A Time For Mercy Summary
John Grisham

A Time For Mercy Overview

In the courtroom drama A Time for Mercy by John Grisham, Jake Brigance faced bankruptcy, public scorn, and a revolt by the police when he was unwillingly appointed to defend Drew Gamble, a teenage boy charged with capital murder for the shooting of an off-duty police officer named Stuart Kofer. Stuart had been drunk the night he was shot. He had beaten Josie, Drew’s mother and Stuart's girlfriend. Drew and his sister, Kiera, believed their mother was dead. Additionally,14-year-old Kiera had been raped by Stuart and was pregnant. As Jake became more acquainted with Drew and his family, Jake began to care less about what the public thought of his work defending Drew. Themes in the novel include good in the face of evil, problems with the death penalty, and the prevalence of the good old boy system in the South.