A Time to Kill: John Grisham

Carl Lee Hailey-a black vet- finds himself helpless after his 10yr old daughter, Tanya gets raped and beaten up by two rednecks.Tanya identifies the two and with the help of a local sheriff they are arrested.But Carl does not have faith in the Clanton justice.He would not and does not accept the verdict based on who has the better lawyer.The town reacts with horror until the girl's father takes justice into his own hands.As he gets his hands on M-16 he shoots the two, and by this process the two rapists gets killed and a deputy, severely injured.He then goes straight to his brother's lawyer Jake Brigance,to get him off.For Jake, this is the case of his career. A young lawyer, out on his own and barely making ends meet, winning this one would set he and his family up for life. And with the assistance of his old friend Lucien, a dirty smart divorce lawyer named Harry, and a surprise godsend of a paralegal nick-named “Ro-Ark”, he might just be able to see this one through.
Jake fights his way through but in this process he puts Carl's,his and his family's life at stake.Eventually the Klan gets involved so does other racist and a chaos situation is created.Burning cross,threats,slogans and banners saying "set Carl lee free" is all over the city.For days the nation sits spellbound as the defence lawyer struggles to save his client's life and then his own.The city takes a different face that no one has ever seen before.The national guard are called into the small southern town to keep the peace, and the clashes with protesters and Klan are heightening by the day. And, of course, the unavoidable problem... which way will the jury go? Can Jake maintain his sanity, his life, AND win the biggest case in his career?

This is one among the other court room dramas of Grisham.But this particular one is action packed,full of drama and suspense.You will feel your heart hammering fast along with that of Carl and Jake.Of course, you could tell where his sympathies lay, but for a first novel his ability to write impartially was very impressive.