John Grisham has become, in less than three years, America's most
popular author. While The Firm first put him on bestseller lists across
the country, and The Pelican Brief and The Client confirmed his status
as the master of the legal thriller, it was A Time to Kill that launched
his writing career. Originally published in a small print-run in 1989,
and for years unavailable in hardcover, Doubleday is proud to publish a
new trade hardcover edition of this gripping courtroom drama. Near the
rural town of Clanton, Mississippi, little Tonya Hailey is brutally
raped, beaten, and left for dead by two drunken and remorseless men. The
rapists are almost immediately caught in a road side bar, where they
have been bragging of their exploits. When the men appear in court days
later, Tonya's father Carl bursts out of the courthouse basement, and
executes them with an assault rifle. Murder or executions? Justice or
revenge? Carl trusts his life to only one man in town - local criminal
lawyer Jake Brigance, who dreams of famous cases, headlines, and the big
time. Jake is about to face the fight of his life, and he knows it. Not
only is he up against Rufus Buckley - a tough, ambitious district
attorney who realizes that a murder conviction could help him gain
higher office - but he has a much bigger problem: the rapists are white,
the judge is white - and Carl is black. This is a trial sure to change
forever the lives of everyone involved. A Time to Kill is a riveting
novel that challenges everything we think we know about justice and
equality.
