"The Reckoning" is a novel by John Grisham, published in 2018. The book is a departure from Grisham's typical legal thriller genre, and is instead a Southern Gothic novel set in World War II-era Mississippi state.
### Plot
The plot centers on the 1946 murder trial of prominent family patriarch Pete Banning, a war hero who has returned home from the Second World War. Banning murders Dexter Bell, a Mississippi town’s humble pastor, for unclear reasons. Banning refused to give anyone a motive for the murder, even to save his life. When Pete’s children learned the truth about their father’s murder, they realized that the truth does not always help to clarify matters[4]. The story takes place in the fictional town of Clanton, Mississippi, in Grisham's Ford County.
### Themes
The book deals with themes such as madness, segregation, miscegenation, and the Bataan Death March[5]. Grisham confronts the culture of white supremacy and its offspring: corruption, violence, and a general cultural miasma.
### Reception
The book received mixed reviews. Some critics praised Grisham's ability to spin a yarn and his ambition to write a Southern Gothic novel[5], while others criticized the pacing and the lack of character development.
### Conclusion
"The Reckoning" is a departure from John Grisham's typical legal thriller genre, and instead is a Southern Gothic novel set in World War II-era Mississippi state. The book deals with themes such as madness, segregation, miscegenation, and the Bataan Death March. The book received mixed reviews, with some praising Grisham's ambition and others criticizing the pacing and lack of character development.