#9 - A Time To Kill by John Grisham

Two years ago I had the audiobook "Summer of Stephanie" where I dug through all of the Stephanie Plum novels of Janet Evanovich.  Last summer, Audible and I took an awesome journey through the murder cop world of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch character.  This year, my goal is to get through the library of John Grisham.  Call it one of those things that I always intended to do but never had a chance to complete.
So I started at the beginning.  The 1989 debut novel of John Grisham, "A Time To Kill"

The book is set in 1984.  That fact is important due to the extreme nature of the story and the tensions surrounding it.  Set in Mississippi, the opening chapter describes in uncomfortable detail, the rape and beating of a ten year old black girl.  (The "N" word abounds throughout the novel so if you are sensitive to this kind of racial positioning this is definitely not the book for you!)  The rapists are then gunned down by the girl's father, thus the trial.

I can't stress enough how disturbing the year depicted by the novel is.  This is not the sixties, not the civil war, but 1984 long after the desegregation of the blacks and whites took place.  My mind cannot fathom the presence of the Ku Klux Klan, extreme racial tension and the flippant use of the "N" word both by the rednecks and the affluent of society.  The questions this book brought up were deep ones:  "Does the justice system work the same way for blacks as it does for whites?", "Is it justice for a father to avenge this horrible thing that happened to her daughter by killing the men who did it?", "What difference does things like marches and violent intimidation tactics make among the 12 jury members in charge of this man's fate."

It makes you think, it tells a good story, and I really enjoyed the way the plot weaved together.  This is starting off to be a good year for audio stories!!

Goodreads rating: 4 stars
Currently reading (nook): Damned by Chuck Palahniuk
In progress (audio): Notorious Nineteen by Janet Evanovich.