The Reckoning
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The Reckoning
Buy Now for £16.99
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Narrated by:
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Michael Beck
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By:
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John Grisham
About this listen
The electrifying new thriller from internationally bestselling author John Grisham.
John Grisham returns to Clanton, Mississippi, to tell the story of an unthinkable murder, the bizarre trial that followed it, and its profound and lasting effect on the people of Ford County.
Pete Banning was Clanton's favourite son, a returning war hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, father, neighbour, and a faithful member of the Methodist Church. Then one cool October morning in 1946. he rose early, drove into town, walked into the church, and calmly shot and killed the Reverend Dexter Bell.
As if the murder wasn't shocking enough, it was even more baffling that Pete's only statement about it - to the sheriff, to his defense attorney, to the judge, to his family and friends, and to the people of Clanton - was 'I have nothing to say'.
And so the murder of the esteemed Reverend Bell became the most mysterious and unforgettable crime Ford County had ever known.
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Critic reviews
"Scintillating storytelling." (The Sunday Times)
"A buoyant, mischievous thriller... This reliable best-selling author is feeling real pleasure, and not just obligation, in delivering his work." (New York Times)
"A wild, hard-to-put-down romp." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Then, we step back in time and follow Banning's experiences during the second world war where he was one of the poor unfortunates caught up in the infamous Bataan Death March, one of the great cruelties of that conflict.
Finally we're back to the main story where the aftermath of Banner's trial is dealt with as the family's ancestral home comes under threat and Banner's children try to answer the book's central mystery: Why did a father and a war hero gun down a seemingly innocent preacher and then refuse to give a reason in his defence?
What's good about this book is Grisham's usual ability to create a sense of place, build strong characters and of course make a twisted legal system into a character all of its own. Additionally the narration by Michael Beck is as good as it has been on previous novels where the two have collaborated.
The not so great is possibly the structure of the book. The opening part is genuinely compelling but rather than integrate the war story interspersed with it they are two very different and separate chunks. The reader is taken from Sycamore Row to something akin to "Band of Brothers" in a heartbeat and that wartime part feels like a different book. For a long time it's pretty grim with beheadings, torture and much disease thrown into the mix. The climax which is kept right to the very end, doesn't really amaze or surprise which having listened through 17 hours I think it is reasonable to expect.
So, has Grisham written in a more literary fashion? Is it more clever than his standard legal thrillers? That probably requires cleverer people than me to answer. What i can say is that I think it lacked the real cleverness, tension and killer twists that Grisham has so often provided in the past leaving me feeling fairly ambivalent towards it.
Grisham Grinds to a Halt!
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It’s a few years since I read anything by John Grisham, so I wasn’t sure what to expect with his latest offering. Although one section of the book deals with the court case, it is the effect on the hero’s family that moves the story along, as we shift back and forth in time from Pete’s war years and marriage to the aftermath of the trial and its effects on the Banning family.
This feels very much like one of those classic American novels in the tradition of John Steinbeck, as it follows the family from the early years to the repercussions of the trial. And though it seemed at times like it could almost have been two novels, I found it by turns gripping, thought-provoking and totally heart-breaking. A classic.
A Classic
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Satisfying
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brilliant story
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Ten out of ten
Fabulous
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