The Runaway Jury - John Grisham

Advantages: Clever plot, interesting subject, accurately written
Disadvantages: Little character development, detailed and confusing

The Runaway Jury is another legal novel by John Grisham. This time, the focus of the story is a lawsuit by widow Celeste Wood against cigarette manufacturer, Pynex. Celeste’s husband Jacob, a lifelong smoker of three packets of cigarettes a day, died at the age of 51 from lung cancer. The focus of the case is Pynex’s liability for Jacob’s death. It is the ninth such case of its kind, and each time so far, the jury has found in favour of the cigarette ...
...court, it sends panic through the tobacco industry, as a plaintiff’s verdict would cause severe damage for all the main players. As such, all four of America’s largest tobacco companies are working together to fight the case in the small town of Biloxi. They have hired undercover legal expert Rankin Fitch to ensure that the trial goes their way, and they have a fund of over $8 million with which to make this happen – by whatever means are necessary, ... Read review

Advantages: character development, the beginning, an acquired taste
Disadvantages: i like it, the legal stuff

The Runaway Jury by John Grisham Characters The Jurors 1. Nicholas Easter The main juror who is the centre of attention and the leader of the jury. His past is clouded and is a big worry for both legal teams. He becomes more important as the trial progresses. 2. Jerry Fernandez A gambling man who is going through a divorce and is in love with a fellow juror. He is also Nick's friend so will vote as he does. 3. Rikki Coleman A non-smoker ...
...to play over the trial. She did have an abortion in high school but this never emerged. 4. Millie Dupree Husband Hoppy is one of many people approached by the Big Four Tobacco Companies in an effort to bribe the jury. 5. Angel Weese Wife of Derrick who tries to get a large sum of money from the defence team and thinks that Angel can influence the whole jury. In fact, she is shy and will follow her friends' choice of verdict. 6. Sylvia Taylor-Tatum ... Read review

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...in John Grisham's new novel The Runaway Jury. It's a timely legal thriller: Giant tobacco companies versus the giant anti-smoking lobby. Three-pack-a-day, 30-year smoker Jacob Wood is dead and his widow's lawsuit becomes all things to all involved; plaintiffs' lawyers want to open the door on tobacco liability, and the industry wants it slammed shut. Grisham puts The Runaway Jury's court action in Biloxi and flavours it with the Gulf Coast's gambling ...
...Chamber and more straightforward than The Pelican Brief, Grisham's sixth novel is a lively read that evokes doubt about the sanctity of the U.S. jury system. Enter provocateur Nicholas Easter, part-time store clerk with clean-shaven, boyish good looks. Easter is very "nice" and really wants to appear unbiased about tobacco. There begins the story and suspicions are soon confirmed -- Easter has his own agenda threading through a maze of legal procedure ... Read review

Advantages: Good chacters, original plot, well written
Disadvantages: nothing springs to mind

...such an awful pun for the title of their opinions deserves all the Not Helpful ratings that can be mustered. Apologies and please don't. For anyone who hasn't read or heard about this book it's based around a courtroom battle between a coalition of prominent American Litigators suing Big Tobacco on behalf of the widow of a man who died from smoking, the intention being to set a precedent enabling them to make billions suing on behalf of all smokers. ...
...and is employing the full dirty tricks brigade to stop it. Leading them in this effort is a man who has already fixed several trials on their behalf. But when this trial starts it soon becomes apparent that not everything is a one would expect in an ordinary tobacco action. The jurors are behaving oddly and a Woman outside of the case seems to be able to predict what's going on: Is this an attempt to fix the biggest civil trial in history? And if ... Read review

Advantages: Marvellous plot
Disadvantages: Doesn't read well second time around

The American jury service gets John Grisham treatment in this book, as he tells the story of a manipulated trial. Grisham has proved once again how successfully he can tell a story. The plot of The Runaway Jury is inspired, and as he so often does, Grisham unravels the plot expertly, revealing just enough to keep you reading. I was absorbed in this book from start to finish, and I found the characters interesting. This would make a good read for ... Read review