previous cases, but failed. Had two years of law school before he met Marlee. Marlee: The girlfriend and outside contact of Nicholas Easter. Real name is Gabrielle Brant. Parents died due to smoking. Has since meeting Jeff Kerr, schemed to follow and benefit from tobacco litigation. Frederick Harkin: The judge in the case Wood v. Pynex Loreen Duke: Black female juror. Divorced with two children. Voted for plaintiff. Angel Weese: Fellow black female juror. Boyfriend is Derrick Maples, who was bribed by Rohr to try to convince Angel to vote for plaintiff. Although this attempt was unsuccessful, she nevertheless voted for plaintiff. Lonnie Shaver: Black male juror. Manager of supermarket, later convinced by new employer to vote for defense. Employer was friend of one of the tobacco companies. Stella Hulic: Obnoxious white female social climber. Later got removed due to being followed by tobacco company. However, it was actually Marlee who phoned Stella and stated that the tobacco companies followed her. Frank Herrera: Retired white male colonel. Later removed for having unauthorized materials. Those materials were actually planted by Nicholas secretly to have Herrera, a pro-defense juror and very antagonistic to Nicholas, removed. Herman Grimes: The previous white blind male foreman. Very neutral, follows judge's orders very devotedly. Removed due to a sudden illness on the final morning of the trial. This illness was secretly created by Nicholas through drugging Herman. Critical reception The New York Times wrote: "The story's suspense builds like that of a lengthening cigarette ash that refuses to drop off. And the plot's eventual outcome is far more entertainingly unpredictable than anything Mr. Grisham has done before." The Chicago Tribune wrote that "the guts of the book is the cat-and-mouse game played by Marlee, Easter and Fitch, and it is probably Grisham's best storytelling to date." References 1996 American novels Novels by John Grisham Legal thriller novels American novels adapted into films Novels set in Mississippi Biloxi, Mississippi