Are you looking for something to take your mind off classes and final exams? Try reading a John Grisham legal thriller!

Grisham is an attorney himself and often consults experts on the topic he is writing about to improve accuracy. His legal thrillers will likely keep you on the edge of your seat, but they are also thought-provoking and address important issues in our legal system.

Here are two of my favorite John Grisham books:

Cover ArtA Time for Mercy
A Time for Mercy is about a small-town lawyer, Jake Brigance, who takes a criminal defense case for a sixteen-year-old boy, Drew Gamble, who shot and killed his mother’s abusive boyfriend. The book addresses the difficulties of charging and sentencing criminal defendants who are legally still children but on the brink of adulthood. The book also talks about capital punishment and its application to young people. But most importantly, the book highlights Jake Brigance’s efforts to show the judge and jury why Drew did what he did. Was Drew more akin to a murderer, or a protector? Please read the book and decide for yourself!

Cover ArtThe Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town

John Grisham is a longtime member of the Board of Directors at the Innocence Project.[1] He cares about those who are wrongfully convicted, and his book The Innocent Man shows the difficulties faced by people who are falsely convicted and imprisoned. The book is heart-wrenching. It depicts the seedy trial resulting in a death sentence for one of the main characters, Ron Williamson, and shows how his prison sentence on death row seriously impacted his life. Sadly, The Innocent Man is a non-fiction book about a real case from Oklahoma. Reading this book might irritate you because of the injustice it shows. If you feel compelled to help people like Ron Williamson, consider fulfilling your experiential learning requirement at the Joyce Ann Brown Innocence Clinic at UNT Dallas College of Law[2].

I hope you get to check out a John Grisham book soon. We have several here at the UNT Dallas College of Law Library! But be warned – these books are difficult to stop reading. 

 

-Alee Corrales - Juris Doctorate Candidate, 2023

[1] https://innocenceproject.org/author-john-grisham-tackles-criminal-justice-reform-wrongful-conviction-new-interview/.

[2] https://www.untdallas.edu/lawschool/academics/joyce-ann-brown-innocence-clinic.php.