Runaway Jury: 4 Stars

Runaway Jury by John Grisham

Shocker, I know.  I read yet another John Grisham book.

This book revolves around a trial against the tobacco company for the death of a man who smoked his whole life. The jury is picked and includes a man named Nicholas Easter. With no intention of losing, the tobacco company hires people to study each jury member before the trial and even get dirt on each just in case they need to blackmail them.  While Nicholas seems like a reasonable candidate, they have trouble tracking down his past.  He ends up on the jury despite their reservations about him. 

But it turns out, they should have done some more research.  Nicholas Easter and an outside accomplice, Marlee, control the jury and are putting verdict up for bid to the tobacco company. The tobacco company's consultant, Rankin Finch, doesn't want to deal with Marlee and Nick, but feels he has no choice.  But why can't he find out about their pasts?  What are they hiding?  Can he trust them to deliver?

Once again Grisham delivers a great story with fast-paced action and suspense. Sadly, I had seen the movie and knew the ending already (even though the movie is a gun company instead of tobacco) but the premise and ending were the same.  Despite this, I still enjoyed this read and would highly recommend it.

Rating: PG