The Reckoning / John Grisham / 420 pages

John Grisham once again delivers a riveting novel with a gripping story line and well developed characters.  Pete Banning is a decorated World War II hero from Clanton, Mississippi.  His family is a prominent family in the town and owns a large farm that produces cotton.  Pete is married to Liza and they have two children; a son, Joel, and a daughter, Stella.  October 1946 Pete goes to the Methodist church in town of which his family are members, and shoots and kills the pastor, Dexter Bell.  Pete is arrested and goes on trial for the murder all the while not saying why he did it.  The story covers the courtship of Pete and Liza, Pete's fighting in the war, and the repercussions of the murder of Dexter Bell.