The Runaway Jury

by Hilary Maxwell-Hyslop, John Grisham

A trial in Biloxi, Mississippi has millions of dollars at stake, but begins to go off course. The jury is behaving very strangely. Are they being manipulated? If so, why and by whom? A blockbuster from John Grisham, the master thriller writer.

Genres: Fiction

101 pages, Paperback

Published April 3, 2001

Reviews

[Warmth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book and the idea of the novel. These types of novels usually grab my attention. The whole novel is about a trial and how things are developed throughout the story, you will stay the whole novel thinking what the verdict will be; will it be for or against the plaintiff (although I somehow predicted the verdict early).

I believe there is another long original one and Penguin has generated this summarized version for education. That is the thing that I didn’t like: too many names of too many characters involved into the story coming one after the other and most of them are of a high impact to the case and the path of the story. I believe in the complete version of the novel there would be more room to digest them. But in this manner of a 96-pages story that was not good for me.

However in general I liked the experience.

[Eline Sandes · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's sheer, it's cheap, it has one of the weakest plots and endings I have ever read. This is the second time I try to read anything John Grisham and I can't help but dislike this writing style... I'm glad I read the shortened version of it, or else I'd have given up.

[Pat Cooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the second Grisham book I've read and of the two my favourite.
The main plot, essentially, is the trial of a cigarette company by a woman whose husband died as a result of cigarette smoking. I was drawn into the book by the amazing insights into the American legal system and how big money directs proceedings. I was fascinated by the almost underhand dealings, by both sides, in order to gain an edge. The unlawful actions used in the interests of achieving justice.

Alongside the trial was the secretive dealings by an unknown player who managed to manipulate proceedings, particularly the constitution of the jury and thereafter the psychology of some of them in the hopes of influencing the outcome of the verdict.

It was quite a ride and, ridiculous to say, I found the activities of the secret player and their person on the inside so irritating I was almost hoping the cigarette company would come out on top.

[Julaybib · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buku ini sangat tipikal Grisham, memanfaatkan celah dari hukum yang ada untuk membuat suatu cerita yang luar biasa (karena dilebih-lebihkan dan didramatisir tentunya). Intinya, sistem yang ada tidak akan pernah sempurna dan selalu dimanfaatkan oleh orang yang tidak bertanggung jawab atau tidak memiliki etika untuk memaksimalkan keuntungan pribadi. Celah dari sistem yang dipilih oleh Grisham kali ini adalah proses pemilihan dan fungsi juri dalam peradilan.

Diceritakan bahwa di Amerika, kini berdiri banyak perusahaan yang berspesialisasi menjadi konsultan juri. Mereka membantu para pengacara untuk memilih juri yang menguntungkan mereka, dan juga menentukan strategi yang tepat untuk menarik simpati juri. Kedengarannya biasa saja, namun di balik ini bisa terjadi berbagai kegiatan yang selain tidak etis juga terkadang ilegal. Yang paling ringan mungkin mereka memata-matai calon juri, untuk mengetahui kehidupan pribadi mereka dan menebak ke arah mana putusan mereka nanti. Yang paling parah mereka bisa mempengaruhi keputusan juri dengan menyuap atau mengintimidasi para juri atau keluarga terdekat mereka.

Dan bukan Grisham namanya kalau tidak membuat pihak lain yang memanfaatkan kebusukan para konsultan juri ini. Buku ini menceritakan tentang orang yang sengaja masuk menjadi juri untuk memanipulasi putusan pengadilan sekaligus mengerjai para konsultan juri ini untuk mendapatkan keuntungan pribadi. Sekali tepuk dua lalat. Apalagi kasus yang disidangkan melibatkan uang milyaran dollar, karena yang dituntut adalah para pengusaha rokok.

Buku ini cocok dibaca untuk para penggemar Grisham, dan juga para perokok (biar berhenti ngrokok). Oh, ya, para perokok juga sebaiknya mengikuti buku ini dengan menonton film The Insidernya Al Pachino dan Russel Crowe, he he.

[Kyounghunyoo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is written by John Grisham. Most his books treat of the antagonism of one lawyer against another, but unlike his other books, the main point of view is a trial jury. The story of this book is a widowed woman who lost her husband because of lung cancer raise a suit against the big tobacco company, and the juries who judge this suit are having in troubles by the company’s conspiracy.

As I read this book, I could think about tobacco again. Every year many people die from smoking related diseases. However, the use of tobacco in most of the countries is still legal and very common. Most of their governments don't put a strong ban on tobacco products because taxation on tobacco products provides substantial revenue. Cigarette smoke is composed of a large number of different substances that affect many parts of the body. These substances are about 4,000 known chemicals, including poisons, and 50 cancer-causing substances. Even though I’ve already known these facts, I smoke cigarette. It’s kind of habit which is hard to quit, and I believe that I could relieve stress when I smoke. And truly, I could feel more comfortable after smoking. But I know that smoking harms not just the smoker, but also secondhand smokers such as family members, coworkers, and others who breathe the smoker's cigarette smoke. So I try to make a rule about smoking area to harm nobody.

[S.H]

Pynex, a tobacco company, was sued. They cannot lose this case because they had to face everyone whose health was inifluenced because of smoking. Both of side were very careful to choose the members of the jury. However, every juror had different prupose to attend to the jury. Also, there is a woman who seemed to have super power to predict what would happen in the future, and she kept senting the message to the lawyer of the tobacco company. what did she want?

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a forced read in my secondary 4 English class.

The world of courts and lawyers really bores me and I can hardly understand what is fascinating about it. I like the fighting of the main characters against the cigarette company though. I thought it was noble. The end was good too.

I guess it was a good book for a courtroom kind-of-suspense drama but the subject doesn't interest me anyway.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast, light read - typical John Grisham novel. Story about a tobacco personal liability civil law suit. Perfect for a movie. Oh, it was a movie.

[Namiko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the story!

After 3 books about the World War II, it is good for me to read that good people beat bad people with a great plot.

[Loreine Khek · Rating 1 out of 5]

Neither of my friends nor teachers would recommend me to read this book.