The last jurorJohn GrishamCentury, 17.99Neil Rose

After his long overdue return to form with The King of Torts, John Grisham has taken what is for him the radical step of not writing about a lawyer in this, his 17th novel.

The law and lawyers still pervade the story, but the first-person narrator is Willie Traynor, a 23-year-old college drop-out who, in 1970, takes over The Ford County Times, a local newspaper in deepest Mississippi facing bankruptcy.

For those who care about such things, this marks Grisham's first return to Ford County since A Time to Kill, the first novel he wrote, although not the first published.

Willie works hard to get the paper back on its feet, but its fortunes are turned round by its coverage of the brutal rape and murder of a young mother by a member of the notorious Padgitt family.

Danny Padgitt is tried before a packed courtroom, with Willie reporting every word.

As he finishes his evidence, Padgitt threatens revenge against the jurors if they convict him.

He is still sent down, although the jury is unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the death penalty, meaning he receives a life sentence.

But life in Mississippi's jails does not mean life, and nine years later, Padgitt is paroled.

He returns to Ford County and the retribution starts.

Grisham tells an entertaining tale of small-town America in the 1970s, although the period is not evoked with any great vividness.

It is, as ever, well written and encourages the pages to turn, while Willie is sufficiently engaging to carry the story.

The problem, such as it is, is with the plot beyond the interesting but hardly heart-thumping story of The Ford County Times and Willie's development.

The book flap gives the information described here, so you know what is going to happen in the Padgitt trial and are just waiting for his release - which only happens in the last 50 pages or so - to see what happens from there.

And there are several somewhat heavy- handed clues along the way.

The title, meanwhile, is thoroughly misleading in terms of signposting what will happen.

A more key story-telling flaw is that the central character himself is not really in any great peril, despite the odd effort to make it seem as though he is.

Instead, it is a woman he befriends and who becomes the first black juror in the county's history at the trial who is most at risk.

You care, but not that much.

This is a worthwhile read but without the excitement you might hope from a John Grisham thriller.