John Grisham's A Time for Mercy - Review

A Time for Mercy by John Grisham

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A gripping thriller which explores how the law and justice may sometimes be at odds.

Josie and her children anxiously await her partner’s return home, hoping to avoid the usual escalation into violence that follows his drinking. But their hopes are in vain. Erupting into a frenzied rage, he beats Josie unconscious. Her children believe she is dead. Fearful for their lives, young Drew Gamble takes the man’s own gun and shoots him dead.

Jake Brigance is reluctant to take the case. The dead man was a police officer, well liked and respected in the community, which is demanding justice be done. Defending his killer could be career suicide and he is currently busy with a potentially lucrative civil case.

But as Jake gets to know his new client and his family and learns more about their circumstances, he becomes determined to save him from death row. Nevertheless, a man is dead and the law is very clear. If Jake is to build a successful defence, he must pose a question to the jury and hope to provide them with its answer – it is possible that homicide can ever be justified?

‘A Time for Mercy’ is the third novel featuring Jake Brigance, following 1989’s ‘A Time to Kill’ and 2013’s ‘Sycamore Row’, taking place in the fictional town of Clanton, Ford County, in 1990, just five years after the Hailey trial. Like the first in the series, the novel centres around a criminal trial which causes much unrest and divided opinion in this traditional American county.

Much like the ‘victims’ in the first novel, the murdered man is a vile example of humanity and the world is doubtless better off without him, but his behaviour in his role as a police officer and as part of the wider community differs to how he behaves at home and while under the influence of alcohol. However, someone’s behaviour behind closed doors if often far more indicative of their true nature than the persona they present to the wider world – though this is something that many, unfortunately, cannot appreciate. While I would never advocate vigilantism, when circumstances arise which result in harm to a violent and abusive individual it may appear ludicrous to seek to punish their attacker – particularly in a country that still uses capital punishment. Is that ironic, or simply hypocrisy?

Exploring themes of domestic abuse and violence, how society views victims of abuse and members of law enforcement, and a plethora of ethical and moral dilemmas, while racial prejudice remains ever present, the novel poses many questions which remain timely to this day. We follow Jake as he builds his case and forms a bond with this broken and damaged family, forming a picture of their tragic circumstances, building to the climatic courtroom scenes.

The Brigance family’s personal life is interspersed with the legal case; I love Jake’s relationship with Carla and Hanna. Portia makes a return from the previous novel, working as Jake’s paralegal and about to embark on her studies at law school. Other characters also return from the previous two novels – making this as much a personal drama as a legal one, and the continuing story of the town and community of Clanton, with an emotional core and a moral conscience.

Thought-provoking and suspenseful, ‘A Time for Mercy’ is an engrossing legal thriller and a fantastic addition to the series. I hope we will get to return to Clanton for another of Jake’s cases in the future.



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