Helpful Score: 4
I usually read John Grisham because of his typical fast paced law dramas, but my husband had wanted to read this so I thought gave it a try when he was done. This is not your typical Grisham fiction. This was actually based on true story, but still contains the law drama.
The details and the writing are great, but the saga itself is kind drawn out. I understand that human drama can be long and trying but I was getting slightly bored in places.
One of the great things I did get was the ability to compare current law enforcement and forensics that we utilize now that are described in the first stages in this book.
Overall a good read. Not typical Grisham, but still the same great writing.
The details and the writing are great, but the saga itself is kind drawn out. I understand that human drama can be long and trying but I was getting slightly bored in places.
One of the great things I did get was the ability to compare current law enforcement and forensics that we utilize now that are described in the first stages in this book.
Overall a good read. Not typical Grisham, but still the same great writing.
Helpful Score: 2
The first book that John Grisham wrote that is a true story. He doesn't miss a detail. Awesome book!
Helpful Score: 2
I've always been pro death penalty but this book has made me reconsider my values. I would've given it 5 stars but felt that Grisham inserted his opinion too much, as if he didn't trust his readers to see the injustice done to Ron Williamson and others who were actually innocent of the crimes they were accused of.
Writing fiction is very different from documenting an actual series of events.
Grisham's fiction books are real page turners and hard to put down. This one was about actual real events and should have been a compelling read but it was just dull reading.
I tried twice to wade through it before giving it away.
Grisham's fiction books are real page turners and hard to put down. This one was about actual real events and should have been a compelling read but it was just dull reading.
I tried twice to wade through it before giving it away.
Grisham abandons the finctional here to examine a murder case in Ada Oklahoma in the early 1980s which resulted in the conviction of two men totally innocent of the horrific crime.
I generally love and enjoy reading true crime, on top of that John Grisham is a great writer, but this was the longest read ever! There are certain parts that you just want to skip because they are so dry.
Grisham's first work of nonfiction, an exploration of small-town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet. (This is a hardback book)
Good write.
This book is for the person who is a real mystery seeker. The type of person who would read this would like the good description the author uses. If you get confused about how the clues work, the author always pulls you back in. Would not recommend to someone who is younger than 13.
This is an attention getter, makes it hard to put down. I read this twice, and got more out of it the second time, it is so enjoyable.
Nonfiction by Grisham is quite different from his other works. Yet it describes a man who failed in baseball and accused of killing in a small town. Though the evidence is poor he is convicted by witnesses who are prisoners and junkies to a life sentence.
1982 In the town of Ada, Oklahoma, a young cocktail waitress named Debra Sue Carter was savagely murdered. Ron Williamson was charged, tried, and sentenced to death. He was skilled baseball playing and was going to be the next Mickey Mantle. He had to quit baseball due to a mental illness. The trial was littered with lying witnesses and tainted evidence that would shatter a man's already broken life and let a true killer go free. John Grisham's first work of nonfiction reads like a page-turning legal thriller. It is a book that will terrify anyone who believes in the presumption of innocence. Boring in parts, the book is a little long and could use some editing. The book shows that sometimes it is easier for the police to pick on the mentally ill then try to find the real killer. If you like real crime stories, you will want to read this one.
True story -- not typical Grisham but good.
The journalistic review of a most disturbing injustice of jailing the wrong man for murder was very interesting in the second half. There were so many purposely false steps in the prosecution that after a while I got bored with reading all of the things that went wrong. By far the most interesting part to me was the second half of the book which described the unraveling of the false accusations. The work of the Innocent Victim group of attorneys was breath taking. I also enjoyed the end of the book where the author told what had happened in the mean time to the people in the book. The most shocking was that the prosecuting district attorney in the small town is still in office.
Great book. Very enjoyable!
I did not like this book because as other reviewers have shared that he included too much informatio nad I found it hard to follow. I had a hard time finishing it.
In the town of Ada, Oklahoma, Ron Williamson was going to be the next Mickey Mantle. But on the way to the Big Leagues, Ron stumbled, his dreams broken by drinking, drugs & women. Then, on a winter night in 1982, not far from Ron's home, a young cocktail waitress named Debra Sue Carter was savagely murdered. The investigation led nowhere. Until, on the flimsiest evidence, it led to Ron Williamson. The washed-up small-town hero was charged, tried & sentenced to death - in a trial littered w/lying witnesses &tainted evidence that would shatter a man's already broken life . . . and let a true killer go free
Impeccably researched, grippingly told, filled with eleventh-hour drama, John Grisham's first work of nonfiction reads like a page-turning legal thriller. It is a book that will terrify anyone who believes in the presumption of innocence - a book no American can afford to miss.
Impeccably researched, grippingly told, filled with eleventh-hour drama, John Grisham's first work of nonfiction reads like a page-turning legal thriller. It is a book that will terrify anyone who believes in the presumption of innocence - a book no American can afford to miss.
