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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
As said by Dennis Fritz “Am I guilty until proven innocent, or innocent until proven guilty?”
This book was well written and the depth of the corruption was mind blowing. I watched the documentary years ago that inspired my desire to read this and John Grisham did an amazing job. So many moments that hurt the heart for the injustice these men experienced.
This book was well written and the depth of the corruption was mind blowing. I watched the documentary years ago that inspired my desire to read this and John Grisham did an amazing job. So many moments that hurt the heart for the injustice these men experienced.
challenging
informative
medium-paced
A good read, although it is tough to imagine the injustice this book describes.
Wow! What an injustice for these men. What idiots in power in that small town. A gripping true story.
Surprisingly, this is my first John Grisham book! I think I will search for more of his to read after finishing this one, too!
This was a very easy and interesting read. After I watched the Netflix doc, I was turned on to this book. It is both heartwarming and incredibly frustrating. Wrongful convictions happen so often and are scary to think about! Grisham did a wonderful job exposing the detailed background of the story and the people involved and certainly did all the victims justice. Highly recommend for anyone who is at all interested in mysteries and true crime.
This was a very easy and interesting read. After I watched the Netflix doc, I was turned on to this book. It is both heartwarming and incredibly frustrating. Wrongful convictions happen so often and are scary to think about! Grisham did a wonderful job exposing the detailed background of the story and the people involved and certainly did all the victims justice. Highly recommend for anyone who is at all interested in mysteries and true crime.
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Couldn't finish this one either although I tried. I kept thinking it would get better. It was Grisham, afterall. The incompetence of the police/detectives in this small town as they tried to solve the rape cases (or not!) coupled with the Grisham's overdone characterization of the "innocent man"s self-destructive behavior were more than I could spend any more of my time with.
I enjoy John Grisham, but this was not one of my favorites. It was more based off a real life store and seemed pretty predictable. I didn't get to know the characters as much as I wished.
There's an old adage in divorce law: there's his side, there's her side and then there's the truth. That adage definitely applies to this book. I find Grisham a smug, unhappy little man who probably rolls in his money on nights when he feels especially condescending. His fiction books are all the same and his attempts at creating female characters would be laughable if they weren't so pitiful. But the idea of this book intrigued me and once I took off the dust jacket (which had his ugly, smug mug on it), I got into the book. But as I read, I knew that Grisham was exaggerating and possibly embellishing and maybe flat out lying in places. It was just a gut feeling I had. I decided to do some research on the issue and found that the prosecuting attorney has his own website with his response to this book. Again, I got the feeling that he was exaggerating and possibly embellishing and maybe flat out lying in places. Thus, I would surmise that the truth lies somewhere in the middle of the stories by these two men.
So what did happen? Well, two men who did not kill Debbie Carter were put away (one almost executed) for a long time. There were overeager police officers and prosecutors, and police who took "dream" confessions. There were other false convictions in Ada. The two men (Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz) were not wealthy and not super educated (although Fritz had been a teacher) and seemingly unaware of their legal rights. If not for the Innocence Project, both would likely have never been let out of prison alive.
The book is an interesting look at the justice system and the troubles one encounters when one tries to make things right. There are some heroes in the book--the lawyers from the Innocence Project and the initial review judge (and his clerks) who realized that there were some big mistakes in the trial. But I think the more interesting story is that of Ron Williamson. He is a picture example of a student athlete who had dreams of the big time. From what this book says, Ron got what Ron wanted his entire life...until he failed to make it in the Show. From what this book says, the man was a sexual harasser at best and a rapist at worst. I think this is almost to be expected when you raise a child and give him whatever he wants...what will happen when someone finally tells him "no"?
Ron got told "no" a lot after his baseball career failed to materialize. From what I read, he never quite believed that the dream wasn't going to happen. Even without the false conviction and long jail sentence, that is a tragedy in and of itself.
So what did happen? Well, two men who did not kill Debbie Carter were put away (one almost executed) for a long time. There were overeager police officers and prosecutors, and police who took "dream" confessions. There were other false convictions in Ada. The two men (Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz) were not wealthy and not super educated (although Fritz had been a teacher) and seemingly unaware of their legal rights. If not for the Innocence Project, both would likely have never been let out of prison alive.
The book is an interesting look at the justice system and the troubles one encounters when one tries to make things right. There are some heroes in the book--the lawyers from the Innocence Project and the initial review judge (and his clerks) who realized that there were some big mistakes in the trial. But I think the more interesting story is that of Ron Williamson. He is a picture example of a student athlete who had dreams of the big time. From what this book says, Ron got what Ron wanted his entire life...until he failed to make it in the Show. From what this book says, the man was a sexual harasser at best and a rapist at worst. I think this is almost to be expected when you raise a child and give him whatever he wants...what will happen when someone finally tells him "no"?
Ron got told "no" a lot after his baseball career failed to materialize. From what I read, he never quite believed that the dream wasn't going to happen. Even without the false conviction and long jail sentence, that is a tragedy in and of itself.