The Reckoning: A Novel


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(as of May 13, 2025 07:05:11 UTC – Details)


Number-one best-selling author John Grisham’s The Reckoning is his most powerful, surprising, and suspenseful thriller yet.

“A murder mystery, a courtroom drama, a family saga…The Reckoning is Grisham’s argument that he’s not just a boilerplate thriller writer. Most jurors will think the counselor has made his case.” (USA Today)

October 1946, Clanton, Mississippi

Pete Banning was Clanton, Mississippi’s favorite son – a decorated World War II hero, the patriarch of a prominent family, a farmer, father, neighbor, and a faithful member of the Methodist church. Then one cool October morning he rose early, drove into town, walked into the church, and calmly shot and killed his pastor and friend, the Reverend Dexter Bell. As if the murder weren’t shocking enough, it was even more baffling that Pete’s only statement about it – to the sheriff, to his lawyers, to the judge, to the jury, and to his family – was: “I have nothing to say.” He was not afraid of death and was willing to take his motive to the grave.

In a major novel unlike anything he has written before, John Grisham takes us on an incredible journey, from the Jim Crow South to the jungles of the Philippines during World War II; from an insane asylum filled with secrets to the Clanton courtroom where Pete’s defense attorney tries desperately to save him.

Reminiscent of the finest tradition of Southern Gothic storytelling, The Reckoning would not be complete without Grisham’s signature layers of legal suspense, and he delivers every minute.

Customers say

Customers find the book engaging from cover to cover, with riveting descriptions and a detailed account of WWII, making it a great historical factual read. The pacing receives mixed reactions – while some find it fast-paced, others say it becomes slow after the first several chapters. Customers disagree on the character development, with some finding them richly developed while others describe them as one-dimensional. The ending receives mixed reviews, with some praising the winding and complex plot while others find it unfinished and unconvincing. Customers describe the book as very depressing.

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