A Time to Kill
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| Author | John Grisham |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Legal thriller |
| Publisher | Wynwood Press |
| Released | 1989 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover, Paperback) |
| Pages | 528 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-440-21172-7 |
A Time to Kill is the name of a legal suspense thriller authored by John Grisham in 1989. Grisham's first novel, it was rejected by many publishers before Wynwood Press eventually gave it a modest 5,000-copy printing. After The Firm, The Pelican Brief, and The Client became bestsellers, interest in A Time to Kill grew, the book was republished by Doubleday in hardcover and then by Dell Publishing in paperback, and became a bestseller as well.
[edit] Setting
The story takes place in the fictional town of Clanton, Mississippi, a small, historically-infused northern Mississippi town. Clanton, located within Madison County, it often considered a subsidiary of Jackson, Mississippi.[citation needed].
[edit] Plot summary
The story revolves around a small southern Mississippi town where a young black girl is raped and beaten by two white men. The father, Carl Lee Hailey, distraught and seeking vengeance, guns down the two men involved in the courthouse when it seems they are going to get off on a lesser charge. Local lawyer Jake Brigance works to defend Hailey in the midst of growing racial tensions that threaten to break out into a full-fledged race riot, involving the Ku Klux Klan, National Guard and local citizens locked in a bloody battle on the streets of Clanton. Jake Brigance receives help from his old lawyer friend/landlord, Lucien Wilbanks, a hard-hitting divorce lawyer Harry Rex Vonner and his new free working secretary from Boston, Ellen Roark. The story ends with the jury unanimously deciding on a "not guilty" verdict after Brigance suggests the jury flip races of the victim.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by none |
John Grisham Novels 1989 |
Succeeded by The Firm (novel) |
| John Grisham's novels (as of 2006) | |
|---|---|
|
1980s: A Time to Kill |
|
| Non-Fiction | |
|
2000s: The Innocent Man |
|
