If I were a writer and knew that I would have to give up money if I didn't have a "book" on my publisher's desk by a date certain, and time was up, this is the kind of load of crap I would dish up. What passes for a plot is meaningless: the whole book is fleshed out with WW II history that needn't be narrated as fiction, and arcane minutiae of criminal and civil procedure that couldn't be more boring and, moreover, is woefully inaccurate. I actually felt that I'd been tricked into reading this steamer by being bamboozled by Grisham's reputation, on which I can't comment. BORING!!!!!!

I started reading the book and found myself totally unable to take a break while reading it. The novel included excellent and informative fiction which include the South in the forties, WW II action in the Philippines and a murder mystery with a surprise outcome. I highly recommend taking the time to read this great novel.

I read several Grisham novels early in his career, quit for several years, then tried to get through The Rooster Bar. I quit reading about halfway through, partly because I didn't care for any of the main characters. I thought I'd try his latest, The Reckoning, mainly because it takes place in Ford County, where A Time To Kill was set. I made it to the end, but found only the section concerning WWII really interesting. There was no doubt you would learn why certain things happened at the book's end, but the story seemed so disjointed, and the characters all pretty one-dimensional, I didn't really care. These two latest Grisham books weren't up to the standard of his earlier works.

I have always enjoyed John Grisham's novels. This one is a disappointment. First of all I did NOT like the ending at all. I know that's about me and not about the book but I still didn't like it. More than that I didn't like wasting my time thumbing through page after page after page of completely useless narrative. There is a vastly long section at the center of the book where he is writing about the mothers mental problems and the sons law school career that are a complete waste of time. It's obvious that the publishers are paying him by the page or by the word. The result is a huge amount of unnecessary text that doesn't really contribute to the story, that is very useful in putting me to sleep. This is not the first time this is happened. I have found it happening more and more frequently with other authors.

Horrible, 400 page LONG and drawn out story. Could have been based on a ten page short story by a freshman in community college. Mr Grisham, please bring back your inventive legal thrillers. Severely disappointed.