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| Categories | Thrillers & Suspense |
| Author | John Grisham |
| Publisher | Anchor (March 15, 2004) |
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 544 pages |
| Item Weight | 14.4 ounces |
| Dimensions |
5.2 x 1.15 x 8 inches |
I. Book introduction
A Time to Kill is a 1989 legal thriller and debut novel by American author John Grisham. The novel was rejected by many publishers before Wynwood Press eventually gave it a 5,000-copy printing. When Doubleday published The Firm, Wynwood released a trade paperback of A Time to Kill, which became a bestseller. Dell published the mass market paperback months after the success of The Firm, bringing Grisham to widespread popularity among readers. Doubleday eventually took over the contract for A Time to Kill and released a special hardcover edition.
In 1996, the novel was adapted into a namesake film, starring Sandra Bullock, Matthew McConaughey, and Samuel L. Jackson. In 2011, it was further adapted into a namesake stage play by Rupert Holmes. The stage production opened at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. in May 2011 and opened on Broadway in October 2013. The novel spawned two sequels currently, Sycamore Row, released in 2013, and A Time for Mercy, released in 2020.
Plot
In the small town of Clanton, in fictional Ford County, Mississippi, a ten-year-old African-American girl named Tonya Hailey is viciously raped and beaten by two white supremacists, James “Pete” Willard and Billy Ray Cobb. Tonya is later found and rushed to the hospital while Pete and Billy Ray are heard bragging at a roadside bar about their crime. Tonya’s distraught and outraged father, Carl Lee Hailey, consults his friend Jake Brigance, a white attorney who had previously represented Hailey’s brother, on whether he could get himself acquitted if he killed the two men. Jake tells Carl Lee not to do anything stupid, but admits that if it had been his daughter, he would kill the rapists. Carl Lee is determined to avenge Tonya, and while Pete and Billy Ray are being led into holding after their bond hearing, he kills both men with an M16 rifle.
Carl Lee is charged with capital murder. Despite efforts to persuade Carl Lee to retain high-powered attorneys, he elects to be represented by Jake. Helping Jake are two loyal friends, disbarred attorney and mentor Lucien Wilbanks, and sleazy divorce lawyer Harry Rex Vonner. Later, the team is assisted by liberal law student Ellen Roark, who has prior experience with death penalty cases and offers her services as a temporary clerk pro bono. Ellen appears to be interested in Jake romantically, but the married Jake resists her overtures. The team also receives some illicit behind-the-scenes help from black county sheriff Ozzie Walls, a figure beloved by the black community and also well respected by the white community who upholds the law by arresting Carl Lee but, as the father of two daughters of his own, privately supports Carl Lee and gives him special treatment while in jail and goes out of the way to assist Jake in any way he legally can. Carl Lee is prosecuted by Ford County’s district attorney, Rufus Buckley, who hopes that the case will boost his political career. It is claimed that the judge presiding over Carl Lee’s trial, Omar “Ichabod” Noose, has been intimidated by local white supremacist elements. Noose refuses Jake’s request for a change of venue, even though the racial make-up of Ford County virtually guarantees an all-white jury, which later becomes the case.
Billy Ray’s brother, Freddy, seeks revenge against Carl Lee, enlisting the help of the Mississippi branch of the Ku Klux Klan and its Grand Dragon, Stump Sisson. Subsequently, the KKK attempts to plant a bomb beneath Jake’s porch, leading him to send his wife and daughter out of town until the trial is over. Later, the KKK attacks Jake’s secretary, Ethel Twitty, and kills her frail husband, Bud. They also burn crosses in the yards of potential jurors to intimidate them. On the day the trial begins, a riot erupts between the KKK and the area’s black residents outside the courthouse; Stump is killed by a molotov cocktail. Believing that the black people are at fault for Stump’s death, the KKK increase their attacks.As a result, the National Guard is called to Clanton to keep the peace during Carl Lee’s trial. The KKK shoots at Jake one morning as he is being escorted into the courthouse, missing Jake but seriously wounding one of the guardsmen assigned to protect him. Soon after, Ellen Roark is abducted and assaulted. They burn down Jake’s house. During trial deliberations, the jury’s spokesman is threatened by a KKK member with a knife. Eventually, they torture and murder “Mickey Mouse”, one of Jake’s former clients who had infiltrated the KKK and subsequently gave anonymous tips to the police, allowing them to anticipate most KKK attacks.
Despite the loss of his house and several setbacks at the start of the trial, Jake perseveres. He badly discredits the state’s psychiatrist by establishing that he has never conceded to the insanity of any defendant in any criminal case in which he has been asked to testify, even when several other doctors have been in consensus otherwise. He traps the doctor with a revelation that several previous defendants found insane in their trials are currently under his care despite his having testified to their “sanity” in their respective trials. Jake follows this up with a captivating closing statement.
On the day of the verdict, tens of thousands of black citizens gather in town and demand Carl Lee’s acquittal. The unanimous acquittal by reason of temporary insanity is only achieved when one of the jurors asks the others to seriously imagine that Carl Lee and his daughter were white and that the murdered rapists were black. Carl Lee returns to his family and the story ends with Jake, Lucien and Harry Rex having a celebratory drink before Jake holds a press conference and leaving town to reunite with his family.
Editorial Reviews
“Grisham’s pleasure in relating the Byzantine complexities of Clanton (Mississippi) politics is contagious and he tells a good story. . . . An enjoyable book.”—Library Journal
“Grisham excels!”—Dallas Times Herald
“Grisham is an absolute master.”—Washington Post
“Grisham enraptures us.”—Houston Chronicle
Amazon.com Review
With a chillingly calm, even delivery, Michael Beck, a regular Grisham reader (The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury), turns the narrative of this disturbing tale of racism, ignorance, and brutality into an almost visceral experience. “Cobb strung a length of quarter inch ski rope over a limb … he grabbed her and put the noose around her head.” The story is frighteningly believable and expertly crafted around a horrible crime and the tragic consequences that follow. At times, Beck’s character voices can be distracting, but his efforts are generally applied to good effect, adding another level of tension to this already suspenseful look at a small Mississippi town’s struggle for justice. (Running time: 17 hours, 12 cassettes) –George Laney —
About John Grisham
John Grisham (born February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas) is an American novelist, lawyer and former member of the 7th district of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his popular legal thrillers. According to the American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 28 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers, and his books have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Along with Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling, Grisham is one of only three authors to have sold two million copies on a first printing.
Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He practised criminal law for about a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990.
Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill, was published in June 1989, four years after he began writing it. Grisham’s first bestseller, The Firm, sold more than seven million copies. The book was adapted into a 1993 feature film of the same name, starring Tom Cruise, and a 2012 TV series which continues the story ten years after the events of the film and novel. Seven of his other novels have also been adapted into films: The Chamber, The Client, A Painted House, The Pelican Brief, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas.
Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.
When he’s not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.
John Girsham lives on a farm in central Virginia.
II. [Reviews] A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1) by John Grisham
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1. MATTHEW review A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1)
Original Mid-90s Star Only Review – 5 Stars
Re-Read in 2020 Review – 4 Stars
You will notice a drop in the stars above, but you can take that with a grain of salt. It is still a great book that will pull you in and not let go. If you are familiar with Grisham’s work, this is where it all began, and I think some consider it mainly downhill from here. Not necessarily a big downhill – but it sure does seem in some aspects like he was at the top of his game for his first few novels. He mentioned in his forward that this one almost did not get published, but the success of The Firm helped generate interest, and I am very glad it did.
This is not an easy book to read, but fiction based on hard truths never is. There is very graphic and shocking sexual assault and racism. So, while they add to a powerful story, some may find it difficult to read. Knowing this, be sure to proceed with caution!
The reason for the slight downturn in stars for me is that it just didn’t feel as smooth to me as I remembered. Maybe I was looking at an old favorite through rose-colored glassed before I re-read. The thought that kept going through my head, especially after reading the forward and seeing that it almost didn’t get published, is that it felt like it was a bit rough with a lot of coincidences, drawn out scenes followed by rushed scenes, etc. Nothing that was severe enough t ruin the experience, but enough that it was noticeable to me.
If you are a Grisham fan, it is likely that you already read this. If you are a Grisham fan and you haven’t read this, I am actually not really sure you can call yourself a Grisham fan! So, you should remedy that right away!
2. KARINA review A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1)
This is my first John Grisham book, I am embarrassed to admit. I felt like I was in Clanton, Mississippi reliving this gruesome murder. His writing and knowledge on the law system is pretty amazing to read. Makes you realize all the politics and behind the door negotiations going on.
This is a story of two pothead white trash drug dealers that rape a 10-year-old black girl. They urinate on her, tie her legs and hands to a fence and tree, beat her, pour beer on her while she is calling for her daddy to save her. This is not a spoiler.
Now what happens when black daddy is pissed at the system and takes these two white guys into his own hands? Will the color of his skin get him convicted in KKK town or will the jury understand that he was a loving angry father? (I personally rooted for Carl Lee. Sometimes our system just fails us and we want to be the vigilante except Carl Lee actually had the balls to do it)
“At eleven-fifteen it rang again, and Jake received his first death threat, anonymous of course. He was called a nigger-loving son of a bitch, one who would not live if the nigger walked.” (pg. 85)
3. RUTH review A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1)
Clanton Mississippi, the life of ten year old, African-American, Tonya Hailey has been shattered by James “Pete” Willard and Billy Ray Cobb, two white, drunk and remorseless young men. The town which is mostly white reacts with shock and horror at the crime. Until Carl-Lee Haley, Tonya’s father takes matters into his own hands and murders the two men who violently raped and beat his daughter. For ten days burning crosses and the crack of sniper fire take over the streets of Clanton, as young defense attorney Jake Brigance struggles to save his client’s life, and maybe his own as well. I have watched the movie several times and highly recommend both as each will stir up emotions. The book is a great legal thriller and still one of my favorite books. Five big stars.
4. JAMES THANE review A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1)
I confess that when one of my book clubs made this our monthly selection, I approached it with more than a little trepidation. I knew that this was Grisham’s first book and that when it was first published as a hardcover, he could hardly give it away. Sales were so poor that there was initially no paperback release. Only after the success of The Firm and other of Grisham’s books was this one finally resurrected and released in paperback.
Like most of Grisham’s other readers, I jumped aboard the train with The Firm and never looked back. Though I’ve enjoyed most of his later books, I simply took it for granted that this first effort was probably his “practice” novel, that it was not very good, and hence the poor sales. I further assumed that his publisher, anxious to milk the Grisham brand for all it was worth, only finally published A Time to Kill in paper simply to cash in. Accordingly, I’ve avoided it all these years until I was finally forced to read it.
I’m very happy that I was. The book turned out to be a gripping story with better-defined characters and a much more interesting setting than many of Grisham’s later books. In fact, it may be one of his best.
The tiny town of Clanton, Mississippi, is shocked when two drunk and drug-addled thugs viciously assault a ten-year-old girl, failing to kill her only because they could not find a bridge from which to throw the child. The two are quickly arrested and charged with various crimes related to the attack, when the girl’s father, a decorated Vietnam vet, takes the law into his own hands and kills the men who so gruesomely violated his daughter.
The father hires a young, up-and-coming lawyer named Jake Brigance to represent him. But this is Mississippi and the case is complicated by the fact that the victim and her father are black while the two dead thugs were white. The population of the town is evenly divided between blacks and whites and, while most people irrespective of race, condemn the actions of the two thugs, they are divided, mostly along racial lines, over the issue of whether the father should be convicted of premeditated murder or be given a medal for ridding the town of the two scumbags.
Grisham plays fair with both sides, and it’s clear that he knows very well the setting, the people and the dynamics of the situation. There are a number of great characters in this novel and very few of them are pure of heart. These are much more complex characters than those usually served up in books like this, and the story grabs you from the start. It also raises a lot of thought-provoking questions. It’s a great read, and I’m only sorry that it took me so long to get to it.
5. AMBER GOLEB review A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1)
Whew! Where do I go with this review? Have you watched the movie from the 90’s? Or have you read this book? Or maybe both. I now can say both. I can also say, from what I remember of the movie, they did a wonderful job with it in terms to the book.
This book is moving, profound, true to the time period, and an emotional rollercoaster. I had a hard time catching my breath at times. Grisham did a fantastic job at showing us what some rural South towns and communities were like, still, in the 80’s. If things in this book offend you today, they should. But keep in mind, this book was written in ’89 and it did, in fact, follow things that were still happening in terms of racism.
I am not going to go into detail about the book. Just know that it is a difficult read, at times. It is not a light book for the beach. This book will bog you down and make you question your own morality.
6. GENA O review A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1)
I liked the book overall. I think Grisham did an amazing job of portraying the racial tone in the South, and in particular in Mississippi. I spent as much of my free time as possible reading the book because it was interesting and suspenseful. However, after I finished the book I was left with a few “That’s it?????” questions in my head and would have liked Grisham to fill in the blanks more, if you will.
- 1. When Carl Lee ask Brigance why he chose the line of questioning towards the mothers of Cobb and Willard. Brigance says, “I’ll tell you later…” yet we never get to hear the conversation. I understand the reasoning behind the questions he asked, but still would liked to have read in more detail.
- 2. I would have thought Carl Lee’s testimony would have been in the book. As much as was devoted to the psychiatrists’ testimony, I would have that just as much, if not more would have been written about the defendant, but there wasn’t. Pretty disappointing…
- 3. After Ellen is in the hospital and Brigance talks to her dad, that’s the last we heard of her. I would have thought there would have been some sort of conversation Brigance had with her after the verdict was given. She was given such a strong role in the book I would have thought there would have been some sort of closure.
- 4. No mention at all of the conversation between Jake and Carla about the verdict, the destruction of their house, nothing…
As much build up as there was to the verdict, the last few pages seemed like a let down. I was looking for more closure than what was given. All of that being said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the book.
7. ROB review A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1)
A courtroom thriller published 1989
This is John Grisham’s first novel but not his first published.
The setting is in Mississippi where, even in 1989, the divide between the white and the black communities was still very obvious. And guess what, here we are 41 years later and what’s changed, not much it would seem.
A little ten year old black girl is brutally raped and beaten. She is found and taken to the hospital where the doctors put her back together physically but her emotional condition is not so easily fixed. When the doctors tell the family that she will heal but she will never be able to have children of her own her daddy swears he will make the monsters that did this pay and pay dearly.
Two men, both white, are soon caught and charged with the crime. But this is a predominantly white town and the chances that they will get what they deserve is remote.
To make sure that justice is truly served Carl Lee, the father, decides to take the law into his own hands and shoot the accused men. This he does and by the time he was finished they were both well and truly dead.
Carl Lee is of course charged with murder on two accounts.
Enter Jack Brigance, a young white lawyer and the man charged with getting Carl Lee acquitted of the charge of murder.
What follows is courtroom thriller with racially fuelled violence from both sides of the racial divide.
I enjoyed this book although I found it to be overly long and suffered from a bit too much irrelevant information. But over all an entertaining read.
A 4 stars recommendation
8. PIYANGIE review A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1)
Reading Sycamore Row took me down the memory lane to its prequel – A Time to Kill. And I realized that I haven’t written a review for this much beloved book. So here I’m, trying to rectify that omission.
A Time to Kill is one of the few emotional contemporary books that I have read. Based on the theme of racism and set in mid-eighties in a southern town in Mississippi, Grisham tells the tale of a black man who murdered two white men who raped his child and one white lawyer’s heroic struggle to defend him in a racially prejudiced society amidst great personal losses.
Jake Brigance, the young hero, is undoubtedly my favourite Grisham character; and it will forever be so. Being a lawyer myself, he represents many ethical and professional qualities that we lawyers revere. Perhaps, he was modeled on the author himself.
In the story, Jake represents the future, the liberal promising mind of a racially prejudiced southern town. His struggle to make the jury look beyond the colour of the man and into the heart of the man to understand (not to condone) his action, is a fight for equality and justice in the eyes of law irrespective of a person’s skin colour. And the all-white jury decision is a victory of humanity; a promise that humanity is preserved in average citizens no matter how much division the extremists may create.
Although this story is set in a bygone era, it is still relevant for today, for prejudices based on skin colour, gender and religion are still in store. So in that light, A Time to Kill is a timeless tale.
And before I end my short review I must say a few words about Grisham’s writing. It is his first attempt at a novel, so perhaps the writing is not yet at his best. But it is written with sincerity, compassion and with much feeling that I personally feel that this is the one novel (although his debut) in to which the author has poured his heart and soul. I’ve read quite a few Grisham work, and to me, A Time to Kill is his best; and it will always be my favourite Grisham novel.
9. KON R review A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1)
What a rollercoaster of a book! Unlike many other courtroom dramas, a lot of the action takes place outside the infamous four walls. At no point did I feel like I was waiting for the court proceedings to start. There was so much going on all times thanks to the KKK. It’s scary to think that group had so much power. No race was safe from their fury.
The only thing more heated than the KKK opposing the blacks was the rivalry between Jake and the prosecutor. They were both motivated by the possibility of furthering their career by winning the largest case to date. The tension was there all throughout. The judge filled the role of peacemaker and I thought he did a fantastic job with all things considered.
10. JACK HEATH review A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1)
5 Stars. Not as great as “To Kill a Mockingbird” when it comes to the issues of race relations, society, and the law in the southern US, but both deserve a 5. Maybe “Mockingbird” a 5.3? One difference is the point of view; a young girl, now a woman, is the narrator of the story set in the mid 1930s. It’s endearing and full of love for her father, Atticus. “Time to Kill” is novel of our times, the 2020s, although it focuses on the 1980s. It’s a courtroom drama which reels from a string of brutal events. The resolution is less nuanced. Both expose attitudes prevalent in the white community – ignorance, condescension, and among many, hatred. Yet if you look carefully, a touch of progress, no more than that, can be found. The argument which wins the day in the trial of black Carl-Lee Hailey likely could not have been made fifty years earlier. He murdered two despicable white supremacists who raped and beat his 10-year-old daughter Tonya. They bragged about it! “Kill” is replete with KKK burning crosses and a tolerance for racism by some that will make you cringe. Lawyer Jake Brigance does his best but it’s uphill all the way! For once the movie version is just as good. (September 2020)
III. [Quote] A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1) by John Grisham
The best book quotes from A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1)
“A lawyer had to be himself in the courtroom, and if he was afraid, so be it. The jurors were afraid too. Make friends with fear, Lucien always said, because it will not go away, and it will destroy you if left uncontrolled.”
“Blacks had an excuse for being worthless, but for whites in a white world, there were no excuses.”
“Billy Ray Cobb was the younger and smaller of the two rednecks.”
“Mr. Buckley, let me explain it this way. And I’ll do so very carefully and slowly so that even you will understand it. If I was the sheriff, I would not have arrested him. If I was on the grand jury, I would not have indicted him. If I was the judge, I would not try him. If I was the D.A., I would not prosecute him. If I was on the trial jury, I would vote to give him a key to the city, a plaque to hang on his wall, and I would send him home to his family. And, Mr. Buckley, if my daughter is ever raped, I hope I have the guts to do what he did.”
“With murder, the victim is gone, and not forced to deal with what happened to her. The family must deal with it, but not the victim. But rape is much worse. The victim has a lifetime of coping, trying to understand, of asking questions, and the worst part, of knowing the rapist is still alive and may someday escape or be released. Every hour of every day, the victim thinks of the rape and asks herself a thousand questions. She relives it, step by step, minute by minute, and it hurts just as bad.
Perhaps the most horrible crime of all is the violent rape of a child. A woman who is raped has a pretty good idea why it happened. Some animal was filled with hatred, anger and violence. But a child? A ten-year-old child? Suppose you’re a parent. Imagine yourself trying to explain to your child why she was raped. Imagine yourself trying to explain why she cannot bear children.”“Make friends with fear, Lucien always said, because it will not go away, and it will destroy you if left uncontrolled.”
“I want to tell you a story. I’m going to ask you all to close your eyes while I tell you the story. I want you to listen to me. I want you to listen to yourselves. Go ahead. Close your eyes, please. This is a story about a little girl walking home from the grocery store one sunny afternoon. I want you to picture this little girl. Suddenly a truck races up. Two men jump out and grab her. They drag her into a nearby field and they tie her up and they rip her clothes from her body. Now they climb on. First one, then the other, raping her, shattering everything innocent and pure with a vicious thrust in a fog of drunken breath and sweat. And when they’re done, after they’ve killed her tiny womb, murdered any chance for her to have children, to have life beyond her own, they decide to use her for target practice. They start throwing full beer cans at her. They throw them so hard that it tears the flesh all the way to her bones. Then they urinate on her. Now comes the hanging. They have a rope. They tie a noose. Imagine the noose going tight around her neck and with a sudden blinding jerk she’s pulled into the air and her feet and legs go kicking. They don’t find the ground. The hanging branch isn’t strong enough. It snaps and she falls back to the earth. So they pick her up, throw her in the back of the truck and drive out to Foggy Creek Bridge. Pitch her over the edge. And she drops some thirty feet down to the creek bottom below. Can you see her? Her raped, beaten, broken body soaked in their urine, soaked in their semen, soaked in her blood, left to die. Can you see her? I want you to picture that little girl. Now imagine she’s white.”
“My dad’s filthy rich, and even though we’re Irish Catholic I’m an only child. I’ve got more money than you do so I’ll work for free. No charge. A free law clerk for three weeks. I’ll do all the research, typing, answering the phone. I’ll even carry your briefcase and make the coffee.
I was afraid you’d want to be a a law partner.
No I’m a woman, and I’m in the South. I know my place.”“Lucien had taught him that fear was good; fear was an ally; that every lawyer was afraid when he stood before a new jury and presented his case. It was okay to be afraid – just don’t show it.”
“fear was good; fear was an ally; that every lawyer was afraid when he stood before a new jury and presented his case. It was okay to be afraid – just don’t show it.”
“Okay, let’s pretend to be friends. Just two friends having dinner.” “That doesn’t work in the South. A male friend cannot have dinner with a female friend if the male friend has a wife. It just doesn’t work down here.” “Why not?” “Because men don’t have female friends. No way. I don’t know of a single man in the entire South who is married and has a female friend. I think it goes back to the Civil War.” “I think it goes back to the Dark Ages. Why are Southern women so jealous?” “Because that’s the way we’ve trained them. They learned from us. If my wife met a male friend for lunch or dinner, I’d tear his head off and file for divorce. She learned it from me.” “That makes absolutely no sense.” “Of course it doesn’t.” “Your wife has no male friends?” “None that I know of. If you learn of any, let me know.” “And you have no female friends?” “Why would I want female friends? They can’t talk about football, or duck hunting, or politics, or lawsuits, or anything that I want to talk about. They talk about kids, clothes, recipes, coupons, furniture, stuff I know nothing about. No, I don’t have any female friends. Don’t want any.” “That’s what I love about the South. The people are so tolerant.” “Thank you.”
“This was Mississippi, where for years whites shot blacks for any reason or no reason and no one cared; where whites raped blacks and it was considered sport; where blacks were hanged for fighting back.”
“And until we can see each other as equals, justice is never going to be even-handed. It will remain nothing more than a reflection of our own prejudices”
“You look at the crime and you look at the criminal. If it’s a dope dealer who guns down an undercover narcotics officer, then he gets the gas. If it’s a drifter who rapes a three-year-old girl, drowns her by holding her little head in a mudhole, then throws her body off a bridge, then you take his life and thank god he’s gone. If it’s an escaped convict who breaks into a farmhouse late at night and beats and tortures an elderly couple before burning them with their house, then you strap him in a chair, hook up a few wires, pray for his soul, and pull the switch. And if it’s two dopeheads who gang-rape a ten-year-old girl and kick her with pointed-toe cowboy boots until her jaws break, then you happily, merrily, thankfully, gleefully lock them in a gas chamber and listen to them squeal. It’s very simple. Their crimes were barbaric. Death is too good for them, much too good.”
“Lucien had taught him that fear was good; fear was an ally; that every lawyer was afraid when he stood before a new jury and presented his case. It was okay to be afraid – just don’t show it. Jurors would not follow the lawyer with the quickest tongue or prettiest words. They would not follow the sharpest dresser. They would not follow a clown or court jester. They would not follow a lawyer who preached the loudest or fought the hardest. Lucien had convinced him that jurors followed the lawyer who told the truth, regardless of his looks, words, or superficial abilities. A lawyer had to be himself in the courtroom, and if he was afraid, so be it. The jurors were afraid too.”
“At eleven-fifteen it rang again, and Jake received his first death threat, anonymous of course. He was called a nigger-loving son of a bitch, one who would not live if the nigger walked.”
“know for sure that a crime is being planned. He said some things any father would say, and I’m sure he’s having thoughts any father would have. But as far as actually planning a crime, I don’t think so. Secondly,”
“America is a war and you are on the other side. How’s a black man ever going to get a fair trial with the enemy on the bench and in the jury box?. My life in white hands? You Jake, that’s how. You are my secret weapon because you are one of the bad guys. You don’t mean to be but you are. It’s how you was raised. Nigger, negro, black, African-american, no matter how you see me, you see me different, you see me like that jury sees me, you are them. Now throw out your points of law Jake. If you was on that jury, what would it take to convince you to set me free? That’s how you save my ass. That’s how you save us both.”
“He took the law into his own hands, and he murdered two people. Planned it all, very carefully. Our legal system does not permit vigilante justice. Now, you can win the case, and if you do, justice will prevail. But if you lose it, justice will also prevail. Kind of a strange case, I guess. I just wish I had it.”
“But, Lucien, he was not insane, and there’s no way I can find some bogus psychiatrist to say he was. He planned it meticulously, every detail.”
“He began by talking about daughters and how special they are. How they are different from little boys and need special protection. He told them of his own daughter and the special bond that exists between father and daughter, a bond that could not be explained and should not be tampered with.”
“What’re those blacks doing across the street walking around the courthouse in the dark?” “It’s called a vigil,” explained Harry Rex. “They’ve vowed to walk around the courthouse with candles, keeping a vigil until their man is free.” “That could be an awfully long vigil. I mean, those poor people could be walking until they die. I mean, this could be a twelve-, fifteen-year vigil. They might set a record. They might have candle wax up to their asses.”
“Both sides of Interstate 57 looked the same after midnight—scattered lights from the small, neat farms strewn over the countryside, and occasionally a big town like Champaign or Effingham.”
“The system reflects society. It’s not always fair, but it’s as fair as the system in New York, or Massachusetts, or California. It’s as fair as biased, emotional humans can make it.”
“How old is she?” “Ten.” Jake’s appetite disappeared as the cafe returned to normal”
“He missed being broke, because when he had nothing he owed nothing and most of his classmates were in the same boat. Now that he had an income he worried constantly about mortgages, the overhead, credit cards, and realizing the American dream of becoming affluent. Not wealthy, just affluent.”
“He didn’t worry much about the illegal killings of humans, such as those killings so artfully and cruelly achieved by his clients.”
“It’s a fragile system, this trusting of lives to twelve average, ordinary people who do not understand the law and are intimidated by the process.”
Excerpted from A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1)
Chapter 1 – A Time to Kill
BILLY RAY COBB was the younger and smaller of the two rednecks. At twenty-three he was already a three-year veteran of the state penitentiary at Parchman. Possession, with intent to sell. He was a lean, tough little punk who had survived prison by somehow maintaining a ready supply of drugs that he sold and sometimes gave to the blacks and the guards for protection. In the year since his release he had continued to prosper, and his small-time narcotics business had elevated him to the position of one of the more affluent rednecks in Ford County. He was a businessman, with employees, obligations, deals, everything but taxes. Down at the Ford place in Clanton he was known as the last man in recent history to pay cash for a new pickup truck. Sixteen thousand cash, for a custom-built, four-wheel drive, canary yellow, luxury Ford pickup. The fancy chrome wheels and mudgrip racing tires had been received in a business deal. The rebel flag hanging across the rear window had been stolen by Cobb from a drunken fratern
ity boy at an Ole Miss football game. The pickup was Billy Ray’s most prized possession. He sat on the tailgate drinking a beer, smoking a joint, watching his friend Willard take his turn with the black girl.
Willard was four years older and a dozen years slower. He was generally a harmless sort who had never been in serious trouble and had never been seriously employed. Maybe an occasional fight with a night in jail, but nothing that would distinguish him. He called himself a pulpwood cutter, but a bad back customarily kept him out of the woods. He had hurt his back working on an offshore rig somewhere in the Gulf, and the oil company paid him a nice settlement, which he lost when his ex-wife cleaned him out. His primary vocation was that of a part-time employee of Billy Ray Cobb, who didn’t pay much but was liberal with his dope. For the first time in years Willard could always get his hands on something. And he always needed something. He’d been that way since he hurt his back.
She was ten, and small for her age. She lay on her elbows, which were stuck and bound together with yellow nylon rope. Her legs were spread grotesquely with the right foot tied tight to an oak sapling and the left to a rotting, leaning post of a long-neglected fence. The ski rope had cut into her ankles and the blood ran down her legs. Her face was bloody and swollen, with one eye bulging and closed and the other eye half open so she could see the other white man sitting on the truck. She did not look at the man on top of her. He was breathing hard and sweating and cursing. He was hurting her.
When he finished, he slapped her and laughed, and the other man laughed in return, then they laughed harder and rolled around the grass by the truck like two crazy men, screaming and laughing. She turned away from them and cried softly, careful to keep herself quiet. She had been slapped earlier for crying and screaming. They promised to kill her if she didn’t keep quiet.
They grew tired of laughing and pulled themselves onto the tailgate, where Willard cleaned himself with the little nigger’s shirt, which by now was soaked with blood and sweat. Cobb handed him a cold beer from the cooler and commented on the humidity. They watched her as she sobbed and made strange, quiet sounds, then became still. Cobb’s beer was half empty, and it was not cold anymore. He threw it at the girl. It hit her in the stomach, splashing white foam, and it rolled off in the dirt near some other cans, all of which had originated from the same cooler. For two six-packs now they had thrown their half-empty cans at her and laughed. Willard had trouble with the target, but Cobb was fairly accurate. They were not ones to waste beer, but the heavier cans could be felt better and it was great fun to watch the foam shoot everywhere.
The warm beer mixed with the dark blood and ran down her face and neck into a puddle behind her head. She did not move.
Willard asked Cobb if he thought she was dead. Cobb opened another beer and explained that she was not dead because niggers generally could not be killed by kicking and beating and raping. It took much more, something like a knife or a gun or a rope to dispose of a nigger. Although he had never taken part in such a killing, he had lived with a bunch of niggers in prison and knew all about them. They were always killing each other, and they always used a weapon of some sort. Those who were just beaten and raped never died. Some of the whites were beaten and raped, and some of them died. But none of the niggers. Their heads were harder. Willard seemed satisfied.
Willard asked what he planned to do now that they were through with her. Cobb sucked on his joint, chased it with beer, and said he wasn’t through. He bounced from the tailgate and staggered across the small clearing to where she was tied. He cursed her and screamed at her to wake up, then he poured cold beer in her face, laughing like a crazy man.
She watched him as he walked around the tree on her right side, and she stared at him as he stared between her legs. When he lowered his pants she turned to the left and closed her eyes. He was hurting her again.
She looked out through the woods and saw something–a man running wildly through the vines and underbrush. It was her daddy, yelling and pointing at her and coming desperately to save her. She cried out for him, and he disappeared. She fell asleep.
When she awoke one of the men was lying under the tailgate, the other under a tree. They were asleep. Her arms and legs were numb. The blood and beer and urine had mixed with the dirt underneath her to form a sticky paste that glued her small body to the ground and crackled when she moved and wiggled. Escape, she thought, but her mightiest efforts moved her only a few inches to the right. Her feet were tied so high her buttocks barely touched the ground. Her legs and arms were so deadened they refused to move.
She searched the woods for her daddy and quietly called his name. She waited, then slept again.
When she awoke the second time they were up and moving around. The tall one staggered to her with a small knife. He grabbed her left ankle and sawed furiously on the rope until it gave way. Then he freed the right leg, and she curled into a fetal position with her back to them.
Cobb strung a length of quarter-inch ski rope over a limb and tied a loop in one end with a slip knot. He grabbed her and put the noose around her head, then walked across the clearing with the other end of the rope and sat on the tailgate, where Willard was smoking a fresh joint and grinning at Cobb for what he was about to do. Cobb pulled the rope tight, then gave a vicious yank, bouncing the little nude body along the ground and stopping it directly under the limb. She gagged and coughed, so he kindly loosened the rope to spare her a few more minutes. He tied the rope to the bumper and opened another beer.
They sat on the tailgate drinking, smoking, and staring at her. They had been at the lake most of the day, where Cobb had a friend with a boat and some extra girls who were supposed to be easy but turned out to be untouchable. Cobb had been generous with his drugs and beer, but the girls did not reciprocate. Frustrated, they left the lake and were driving to no place in particular when they happened across the girl. She was walking along a gravel road with a sack of groceries when Willard nailed her in the back of the head with a beer can.
“You gonna do it?” asked Willard, his eyes red and glazed.
Cobb hesitated. “Naw, I’ll let you do it. It was your idea.”
Willard took a drag on his joint, then spit and said, “Wasn’t my idea. You’re the expert on killin’ niggers. Do it.”
Cobb untied the rope from the bumper and pulled it tight. It peeled bark from the limb and sprinkled fine bits of elm around the girl, who was watching them carefully now. She coughed.
Suddenly, she heard something–like a car with loud pipes. The two men turned quickly and looked down the dirt road to the highway in the distance. They cursed and scrambled around, one slamming the tailgate and the other running toward her. He tripped and landed near her. They cursed each other while they grabbed her, removed the rope from her neck, dragged her to the pickup and threw her over the tailgate into the bed of the truck. Cobb slapped her and threatened to kill her if she did not lie still and keep quiet. He said he would take her home if she stayed down and did as told; otherwise, they would kill her. They slammed the doors and sped onto the dirt road. She was going home. She passed out.
Cobb and Willard waved at the Firebird with the loud pipes as it passed them on the narrow dirt road. Willard checked the back to make sure the little nigger was lying down. Cobb turned onto the highway and raced away.
“What now?” Willard asked nervously.
“Don’t know,” Cobb answered nervously. “But we gotta do something fast before she gets blood all over my truck. Look at her back there, she’s bleedin’ all over the place.”
Willard thought for a minute while he finished a beer. “Let’s throw her off a bridge,” he said proudly.
“Good idea. Damned good idea.” Cobb slammed on the brakes. “Gimme a beer,” he ordered Willard, who stumbled out of the truck and fetched two beers from the back.
“She’s even got blood on the cooler,” he reported as they raced off again.
….
Note: Above are quotes and excerpts from the book “A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance Book 1) by John Grisham”. If you find it interesting and useful, don’t forget to buy paper books to support the Author and Publisher!
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