Story about a guy who buys a run-down newspaper in Mississippi(?) in the 60's, and by hard work and dedication in the following years turns it around into a thriving business. His liberal views sometimes are at odds with the prevailing attitudes: one of his first projects is a series telling the life story of a black woman and her family who live on the wrong side of the tracks. Soon after this appears, she's called to be a member of the jury sitting on a case involving a brutal murder. The killer is found guilty, but swears vengance on all the jury members as he's taken down.

This wasn't really one thing or the other: the killer was in prison for most of the book, and so there wasn't actually a lot of tension relating to that bit of the story: more space was dedicated to how the editor works on the newspaper, and gets himself accepted by the townfolk. It was readable but not very gripping or exciting. Grisham added an epilogue which implied the book was meant to highlight some of the bad laws that had been around at that time, so maybe that was the story he was trying to tell.

Wouldn't bother reading it again. Better than The Rainmaker but not as good as The Brethren.

Completed : 29-Aug-2006