Reviews tagging 'Schizophrenia/Psychosis '

The Innocent Man by John Grisham

3 reviews

lauraisabeldp's review

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

4.0


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corriejn's review against another edition

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slow-paced

3.25

I don't actually think I've read anything else by John Grisham, so can't compare style/voice/etc. to his novels; this one is a nonfiction true-crime/criminal justice system story. It's pretty straightforward and dry, nothing remarkable about the structure or how the events are conveyed. 

At times I found it a tad hard to keep straight who all was who (as it's mainly about one accused murderer, but also features a second main story of another person accused of a crime-- or... two other people? I legitimately never got it all fully sorted) plus just a lot of additional people (relatives, friends, lawyers, witnesses, others incarcerated with them, etc.) to keep track of. I got the sense that folks with the Innocence Project were actually fairly influential in these cases, but they were mentioned fairly in passing.

In short, it's not the greatest writing/storytelling; if you're interested in reading about miscarriages of justice or work to exonerate wrongly-convicted folks, I'm confident there exists more compelling coverage of those topics.

I was also not a fan of the amount of really ableist language the author used in regards to mental illness.

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lorraine19's review

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challenging dark emotional informative inspiring sad tense medium-paced

4.25

Very in-depth look into this case (along with glances into connected or similar cases) and the issues of the legal system. It also emphasizes the importance of the discovery of DNA evidence. Reads allot like a true crime documentary and draws you in frequently. That being said, some of the language is outdated in regards to mental health and race (can't really fault the author too much - it was 2006) and a little too much god talk for my liking. Bottom line, you're a true crime fan this is a must read despite my minor complaints.

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