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A Time for Mercy: A Jake Brigance Novel Paperback – June 29, 2021
John Grisham (Author) Find all the books, read about the author, and more. See search results for this author |
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Clanton, Mississippi. 1990. Jake Brigance finds himself embroiled in a deeply divisive trial when the court appoints him attorney for Drew Gamble, a timid sixteen-year-old boy accused of murdering a local deputy. Many in Clanton want a swift trial and the death penalty, but Brigance digs in and discovers that there is more to the story than meets the eye. Jake’s fierce commitment to saving Drew from the gas chamber puts his career, his financial security, and the safety of his family on the line.
In what may be the most personal and accomplished legal thriller of John Grisham’s storied career, we deepen our acquaintance with the iconic Southern town of Clanton and the vivid cast of characters that so many readers know and cherish. The result is a richly rewarding novel that is both timely and timeless, full of wit, drama, and—most of all—heart.
Bursting with all the courthouse scheming, small-town intrigue, and stunning plot twists that have become the hallmarks of the master of the legal thriller, A Time for Mercy is John Grisham’s most powerful courtroom drama yet.
There is a time to kill and a time for justice. Now comes A Time for Mercy.
Don’t miss any of John Grisham’sgrippingJake Brigance novels:
A TIME TO KILL • SYCAMORE ROW • A TIME FOR MERCY • SPARRING PARTNERS
- Print length480 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAnchor
- Publication dateJune 29, 2021
- Dimensions7.95 x 1.46 x 5.28 inches
- ISBN-100593157826
- ISBN-13978-0593157824
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Textbook Grisham—and that’s a compliment…a briskly paced legal drama, with just the right amount of suspense, conflict, plot twists, and courtroom theatrics.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
About the Author
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
But on the seventh day, he rested. There was never an alarm clock on the Sabbath, and Jake and Carla reveled in a long morning’s rest. He would eventually stumble forth around 7:30 and order her back to sleep. In the kitchen he poached eggs and toasted bread and served her breakfast in bed with coffee and juice. On a normal Sunday.
But nothing about this day would be normal. At 7:05 the phone rang, and since Carla insisted that the phone be located on his night table, he had no choice but to answer it.
“If I were you I’d leave town for a couple of days.” It was the low raspy voice of Harry Rex Vonner, perhaps his best friend and sometimes his only one.
“Well good morning, Harry Rex. This better be good.”
Harry Rex, a gifted and devious divorce lawyer, ran in the dark shadows of Ford County and took enormous pride in knowing the news, the dirt, and the gossip before almost anyone not wearing a badge.
“Stuart Kofer got shot in the head last night. Dead. Ozzie picked up his girlfriend’s boy, sixteen-year-old kid without a trace of peach fuzz, and he’s at the jail just waitin’ on a lawyer. I’m sure Judge Noose knows about it and is already thinkin’ about the appointment.”
Jake sat up and propped up his pillows. “Stuart Kofer is dead?”
“Deader’n hell. Kid blew his brains out while he was sleeping. Capital, dude, death penalty and all. Killing a cop will get you the gas nine times outta ten in this state.”
“Didn’t you handle a divorce for him?”
“His first one, not his second. He got pissed off about my fee and became a disgruntled client. When he called about the second, I told him to get lost. Married a couple of crazies, but then he had a fondness for bad women, especially in tight jeans.”
“Any kids?”
“None that I know of. None that he knew of either.”
Carla scurried out of bed and stood beside it. She frowned at Jake as if someone was lying. Three weeks earlier, Officer Stuart Kofer had visited her class of sixth graders and given a wonderful presentation on the dangers of illegal drugs.
“But he’s only sixteen,” Jake said, scratching his eyes.
“Spoken like a true liberal defense lawyer. Noose will be calling you before you know it, Jake. Think about it. Who tried the last capital murder case in Ford County? You. Carl Lee Hailey.”
“But that was five years ago.”
“Doesn’t matter. Name another lawyer around here who’ll even think about taking a serious criminal case. Nobody. And more important, Jake, there’s no one else in the county who’s competent enough to take a capital case.”
“No way. What about Jack Walter?”
“He’s back in the sauce. Noose got two complaints last month from disgruntled clients and he’s about to notify the state bar.” How Harry Rex knew such things was always a marvel to Jake.
“I thought they sent him away.”
“They did, but he came back, thirstier than ever.”
“What about Gill Maynard?”
“He got burned in that rape case last year. Told Noose he’d surrender his license before he got stuck with another bad criminal appointment. And, he’s pretty awful on his feet. Noose was beyond frustrated with the guy in the courtroom. Give me another name.”
“Okay, okay. Let me think a minute.”
“A waste of time. I’m telling you, Jake, Noose will call you sometime today. Can you leave the country for a week or so?”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Harry Rex. We have motions before Noose at ten Tuesday morning, the rather insignificant matter of the Smallwood case? Remember that one?”
“Dammit. I thought it was next week.”
“Good thing I’m in charge of the case. Not to mention such trivial matters as Carla and her job and Hanna and her classes. It’s silly to think we can just disappear. I’m not running, Harry Rex.”
“You’ll wish you had, believe me. This case is nothing but trouble.”
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Product details
- Publisher : Anchor (June 29, 2021)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 480 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0593157826
- ISBN-13 : 978-0593157824
- Item Weight : 12.1 ounces
- Dimensions : 7.95 x 1.46 x 5.28 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #28,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #229 in Legal Thrillers (Books)
- #709 in Political Thrillers (Books)
- #2,276 in Murder Thrillers
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Long before his name became synonymous with the modern legal thriller, he was working 60-70 hours a week at a small Southaven, Mississippi, law practice, squeezing in time before going to the office and during courtroom recesses to work on his hobby—writing his first novel.
Born on February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, John Grisham as a child dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Realizing he didn’t have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted gears and majored in accounting at Mississippi State University. After graduating from law school at Ole Miss in 1981, he went on to practice law for nearly a decade in Southaven, specializing in criminal defense and personal injury litigation. In 1983, he was elected to the state House of Representatives and served until 1990.
One day at the DeSoto County courthouse, Grisham overheard the harrowing testimony of a twelve-year-old rape victim and was inspired to start a novel exploring what would have happened if the girl’s father had murdered her assailants. Getting up at 5 a.m. every day to get in several hours of writing time before heading off to work, Grisham spent three years on A Time to Kill and finished it in 1987. Initially rejected by many publishers, it was eventually bought by Wynwood Press, who gave it a modest 5,000 copy printing and published it in June 1988.
That might have put an end to Grisham’s hobby. However, he had already begun his next book, and it would quickly turn that hobby into a new full-time career—and spark one of publishing’s greatest success stories. The day after Grisham completed A Time to Kill, he began work on another novel, the story of a hotshot young attorney lured to an apparently perfect law firm that was not what it appeared. When he sold the film rights to The Firm to Paramount Pictures for $600,000, Grisham suddenly became a hot property among publishers, and book rights were bought by Doubleday. Spending 47 weeks on The New York Times bestseller list, The Firm became the bestselling novel of 1991.
The successes of The Pelican Brief, which hit number one on the New York Times bestseller list, and The Client, which debuted at number one, confirmed Grisham’s reputation as the master of the legal thriller. Grisham’s success even renewed interest in A Time to Kill, which was republished in hardcover by Doubleday and then in paperback by Dell. This time around, it was a bestseller.
Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written at least one book a year (his other works are The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, The Broker, Playing for Pizza, The Appeal, The Associate, The Confession, The Litigators, Calico Joe, The Racketeer, Sycamore Row, Gray Mountain, Rogue Lawyer, The Whistler, Camino Island, The Rooster Bar, The Reckoning, and The Guardians) and all of them have become international bestsellers. There are currently more than 350 million John Grisham books in print worldwide, which have been translated into 45 languages. Nine of his novels have been turned into films (The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Rainmaker, The Chamber, A Painted House, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas), as was an original screenplay, The Gingerbread Man. The Innocent Man (October 2006) marked his first foray into non-fiction, and Ford County (November 2009) was his first short story collection. In addition, Grisham has written seven novels for young adults, all in the Theodore Boone series: Kid Lawyer, The Abduction, The Accused, The Activist, The Fugitive, The Scandal, and The Accomplice.
Grisham took time off from writing for several months in 1996 to return, after a five-year hiatus, to the courtroom. He was honoring a commitment made before he had retired from the law to become a full-time writer: representing the family of a railroad brakeman killed when he was pinned between two cars. Preparing his case with the same passion and dedication as his books’ protagonists, Grisham successfully argued his clients’ case, earning them a jury award of $683,500—the biggest verdict of his career.
When he’s not writing, Grisham devotes time to charitable causes, including most recently his Rebuild The Coast Fund, which raised 8.8 million dollars for Gulf Coast relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He also keeps up with his greatest passion: baseball. The man who dreamed of being a professional baseball player now serves as the local Little League commissioner. The six ballfields he built on his property have played host to over 350 kids on 26 Little League teams.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2020
Top reviews from the United States
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Welcome back to Clanton, where most of us met Jake, (Carla, Judge Noose, Sheriff Ozzie), in “A Time to Kill” and became fans of his and Grisham. This story is not heavily entrenched with racial issues. In its place are issues of: social class, blue lives, alcoholism, rape, spousal abuse, small town corruption and much more.
There’s no need for me to rehash the plot any more specifically; the synopsis is quite clear and others are sure to do so. What I will mention is Grisham’s extraordinary ability to develop characters. The children in this story have had an horrific, oppressive and abusive existence. They love their mother but her ability to parent is abysmal. The depth of their need and lack is compassionately revealed by Grisham’s careful prose and spot on dialogue.
Grisham’s brilliance is equally evident in the antagonists and there are a few. None of them are great literary figures that readers will refer to for ages to come. These are the baddies that resonate in your soul; that you recognize from your town, neighborhood; God forbid, your family. There’s no superhero performing miraculous feats to conquer these monsters, just nice guys doing the right thing, putting their all on the line at great personal cost; totally inspiring!
The story contains two mysteries and 2 arcs. Consequently, there are two endings, of sorts. This open aspect of the book was rather unique, at least in my experience. My recollection is that Grisham tied up his endings in previous books. Perhaps this happened in the books I took a pass on, (I’d quit reading many of his books due to formulaic fodder), but there are issues purposely left for future purposes. If those volumes are of this caliber and involve the new characters, I’m all about it!
In true Grisham style, the writing is clear of foul language and descriptive sexual or violent scenes. There are very tension filled chapters that include violence - it is after all, a book about murder, rape and abuse. This author knows how to write without resorting to single f word modifiers and over written, graphic literary explosions that take the place of finely nuanced prose.
Professionally published & edited, it is indeed a “Time for Mercy”📚

Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2020



Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2020



In addition, the book is full of minutiae I characterize as page eating filler that the reader can skip over without losing any significant content. To me the storyline was predictable and lacked drama. I view this book in the same way as those of other great authors who, from time to time, need to crank out a product and fall back on an old and proven central character and theme that lacks originality and is hard to keep reading. I honestly couldn't finish it and asked my wife who was ahead of me on her Kindle and was able to finish it to tell me how it ended so I could, as the saying goes, cut to the chase. I sincerely hope Grisham's next book is a clean sheet with a new leading character and solid plot.
In this book he did a pretty good job of developing the characters but the ending totally left you hanging. I guess he wants you to read between the lines and decide for yourself.
Maybe the author needs to slow down and forget about just throwing out the books and give some thought to the entire book.
Disappointed at best.
Oh, this is the first rating I have ever given and I am 70 years old. I read 2 or so books every week.
Not sure if I will ever buy another of John's books.
Top reviews from other countries

It also invites the reader to wonder if the victim of the murder deserves such a retributory punishment for his wrong-doing, and whether his killer, likewise, deserves the ultimate judicial punishment for his wrong-doing.
Of course, cynics will argue that Grisham is capitalising on the civil unrest prevailing in America in 2020 but you can't really blame him for feeding off it because it's a subject close to many hearts and minds just now. Millions of people consider US police officers to be above the law if and when they kill, although the difference in this story is that the (white) police officer is off-duty when the horrifying assault takes place.
A Time for Mercy explores the ways in which acts of violence committed by or against law enforcement officers can complicate the pursuit of justice.
Jake Brigance is back, thereby making this a second sequel I suppose (after Sycamore Row in 2013), and he is appointed to represent a 16-year-old boy with regard to the murder of his mother’s boyfriend - who also happens to be a police officer. Just as in A Time to Kill, this isn't about 'who did it' because everybody knows who the killer is. Once again the reader and all of the story's characters face the ethical challenge over whether the killing was justified or not. Was it self defence? That's just one of the counter-arguments. The young killer, his 14-year-old sister and his mother had lived in fear of the deceased policeman, who had a drink problem and would often physically and violently abuse them.
Opinion amongst the local community in Clanton, Mississippi, is weighted against Jake. Those with an affiliation to law enforcement believe the teenager should not only be tried in court as an adult, but if he's found guilty, he should be executed. Quite a few ordinary citizens feel the same. Jake becomes very unpopular for defending a cop-killer, and while this is 1990 and long before the era of social media, there's still a battle to be fought against those who decide that someone is guilty even before there's a trial.
One of the intriguing things about this story - and the author is aware enough to mention it in the dialogue halfway through - is that there can be no satisfactory outcome. It's a murder, and the killer is known. There will be a trial, and the jury will decide 'guilty' or 'not guilty'. But unlike the first Grisham novel (in which just about everyone reading it hoped the killer would be found not guilty), in this case it's not quite as simple. Any verdict could be wrong, even if you consider the possibilities in advance. So Grisham is creating a considerable problem for himself here, and it's a testament to his skills as a story-teller that he is able to deliver a conundrum that feels very real (for all I know, this might be based on real-life events) and which seems impossible to resolve - yet resolve it he does.
Quite apart from this being a very good courtroom thriller with sharp dialogue and with engaging characters who you will either love or hate, at the heart of it all is the moral complexity that is generated by a murder of a local man who some will feel had it coming to him while others will feel lost his life unjustly.
With the exception of a few procedural elements this is never a boring read and is bound to pull on the emotions one way or another. I've read several Grisham novels over the past 20-odd years and while this may be a bit 'familiar' in places (in its style and structure), it's still a fresh new read and compares well with most of this author's best work.
* Edit/Update *
It's hard to ignore an episode of 'HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER' - Series 1, Ep 5 in fact - which was broadcast at least 5 years before this book by John Grisham was published. In that episode, called "We're Not Friends", the storyline has some rather uncomfortable similarities with this book.
To quote from the description on IMDB: "Annalise's latest client is teenager Ryan Remini who has been accused of killing his father, a policeman who was also a drunk and abusive to his mother Sharon. Ryan doesn't deny killing him and is in fact quite happy that he did it given the highly toxic home life he was forced to endure. Annalise realises that the only way they will win is to appeal to the jury's emotions and so jury selection becomes the key factor to success."
To be honest, I can't help wondering if Grisham watched that episode back in 2014 or thereabouts and thought "Hmm, that's an interesting idea. I could write a book about that".
Maybe it's nothing more than a coincidence - but the similarities are strong, it has to be said. Even the outcome of the TV drama is not very different from that of the novel. It would be disappointing if John Grisham plagiarised the work of Tracy A. Bellomo who wrote (or co-wrote) the stories for the entire 15 episodes of Series 1 of How to Get Away With Murder.


Some may think that "A Time for Mercy" is a bit too detailed. That people's backgrounds and lives in general may not be necessary in order to tell this story. I do not agree. There is a lot of wisdom to find both in what is written and between the lines.
Small town lawyer Jake Brigance is a wonderful hero. A brilliant lawyer with perhaps a far too big heart. We met him the first time in "A Time to Kill". Now he is back with another heart rending story about the struggle and bad luck of the less fortunate.
Were it not for the sarcasm and humour, this would be a dark and sad book, indeed. But Grisham manages to mix the quirks of humanity in with his stories, however gruesome many of the details.
"A Time for Mercy" is not a book to read overnight. There is too much to dwell upon, to savour. This is not a typical Grisham fast, entertaining legal thriller. It's a novel which goes a lot deeper into humanity, who we are, what we are, what we would wish to be.
Take your time with Grisham's new masterpiece. Stop in between and ponder the wisdom and honesty. And I'm sure you, like I did, will meet yourself in the author's soulbaring honesty.

I love his characters! Not perfect, but believable...and you don’t always know for sure how this Courtroom drama will turn out! To me, a great book is one that you look forward to rejoining and enjoying meeting the characters, waiting with baited breath to see how the story plays out, especially in the Courtroom! Enjoy....

In A Time For Mercy, Drew has shot his mother's boyfriend, there's no doubt about who killed Stuart but does Drew deserve to be sent to the gas chamber?
With Stuart being a cop, the whole of Clanton are rallying behind the police to see justice served. But the more time Drew spends locked in jail, the more the cops realise he's just a small, underdeveloped sixteen year old boy. But he's guilty...
Jake Brigance has been given little choice about being Drew's lawyer and watches the town turn against him... again, because as a Grisham fan, I know Jake. Jake was the star of A Time To Kill when he defended Carl Lee and also takes on the Hubbard case in Sycamore Row. I love Jake! He's a good father, a loving husband and a cracking lawyer, so it was good to be reunited with him!
If anyone could save Drew from death row, I knew Jake could, but with the evidence so clear how can he get the jury to approach this case in a different way... and have mercy.
Grisham has created another flawlessly complex plot that packed in so much detail but never managed to lose it's pace, it was gripping from the start to the finish.
Drew's case was fascinating to read, I assumed Jake would use the same tactics he used in Carl Lee's case, and whilst he considered it, Drew's case was a completely different can of worms. I loved watching it unravel and seeing Jake's mind work as he brainstormed through all his options.
Another bonus of being back with Jake and his family was the insight into their lives, it was great to catch up with them but also to witness the effect Drew's case had on them all, a lot to ponder throughout!
Comforting ~ because there's nothing I love more than a Grisham novel
Clever ~ how does Grisham always pack in so much detail and so much pace and so many genius moves in a trial?!
Addictive ~ again... what would Jake's next move be?
Nobody does it better... *get Carly Simon's lyrics going in your head*... than Grisham. He is the king of trial plots!


Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 23, 2020
In A Time For Mercy, Drew has shot his mother's boyfriend, there's no doubt about who killed Stuart but does Drew deserve to be sent to the gas chamber?
With Stuart being a cop, the whole of Clanton are rallying behind the police to see justice served. But the more time Drew spends locked in jail, the more the cops realise he's just a small, underdeveloped sixteen year old boy. But he's guilty...
Jake Brigance has been given little choice about being Drew's lawyer and watches the town turn against him... again, because as a Grisham fan, I know Jake. Jake was the star of A Time To Kill when he defended Carl Lee and also takes on the Hubbard case in Sycamore Row. I love Jake! He's a good father, a loving husband and a cracking lawyer, so it was good to be reunited with him!
If anyone could save Drew from death row, I knew Jake could, but with the evidence so clear how can he get the jury to approach this case in a different way... and have mercy.
Grisham has created another flawlessly complex plot that packed in so much detail but never managed to lose it's pace, it was gripping from the start to the finish.
Drew's case was fascinating to read, I assumed Jake would use the same tactics he used in Carl Lee's case, and whilst he considered it, Drew's case was a completely different can of worms. I loved watching it unravel and seeing Jake's mind work as he brainstormed through all his options.
Another bonus of being back with Jake and his family was the insight into their lives, it was great to catch up with them but also to witness the effect Drew's case had on them all, a lot to ponder throughout!
Comforting ~ because there's nothing I love more than a Grisham novel
Clever ~ how does Grisham always pack in so much detail and so much pace and so many genius moves in a trial?!
Addictive ~ again... what would Jake's next move be?
Nobody does it better... *get Carly Simon's lyrics going in your head*... than Grisham. He is the king of trial plots!
