At times written in the third person, this novel is the story of Herschel Folkes, a twenty-three year old man who one day receives a summons to report for jury duty. Herschel is a fair-skinned Jewish-American native New Yorker and a clandestine bibliophile. Herschel is considered clandestine because most of his closest personal friends are kept in complete ignorance of his strange attraction to literature, which is how Herschel prefers to maintain his relationships. Also unknown to anyone is the fact that Herschel is a deviant who daydreams all too often in an effort to fuel his surreal and daring imagination. All of Herschel’s vices contribute to his self-indulging deviance, but none more than his voracious love of literature and his interest in films. He also has a romantic attraction to writing, the most private of all his vices. One day during a lunch break, Herschel begins to write down his thoughts about being on jury duty in a notebook that he has brought along. As Herschel devours his skimpy lunch, he suddenly arrives at a wonderful idea: Wouldn’t it be fun to write a story to parallel his experiences as they were happening? A story about a juror, himself a novice writer of sorts, who decides to cause a mistrial. Herschel begins to write his story during lunch breaks and works on it during every opportunity he can get. In addition, he also works on it (in his head) during his many daydream spells while sitting in court when the trial is in session, but is much more productive during long lunch breaks and many periods of “free” time when the trial is not in session. As the Sophie Fields vs. Jem Lumber Company trial progresses, so does Herschel’s story. The trial lasts five days, and as Herschel records the progress of the trial through his nameless protagonist, he begins to show signs of ambivalence in his attitude about the trial. These feelings are kept private and are only revealed through Herschel’s many daydreams in which he seriously considers causing a mistrial. It is through his daydreams that so much of Herschel’s deviant personality is revealed, especially on the day of deliberation.