A time to kill door John Grisham

The title of the book is A time to kill. It is written by John Grisham, published in June1988 by Wynwood in New York. It’s the second edition. The number of pages is 552. John Grisham was born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. As a child of a construction worker and a homemaker, After his Study law at the State University of Mississippi, he worked as a lawyer, specialised in criminal defence. He was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi law practice. In 1983, John Grisham was elected in the state house of Representatives and served until 1990. In 1984 he began to write A time to kill. His first book was published in 1989. Until now, he wrote several other titles, including The Firm, The Chamber and The King of Torts. My first reaction after reading the book. It was a difficult book to read, but I continued because I liked the subject very well. Otherwise, it tells about a black father who kills the two white boys who raped his daughter. In the town where all of this happened, the inhabitants are divided. Must the father be punished, or not. At the end of the lawsuit, I was really curious to the judgment of the Grand Jury. Summary. The 10-year old Tonya is on her way to the grocery store, when the black girl is abducted by two boys. They rape her. When Tonya isn’t home yet, her mother gets worried. She calls her husband, Carl Lee Hailey, on his work with the message that Tonya isn’t home yet. When he comes home, he finds his little girl on the couch. She is totally beaten up and covered with blood. Tonya tells the story to her parents, en Carl is determined to take revenge. After that Tonya was transported to the hospital in a very critical condition. In the meantime, the police arrested two suspects, Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard. During their questioning they confess the crime. It’s 20 May, Billy Ray Cobb and Pete Willard stand trial in court. Several days before the trial, Carl bought a M-16. Carl Lee isn't in the courtroom during the hearing about the bail of Cobb and Willard. He's hiding in a closet in the hall and when Cobb and Willard come out the courtroom, Carl Lee jumps forward and starts shooting. He accidentally shoots a deputy in the leg, but the rapists scream when they are hit and fall down the stairs, while Carl Lee continues shooting. When he's absolutely sure Cobb and Willard are dead, he drops the gun and runs away. A couple of hours later, Carl is being arrested as a suspect in the murder investigation from the local police. From that moment, the town is divided between people who thinks Carl must be punished for those murders. Other people thinks that the rapists deserve to be dead, so Carl mustn’t be punished. Carl hires a young lawyer to defend him. His name is Jake Brigance, a young man who is just graduated from law school. To get his career going, he needed a big case, one with national attention, like this case. From that moment, Jake and his secretary received a lot of threatening calls. Because the case is very difficult, Jake hires Lucien Willbanks to help him with the case. Outside the prison Jake is working real hard with Lucien and Harry Rex, a friend of his, who gets information on everything. He heard that with the indictment the votes were even, which meant Carl Lee got almost off. The next day the judge of Carl Lee's case, Omar Noose, decides together with Buckley, the public prosecutor, and Jake when the case will go to court, July 22. When The Council of Ministers, a group of black preachers, decides that they will help Carl in the form of demonstrations, the threatening calls become actions. Jake receives a call in the middle of the night, with the message that there’s a burning cross in his garden. He continues his work, and is looking for a psychiatrist who is willing to plead insanity for Carl Lee, to win his case. Eventually he finds Dr.W.T.Boss, but he isn’t reliable because he is always drunk. Then the police receives a call. A man warns for a bomb in Jake’s house. The police defuses the bomb, but the threats doesn’t stop. In the meantime, it’s just one week before the trial. Little by little Clanton is becoming a madhouse. All hotels are booked full in the week of the trial by journalists. Busses full of thousands of black people gather around the courthouse and they demonstrate with plates which say "Free Carl Lee". In the courtroom the picking of members of the jury starts. Jake and Buckley are allowed to interrogate them to pick the best jury. After two days the jury is picked. It is an all white jury, which isn't so good for Carl Lee. Because it is such a big trial the members of the jury aren't allowed to go home, but they have to stay in a motel during the trial, so they can't give information about the case to outsiders and can't be influenced. Then the trial starts. Even before the first witness is heard, Jake had to leave. His wife Ellen is manhandled. The trial restarts the next day. But again there are problems with Jake. This time his house is on fire. The house burns down completely and the dog dies in the sea of flames. The trail restarts for the second time now. The first witness is the state's psychiatrist who testifies Carl Lee was in good mental health during the shooting. That afternoon the public prosecutor and Jake have their closing arguments and then it's time for the jury to reach a verdict. Three days later the jury finally reaches a verdict. Because of the help of one woman in the jury, Wanda Womack, who said to the members of the jury to imagine what they would do if their child would have been raped. And that's how the jury decides to acquit Carl Lee. Now he can finally return to his family. Carl Lee Hailey: He is the father of Tonya Hailey, the 10-year old girl who is raped by two boys. Tonya Hailey: The daughter of Carl Lee. After the rape she still got nightmares. Jake Brigance: The lawyer of Carl Lee. After the case he is a national famous lawyer. Carla Brigance: Jake's wife. On the one hand she is very proud of Jake, because of his case with all the publicity, but on the other hand she finds it too dangerous and she wants him to stop. Dr.W.T.Boss: The psychiatrist who is going to testify that Carl Lee was unaccountable when he shot Cobb and Willard. He isn't so reliable and almost always drunk, but he was the only one Jack could find. Billy Ray Cobb: One of the guys who raped Tonya. He was proud of his action and was bragging about it to his friends until he got caught. Peter Willard: Together with Billy Ray he raped Tonya. He isn't so bad, but Billy Ray persuaded him to do it too. Deputy DeWayne Looney: When Carl Lee shot Cobb and Willard he accidentally hit Looney's leg. However he doesn't blame Carl Lee for what he has done, because he understands why he did it. Wanda Womack: A member of the jury. At the end of the trial, when nobody knows how they have to reach a verdict, because they can't agree with each other, she convinces every one to acquit Carl Lee. The story took place between 17 May, the day of the rape, until the half of August, when the case comes to trial. It took place in Clanton, where Jake lives and where Carl Lee is in jail. There are no flashbacks in the book, it has be told chronological. The story is told through the eyes of the writer. The climax is when the Grand Jury reaches a verdict, because the whole story is about that. A time to kill had been chosen because Carl Lee Hailey needed to kill the two rapists, because they hurt his little girl. It was the Time to kill, according to Carl Lee.