First Edition (stated). DOUBLEDAY & CO., NY 1996. This action packed legal thriller, Runaway Jury, was made into a movie and directed by Gary Fleder which starred Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, John Cusak, and Rachel Weisz. The book is set in Biloxi, Mississippi where the landmark tobacco trial begins routinely, but then begins to swerve mysteriously off course as the jury begins to act strangely. The trial is being manipulated in some way, and, if so how, why, and by whom?