#1 bestselling author John Grisham’s The Reckoning is his most powerful, surprising, and suspenseful thriller yet. “A murder mystery, a courtroom drama, a family saga… 1946, Clanton, Mississippi
Pete Banning was Clanton, Mississippi’s favorite son—a decorated World War II hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, father, neighbor, and a faithful member of the Methodist church. Then one cool October morning he rose early, drove into town, and committed a shocking crime. Pete’s only statement about it—to the sheriff, to his lawyers, to the judge, to the jury, and to his family—was: “I have nothing to say.” He was not afraid of death and was willing to take his motive to the grave.
In a major novel unlike anything he has written before, John Grisham takes us on an incredible journey, from the Jim Crow South to the jungles of the Philippines during World War II; from an insane asylum filled with secrets to the Clanton courtroom where Pete’s defense attorney tries desperately to save him.
Reminiscent of the finest tradition of Southern Gothic storytelling, The Reckoning would not be complete without Grisham’s signature layers of legal suspense, and he delivers on every page.
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This not the best he wrote: half way it starts to become more complex, but does not help to make the story better.. I prefer his non lawyers novel A painted House.
Horrible, horrible, horrible.
The writing is stilted and while the characters are interesting, rather than move the plot, the pages are filled with accounts of torture inflicted on prisoners of war by Japan…again, what is cogent would have made a nice short story, but Grisham filled the pages to make a novel with gory details of historical atrocities without any real relevance to the plot…which ends so abruptly and without any real character detail, it seems that he may have reached his page limit and decided to just get it over with, or maybe his computer fried.
Not worth anyone’s time.
Very good Read
Divided into 3 segments, this Grisham legal thriller introduces us to a WWII veteran suffering from PTSD and I fortunately comes to to a wife of betrayal. Now, the family’s legal representation must save the family farm so to speak literally and metaphorically… our PTSD veteran takes matters into his own hands and we are left asking what was the cause of the betrayal and what atrocities did this man suffer that took him over the edge …
I love John Grisham books. This book was so interesting with very strong determined characters. Very detailed and descriptive. It showed a man who was so courageous and honorable and loving towards his comrades & yet was so unforgiving towards his wife & so secretive with his children. In the end he was so wrong in his beliefs that he destroyed his life and his family’s life and killed an innocent man.
Grisham is always a great read. This time he mixes his lawyer lore with a lot of painful history, making it both educational and intriguing.
John Grisham never disappoints! This from a huge fan.
A masterpiece of the art of writing. t will captivate & haunt you. The best I’ve read in memeory
I was really interested in the history in the book. The information about World War Two was very interesting and has made me want to find out more about the war and the generals.
Phenomenal book….relate to the stories of the Old South. Best book of Grisham’s since A Time to Kill…If you loved it, you will love this book.
Did not want to put it down. One of John Grisham’s best yet.
great set up – tailed off at the conclusion – the flashback segment of the book was unnecessary and did nothing to further the plot
Not at all up to John Grisham’s standards. I was extremely disappointed in this book. It is dark, depressing, and not particularly entertaining. Even worse than “The Rooster Bar” or “Camino Island”. Grisham often has difficulty ending books with a climax…this one never gets off the ground.
Just so so. Not his typical writing
Did not like it. He started at one place and then went back and described Battles of WWII?? Then came back to finish the story
Not his best. Hated the wandering tales and the plot just dropped.
Tedious, too many repetitive court room details. I wanted to love this book but found myself flipping pages.
As always, Grisham never disappoints and it keeps you transfixed waiting to find out who why, when.
John Grisham is a master story-teller of the legal genre. I’ve been a fan since book 1 and continue through every new book he writes.
I love Grisham but I couldn’t give this 5 stars. Maybe thats not fair but I really hated the story even though it was very well written. If it hadn’t been Gresham I would have stopped reading, it disturbed me so much. Definitely not a light hearted book.