And yet more books....

The Runaway Jury, John Grisham.

Now, obviously this is a fairly old book, and for those who have read my review of Sam Bourne’s The Righteous Men, you may be a little surprised to see it on my list. But, and it’s a fairly big but, Grisham is the original master of the thriller genre in many ways, particularly all things legal. That said however, of the dozen or so books that he has written, there are only a couple of really good ones in my opinion. The Runaway Jury in one of those, along with the first Grisham book I read, The Partner. I remember being given The Partner when I was in my teens (16ish I’d guess) and thinking that it sounded dull. Then I read a few pages and was hooked. For me that is always the acid test, particularly for a book in the “thriller” genre. Grisham is at times brilliant at setting his pace, keeping you guessing, turning the pages….but like I said I think a lot of his books are decidedly average, especially the most recent ones.
Form the books on my list it is fairly obvious I’m not a huge reader of thrillers, but I used to be, and I first read The Runaway Jury when I was about 17, then decided to reread it just after Christmas. For those who haven’t read it, or seen the horrendous film version (Though John Cusack is excellent as always) the book is about a young guy called Nicolas Easter, who is part of the jury in a landmark trial against a tobacco company. Amazingly in the film they changed this to a gun company, evidently under severe pressure from the Tobacco industry which pumps millions into Hollywood each year. Anyway, one of the most interesting things about the book is the legal detail that Grisham displays, he was a lawyer himself in a previous life. This is particularly evident during the opening chapters which concern the jury selection.
The book follows true thriller format, twisting and turning regularly, and like I said, wouldn’t normally appeal to me. But this is one of maybe three Grisham books I would recommend, along with The Partner and A Time To Kill. I don’t want to talk about the plot anymore because I don’t want to spoil it, suffice to say this will keep you turning the pages while you lie in the sun on a beach somewhere this summer.


The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

I’m a bit torn with this one to be honest. For ages it sat on my bookcase at home and I didn’t read it, I kept telling myself it wasn’t my kind of book. Then when I moved to Vienna I brought it with me, and started reading it on the plane. In many ways I was right; it isn’t really my kind of book. I know that sentence means little and sounds frankly ridiculous, but what I’m trying to say is that my first impression was that it sounded a little bit contrived to me, a little bit too much like the blurb for a book written with the hope of becoming a Hollywood film. Don’t get me wrong, it is incredibly well written for the most part, and the imagery conjured of Afghanistan prior to the Russian invasion in the late 70s is both poignant and beautiful, but throughout I was waiting for the Hollywood moment, which duly arrives around three quarters of the way through. Again, I’m not going to say too much because ultimately it is a good book, and one I would recommend, but with a note of caution. In a nutshell it is the story of a rich Afghan boy and his childhood in Kabul, told by the adult the boy became. My problem is that we know early on that the narrator now lives in the states, which means the book is bound to shift there at one point. I would have been happier somehow had the story stayed in Afghanistan, although that would have lead to a couple of major plot changes! Like I said it all felt to contrived, leading up to a point which will look great on the big screen…..or maybe I’m just a cynic…who knows.
This is why I was reluctant to write these reviews really; maybe everyone else will love this book and think it a masterpiece? Maybe I’m alone in thinking it’s a bit formulaic and contrived? Answers on a postcard please…..


ok, enough for now!