Non coupable : roman

À Clanton, dans le Mississippi, la petite Tonya Hailey est sauvagement violée et torturée. En plein tribunal, son père, Cari Lee, massacre les deux accusés au fusil-mitrailleur. Son sort semble tout tracé : la chambre à gaz. En effet, nous sommes dans le sud profond des États-Unis et Cari Lee est noir... Mais Jake, un jeune avocat blanc, aussi courageux qu'ambitieux, décide de le défendre. Le Ku Klux Klan fait front. Bientôt un souffle de haine embrase la petite ville de Clanton... Ce roman, largement autobiographique — l'auteur a été jeune avocat dans le Mississippi —, restitue admirablement l'atmosphère du sud des États-Unis, ce mélange de poussière rouge, de moiteur, d'insouciance et de violence. Avec un art unique, John Grisham plonge le lecteur dans le malaise grandissant d'un suspense qui ne se résoudra qu'à la toute dernière page. John Grisham has become, in less than three years, America's most popular author. While The Firm first put him on bestseller lists across the country, and The Pelican Brief and The Client confirmed his status as the master of the legal thriller, it was A Time to Kill that launched his writing career. Originally published in a small print-run in 1989, and for years unavailable in hardcover, Doubleday is proud to publish a new trade hardcover edition of this gripping courtroom drama. Near the rural town of Clanton, Mississippi, little Tonya Hailey is brutally raped, beaten, and left for dead by two drunken and remorseless men. The rapists are almost immediately caught in a road side bar, where they have been bragging of their exploits. When the men appear in court days later, Tonya's father Carl bursts out of the courthouse basement, and executes them with an assault rifle. Murder or executions? Justice or revenge? Carl trusts his life to only one man in town - local criminal lawyer Jake Brigance, who dreams of famous cases, headlines, and the big time. Jake is about to face the fight of his life, and he knows it. Not only is he up against Rufus Buckley - a tough, ambitious district attorney who realizes that a murder conviction could help him gain higher office - but he has a much bigger problem: the rapists are white, the judge is white - and Carl is black. This is a trial sure to change forever the lives of everyone involved. A Time to Kill is a riveting novel that challenges everything we think we know about justice and equality. --jacket

In this searing courtroom drama, best-selling author John Grisham probes the savage depths of racial violence... as he delivers a compelling tale of uncertain justice in a small southern town...

Clanton, Mississippi. The life of a ten-year-old girl is shattered by two drunken and remorseless young man. The mostly white town reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime. Until her black father acquires an assault rifle -- and takes justice into his own outraged hands.

For ten days, as burning crosses and the crack of sniper fire spread through the streets of Clanton, the nation sits spellbound as young defense attorney Jake Brigance struggles to save his client's life...and then his own...

Library Journal

In this lively novel, Grisham explores the uneasy relationship of blacks and whites in the rural South. His treatment is balanced and humane, if not particularly profound, slighting neither blacks nor whites. Life becomes complicated in the backwoods town of Clanton, Mississippi, when a black worker is brought to trial for the murder of the two whites who raped and tortured his young daughter. Everyone gets involved, from Klan to NAACP. Grisham's pleasure in relating the byzantine complexities of Clanton politics is contagious, and he tells a good story. There are touches of humor in the dialogue; the characters are salty and down-to-earth. An enjoyable book, which displays a respect for Mississippi ways and for the contrary people who live there. Recommended.-- David Keymer, SUNY Coll. of Technology, Utica

704pages. poche. broch. A Clanton, dans le Mississippi, la petite Tonya Hailey est sauvagement viole et torture. En plein tribunal, son pre, Carl Lee, massacre les deux accuss au fusil-mitrailleur. Son sort semble tout trac: la chambre gaz. En effet, nous sommes dans le sud profond des Etats-Unis et Carl Lee est noir. Mais Jake, un jeune avocat blanc, aussi courageux qu'ambitieux, dcide de le dfendre. Le Ku Klux Klan fait front. Bientt un souffle de haine embrase la petite ville de Clanton. Ce roman, largement autobiographique -l'auteur a t jeune avocat dans le Mississippi -, restitue admirablement l'atmosphre du sud des Etats-Unis, ce mlange de poussire rouge, de moiteur, d'insouciance et de violence. Avec un art unique, John Grisham plonge le lecteur dans le malaise grandissant d'un suspense qui ne se rsoudra qu' la toute dernire page. #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The master of the legal thriller probes the savage depths of racial violence in this searing courtroom drama featuring the beloved Jake Brigance. “John Grisham may well be the best American storyteller writing today.”—The Philadelphia InquirerThe life of a ten-year-old black girl is shattered by two drunken and remorseless white men. The mostly white town of Clanton in Ford County, Mississippi, reacts with shock and horror at the inhuman crime—until the girl's father acquires an assault rifle and takes justice into his own hands.For ten days, as burning crosses and the crack of sniper fire spread through the streets of Clanton, the nation sits spellbound as defense attorney Jake Brigance struggles to save his client's life—and then his own. Don't miss John Grisham's new book, THE EXCHANGE: AFTER THE FIRM! A Time to Kill is a 1989 legal thriller and debut novel by American author John Grisham. The novel was rejected by many publishers before Wynwood Press eventually gave it a 5,000-copy printing. When Doubleday published The Firm, Wynwood released a trade paperback of A Time to Kill, which became a bestseller. Dell published the mass market paperback months after the success of The Firm, bringing Grisham to widespread popularity among readers. Doubleday eventually took over the contract for A Time to Kill and released a special hardcover edition. ---------- Also contained in: [The Pelican Brief / A Time to Kill](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL24697402W) [The Testament / A Time To Kill](https://openlibrary.org/works/OL20639558W) A Clanton, dans le Mississipi, la petite Tonya Hailey est sauvagement violée et torturée. En plein tribunal, son père, Carl Lee, massacre les deux accusés au fusil-mitrailleur. Son sort semble tout tracé : la chambre à gaz. En effet, nous sommes dans le sud profond des Etats-Unis et Carl Lee est noir... Mais Jake, un jeune avocat blanc, aussi courageux qu'ambitieux, décide de le défendre. Le Ku Klux Klan fait front. Bientôt un souffle de haine embrase la petite ville de Clanton... [4e de couverture] Criminal lawyer Jake Brigance faces the fight of his life when he is asked to defend Carl Hailey, who, in a rage of anger, shot and killed the men on trial for the rape of his daughter Mitch McDeere, a Harvard Law graduate, becomes suspicious of his Memphis tax firm when mysterious deaths, obsessive office security, and the Chicago mob figure into its operations