in Clanton, Mississippi trying to dodge the KKK and marching with everyone else. This is my first Grisham novel, and I'll definitely be exploring more!

Read when it first came out. I really ought to reread this prior to reading Sycamore Row. I remember being captivated with the story of Jake Brigance but I details are sketchy at best at this time. Seems like a summer reread is on the horizon.

I first read this sensational novel over 30 years ago; a banned book in some southern states at the time. Since Mr. Grisham published, in October of 2020, the third novel depicting our street lawyer Jake Brigance I decided to start from #1. It is a gripping, captivating story embedded with violence and a large dose of humour and compassion.

Before returning to Clanton Mississippi and Ford County, I took some time to refresh myself of my first journey here, to see where the Grisham journey had its humble roots. While it is likely this novel is not the traditional 'must-read' before diving into SYCAMORE ROW, I chose to remember the powerful novel that Grisham admits barely made a blip on the radar until after THE FIRM pushed him to the top of all the reading lists. This is a wonderful book that introduces readers to a Mississippi whe...

In my humble opinion, this is Grisham's finest work. Not only are his characters stirring and unforgettable but the story is powerful.

"A Time to Kill" is a riveting story of retribution and justice ... so does the title imply. Replace riveting by frustrating and you know what I felt while reading this doorstopper of a book.On more than 500 pages, John Grisham delves deep into the schemes and entanglements of a trial in the Southern USA. The premise was so interesting that it was impossible not to pick this book up: A ten-year-old girl is raped by two drunken men, and her father takes the law into his own hands by killing the r...

This is my first John Grisham book, I am embarrassed to admit. I felt like I was in Clanton, Mississippi reliving this gruesome murder. His writing and knowledge on the law system is pretty amazing to read. Makes you realize all the politics and behind the door negotiations going on. This is a story of two pothead white trash drug dealers that rape a 10-year-old black girl. They urinate on her, tie her legs and hands to a fence and tree, beat her, pour beer on her while she is calling for her da...

A courtroom thriller published 1989This is John Grisham’s first novel but not his first published.The setting is in Mississippi where, even in 1989, the divide between the white and the black communities was still very obvious. And guess what, here we are 41 years later and what’s changed, not much it would seem.A little ten year old black girl is brutally raped and beaten. She is found and taken to the hospital where the doctors put her back together physically but her emotional condition is no...

This was the very first Grisham book I read - loved it!Brought back memories of To Kill a Mockingbird.I read this author's next few books, but after a while, his books stopped appealing to me.This one had me glued to each page, swept away by the gripping action and the hero's determination to defend his client come what may - and boy, did he and his family pay a big price for his unwillingness to back away from his client. Hats off to him! A truly heroic lawyer in the image of Atticus Finch.

Were the '80's really this racist? Well the vernacular of this book is and thus I suspect the state of Mississippi. I looked up racism in Mississippi and apparently it's one of, if not the most racist states in the union if not the most racist place in the entire northern hemisphere. This story makes a huge declaration on the social injustices that are propagated by systemic racism. It is at times difficult to read and the use of the n-word is prevalent throughout the story.The story itself is a...