Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Review: A Time For Mercy by John Grisham

 Dear Lit Loves,

Greetings!  It's been a couple of months since I last posted a review thanks to my own health issues, the Covid pandemic, holidays, and completing final edits on a manuscript before its submission.  When I want to take a break from memoir (which is rare), I turn to fiction.  When I want to read a book that keeps me turning the pages and makes me stop to think what I would do if I were in a particular character's shoes, I turn to John Grisham.  It never hurts that Grisham generally places his book settings in the south as well.  The most recent book of his that I just finished reading is titled A Time For Mercy.  This book for me was like driving a loaded Mustang GT.  Right out of the starting gate, I've got the pedal to the metal and it's not long before I am cruising in first place while listening to AC/DC.

First, if you can't take an author who tackles big issues in a southern setting, this might not be the book for you.  If you're like me and love books set in the south that address the big issues we as a society are dealing with today then reading this book is almost like having a winning lottery ticket. (Almost), 

The book opens with lawyer Jake Brigance in Clanton, Mississippi who is called by a judge on a Sunday afternoon and handed the legal defense of a sixteen year old who everyone in Clanton appears to want dead.  Why?  Because he killed an off-duty police officer.  You then get a play by play narrative of the circumstances that led to a sixteen year old male teenager murdering a police officer who was dating his mom.  Next, we discover the police officer is not the upstanding man people think he is.  Stuart Kofer, the police officer, has more problems than he can count.  He served in the military, but was abruptly discharged.  He has been married twice and divorced twice.  He has a McDaddy drinking problem along with brutish behavior and gambling problems as well.  He has his own home and has recently invited sixteen year old Drew's mother to come with her kids and live with him.  Drew's mom, Josie, works multiple part-time jobs, has served time in prison, and lost custody of Drew and his younger sister, Kiera, twice.  

The problem is Stuart Kofer has a truly dark side and he can be brutal after an entire day and night of drinking and carousing.  He frequently returns home at night to beat Josie.  He's also berating Drew and when no one's home, Stuart Kofer rapes Drew's sister, Kiera, on multiple occasions.  He tells Kiera that if she tells her mom or anyone about it, he will be forced to kill her, her mom, and her brother.  Drew and Josie have no idea about Stuart raping Kiera.  So one night Josie is waiting for Stuart Kofer to return home at two in the morning while Drew and Kiera are upstairs behind a locked bedroom door with furniture shoved up against it.  Drew and Kiera hear commotion downstairs and then they hear Stuart Kofer ascending the stairs to the room in which they've locked themselves.  When Stuart is unable to get inside the room to reach Drew and Kiera, he goes to his bedroom and passes out cold.  

After it has been quiet long enough, Drew and Kiera venture out of a bedroom looking for their mom and wary that Stuart Kofer could be lurking somewhere around the house.  They find their mom, Josie, unconscious on the floor of the kitchen and neither one can detect that their mom is breathing.  Both kids assume Stuart has killed their mother.  While Kiera is downstairs attempting to rouse her mom, Drew goes upstairs and finds Stuart passed out in the bedroom.  He then calls 911.  Kiera is still trying to rouse her lifeless mom when she hears a gunshot.  Drew comes downstairs and Kiera asks him if he shot Stuart Kofer which Drew answers in the affirmative and then sits down on a couch and appears to descend into a catatonic state.

The Clanton, MS police arrive to Stuart Kofer's house, detect a pulse after examining Josie, and then run upstairs to find Stuart Kofer dead from a bullet discharged from his own Glock which is lying beside him.  Kiera rides with her mom as emergency personnel take her to the hospital and after informing the Clanton, MS police that Drew shot Stuart Kofer. Drew is put in handcuffs and placed in a cell in the Clanton, MS jail.  This is the case attorney Jake Brigance is given by the judge in this case, Omar Noose.

The rest of the book covers what happens to Drew as he is tried for capital murder as an adult.  His mom is taken to a hospital where she suffers from a broken jaw.  Kiera learns she is pregnant and is forced to tell her mom.  Stuart Kofer's family wants Drew to be given the death penalty.  Jake Brigance is a small town attorney who is barely making ends meet and must defend Drew on a shoestring budget along with the fact that this area of rural Mississippi is highly conservative.  

I know an author is good when I start considering from each character's perspective what I would do in a given situation.  How will Jake Brigance defend Drew Gamble?  Will he claim Insanity,?  Self-defense?  Will Kiera choose to keep the baby, have an abortion, or give the baby up for adoption? Will Josie be able to recover not just from the beating, but having no place to live and being in debt along with the duress of discovering all the trouble she has brought on herself and her children via bad decisions?  How will Drew cope sitting in a jail cell for months waiting for a trial?  Will the officers who worked with Stuart Kofer admit that they knew about his seriously problematic drinking and the two previous 911 calls Josie made regarding abuse by Stuart Kofer?  What will the Kofer family do to see justice served?  And what will the Kofer family do if or when they discover Kiera was raped by Stuart and is now carrying his baby?  And just as importantly, what would you do if you were selected as a juror in the trial of Drew Gamble vs. the state of Mississippi whereby the charge is capital murder?

I'm not giving away what anyone does or what happens as the story continues to unfold.  Let's just say that this book will make you think about domestic violence, extreme alcoholism, race relations, murder committed by a minor, chaotic childhoods, police loyalty, and how the choices people make can lead to dire circumstances not just for themselves but others as well.  

I absolutely loved the book.  I highly recommend it.  And I can't wait till  I find another book by John Grisham and have the time to kick back and read it!

All Best,

Grace (Amy)