The Runaway Jury

    Every jury has a leader, and the verdict belongs to him.  
        It's the biggest civil trial in America; Wood vs. Pynex. Mrs. Celeste Wood is going to bat against the tobacco industry to get punitive damages for the death of her husband by lung cancer--caused by cigarettes.
        Rankin Fitch is controlling The Fund for the four biggest tobacco companies. It is a hidden "sock drawer" cache, for use in cases such as these when immediate funds are needed with no strings or authorization. He has also managed to win the previous eight trials and two mistrials brought against the industry. He plans to win this one as well.
       While canvasing the possible jurors, no one can find any information on one Nicolas Easter. He seems to have appeared with no past history. He manages to get selected for the jury, and for some unnamed reason, both sides are slightly worried about what he will do.
      Then the jury starts acting oddly. Guided by Nicolas, they start making demands, doing odd things (like reciting the Pledge of Alligiance in a spontanious moment), and declaring that they are being followed. Added to this, Fitch is contacted by an anonymous young woman who says she can predict the jury's decision. She starts by outlining what some of the jurors will wear the next day, and goes to the extent of getting certain jurors kicked out. She tells Fitch she is in it for the money (and gets quite an extensive sum from him), but that is not the true reason. Imagine Fitch's surprise when he finds out.
     THE RUNAWAY JURY is an interesting and detailed book. John Grisham is not a Christian writer, but his books are very good, I think. This is the first of his that I have read.
     I was very interested in the angle of the story. It was new and unique and catchy. It made for a very good story.