The Runaway Jury - John Grisham

The Runaway Jury
by
John Grisham

Characters

The Jurors

1. Nicholas Easter
The main juror who is the centre of attention and the leader of the jury. His past is clouded and is a big worry for both legal teams. He becomes more important as the trial progresses.
2. Jerry Fernandez
A gambling man who is going through a divorce and is in love with a fellow juror. He is also Nick’s friend so will vote as he does.
3. Rikki Coleman
A non-smoker who makes up the numbers and has very little part to play over the trial. She did have an abortion in high school but this never emerged.
4. Millie Dupree
Husband Hoppy is one of many people approached by the Big Four Tobacco Companies in an effort to bribe the jury.
5. Angel Weese
Wife of Derrick who tries to get a large sum of money from the defence team and thinks that Angel can influence the whole jury. In fact, she is shy and will follow her friends’ choice of verdict.
6. Sylvia Taylor-Tatum
Nicknamed the poodle and dating Jerry while on jury duty.
7. Lonnie Shave
A black businessman whose company is being took over and his job is under threat. He is told to vote for the defence to secure his job.
8. Gladys Card
A non-descript character who doesn’t do much in the book and had no real jury influence. However, she does appeal for a lower settlement in deliberations.
9. Loreen Duke
Another person with little to do in the book.
10. Stella Hulic - left
An social riser who is hated and eventually leaves because she is approached by the tobacco companies (or was it.)
11. Frank Herrera - left
A retired Colonel who is excused because a magazine with an influential article is found in his room.
12. Herman Grimes - left
The first blind juror on a grand jury. Elected foreman and the most honest as he doesn’t discuss the trial. He is excused after a heart attack that was caused naturally (or maybe not.)
13. Shine Royce - new
’’White trash’’ and jumps on bandwagons easily. He is shy and we do not learn much about him.
14. Henry Vu - new
An Asian who is called up fairly late on to replace Herrera. Has little interest in the trial and also jumps on the nearest bandwagon.
15. Phillip Savelle - new
An odd character who practises yoga and annoys other jurors. He is the first new juror.


Defence Team
Pynex
The main tobacco company of the Big 4 and biggest contributor towards the Fund which contributes towards trial costs. It has most to lose from a plaintiff verdict and so is anxious and often devious about bribes.
Rankin Fitch
The organiser of the Fund. He does all the dirty work for the Big 4 and is very experienced is bribery and jury tampering.
Durwood (Durr) Cable
The defence lawyer who stays away from the real bad work but still pushes Fitch to persuade juries by more devious means.

Plaintiff Team
Wendell Rohr
The main lawyer who with little resources and less staff, has a harder job than Cable. However he is a talented lawyer who is capable of getting a verdict in his favour. He has also been known to try to tamper juries but is not as good.
Jacob Wood
The man who died, allegedly from cigarette smoke after smoking for almost all his life. We hear very little about him and his life is not exposed
Celeste Wood
The grieving widow, who is considering remarriage, it is 4 years since her husband died. She gives evidence and does not much else in the trial.

Judge Fredrick Harkin
The judge who presides over the trial. His role is important but very tedious. He deals with any problems, which may arise and general court proceedings but has not much of interest to do.

Marlee
Used to be called Claire. The key part of the plan to control the jury and make a story. She is the girlfriend and general acquaintance of Easter. She is the mastermind behind the plan that involves her and Easter to hi-jack the jury. She is very secretive and leaves hardly any trail.


The Story
There is a very big tobacco trial going on in Biloxi, Mississippi over the case Pyrex vs. Wood. Jacob Wood died four years ago and the legal matters have been cleared up and now there is to be a trial. The first sentence of the book mentions a potential juror, Nicholas Easter. The defence has a select team of jury experts, paid for by the fund, to research each potential juror. The jury is selected and the trial begins with the usual opening statements and then the prosecution case. As the trial continues, the defence approaches several jurors and this leads to them being excused. Also, Marlee, a mysterious, sends a letter to Rankin Fitch. Fitch is in charge of the Fund to help tobacco companies win trials by any means possible. She tells him what a certain juror member will be wearing, reading and several other details. Fitch is amazed, and this continues, with the details becoming more amazing. Fitch does research and cannot find anything about Marlee. She eventually tells Fitch about her inside contact, Nicholas Easter. She has many meetings and then starts to play around with Fitch. She gets his goons arrested and tells him that now she is willing to make a deal. For $10 million, she will get Easter to influence the jury to give a verdict to the defence. Fitch jumps at the deal and accepts immediately. He has already been tampering with several jury members and this leads to the whole jury being sequested (this is when the jury has to spend their whole lives in a hotel with constant supervision.) Easter starts off with slow progress as the deal is yet to be finalised. When it is the trial is almost over and Easter gets to work. Meanwhile, Marlee uses the cash to make investments in the stock market. After all, she knows the trail outcome. I won’t go as far as telling you the ending and have left out a lot of detail so not to spoil the book.

My Personal Views On the Book
The first two chapters were incredibly slow, boring and did not catch my imagination at all. After a week or so, I came back and continued reading the story. It became more interesting and I soon found myself spending way too many hours reading and saying to myself ’’one more chapter.’’

This is a book with an ending that anyone fool could predict. You just don’t think! You will read the end and say to yourself: I should have known, then Oh Yeah! that’s why so-and-so did such-and-such.

I enjoyed the novel after I got into it but I know for certain that it’s not everybody’s cup of tea. For Grisham fans, it will seem similar to other books. It has a small guy - big corporation trial. It has people wandering around spending billions like there was no tomorrow. It is set in Mississippi. It has a ton of legal jargon in it. It ends abruptly.

It is not totally realistic. Trials aren’t that corrupt (good source.) Everyone knows that tobacco firms are the bad boys and that cigarettes are dangerous, but they aren’t that bad. Tobacco firms haven’t bribed every jury ever.

There are 15 jurors, yet I can tell you a lot about less than 5. This is because a lot of ’’column inches’’ were spent on the legal details and precious little time spent of character development.

The Big Verdict
For Grisham fans, it is wonderful. For anyone else, read it but be patient and give it a chance. If you buy the book with the Partner in it as well, be prepared for a small let down. (The Partner is amazing)