THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, July 3, 1996 TAG: 9607030089
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Book Review
SOURCE: BY ANN G. SJOERDSMA
LENGTH: 80 lines
ON A JOHN GRISHAM-calibrated scale of zero to 10, the average-lawyer-turned-average-auteur's galaxywide best seller of the year, ``The Runaway Jury,'' rates an ``8.''
Yes, an ``8.''
Does that mean that I, an inveterate Grisham basher, enjoyed the latest unabashed lawyer-bashing romp from today's most famous Mississippian of letters?
A smidgen, perhaps, between winks. It so often bored that I nodded off.
What it does mean, though, is if you thrilled to ``The Firm,'' ``The Pelican Brief,'' ``The Client'' and ``The Rainmaker'' - all of which I panned - you'll probably love ``The Runaway Jury.'' This is vintage Grisham justice-run-amok exploitation. Driven by a clever setup.
The clever setup is Grisham's signature. The clever payoff is not.
I find his novels to be incredible, manipulative nonsense, void of compelling characters, plot, dialogue, narration, etc., etc. Frolics, often containing misinformation.
But others find them suspenseful and intriguing. Fun escapism.
So it goes.
Still, I confess, I remain curious to see what Grisham will do next.
This time out, the man who coaches Little League in his spare time tackles the tobacco industry and litigation that attempts to hold tobacco companies liable for hooking and killing people with cigarettes. With the industry currently under regulatory fire, Grisham has a gift for timing, if not for subtlety.
The near-invisible plaintiff is the widow of a man who died at 51 after smoking three packs a day for nearly 30 years. The issue: Who is legally responsible for his death?
Grisham gives a crash course in the evils of Tobacco Road, excerpted from congressional hearings, various and sundry studies, and actual trials. He also probes the matter of individual choice. And assembles an eclectic jury.
But when his rundown of tobacco lawyering, for both the plaintiff and the defense, failed to include the effect of warning labels on cigarette packs, I tuned out.
Quick to simplify the complexities of such product-liability cases, he resorted to the soapbox too often for my taste. Though each side dirties its hands, there's little doubt who the baddest of the bad is.
But should you have any doubt, Grisham names the jury ``consultant'' to the despicable CEOs of the big four tobacco companies Rankin Fitch. Rankin Fitch. (Why not Machiavelli Fitch?) Would that this were satirical. No such luck.
Of considerably more interest, I think, is the concept that gives the book its title: To wit, that not only might (and does) jury tampering occur in such high-stakes litigation, but that a ``ringer'' might infiltrate and commandeer the jury.
The pseudonymous Nicholas Easter, not above his own underhanded practices, is said ringer, an arrogant character whose pipeline to the judge tried both my patience and my sense of fair play in literary contrivances. Judges should be this friendly to pesky jurors!
Grisham builds corruption upon corruption, as Easter and his femme fatale accomplice - whose identity unfolds, predictably - battle the rank Fitch. Any guess who wins? Don't worry. I won't spoil it.
I would like to be generous to the hard-working Grisham. He cranks out a novel a year. No small feat. But he's so light and repetitive.
Here again, all of his bad-guy lawyers are ``suits''; all of his reputable scientists ``great men.''
His female lead appeared earlier as Julia Roberts in ``The Pelican Brief.'' His male anti-hero took a turn as Tom Cruise in ``The Firm.'' Nothing new in the formula. Just a few diversions.
``The Runaway Jury'' rates an ``8'' for those who relish escapism Grisham-style. But for everyone else, just a few winks. MEMO: Ann G. Sjoerdsma is a lawyer and book editor of The
Virginian-Pilot.
BOOK REVIEW
``The Runaway Jury''
Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Doubleday. 401 pp.
Price: $26.95 ILLUSTRATION: Photo
John Grisham by CNB