The Innocent Man | 
|  | | | Title: | The Innocent Man | | Author: | John Grisham | | Publisher: | Dell | | Type: | Book / Mass Market Paperback | | Publication Date: | 20 November, 2007 | | ISBN / ISBN-13: | 0440243831 / 9780440243830 | | List Price: | $7.99 | | Amazon Price: | $7.99 | |
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| Editorial Review / Publisher's Information:
Product Description
In the town of Ada, Oklahoma, Ron Williamson was going to be the next Mickey Mantle. But on his way to the Big Leagues, Ron stumbled, his dreams broken by drinking, drugs, and 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, and sentenced to death—in a trial littered with lying witnesses and 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.
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Customer Reviews:
• Sad, But True, But... 26 June, 2008
I just finished reading this today. I have to admit it took a while for me to get into it. My first impressions when I was reading the "police report-like entries" in the first few chapters were: "this doesn't sound like Grisham". So I read the blurbs and foreward and realized, "AH! It is non-fiction!" And from there my perception of the book changed. There were moments when I was sad, others when I was angry, others when I was fed-up with Ron and his inability to stay in rehab, and still other moments when I wondered if Grisham was going to be sued because of the bias towards the defendants (it turns out he is being sued!)
Regardless, I read the last words with a tear rolling down my cheek. This is not light reading, and I am thoroughly surprized by reviewers who still haven't figured out that this book is non-fiction. It is a truly sad story and gripping.
Although biased, I have researched this book as much as I could, the story line is still true. Two imperfect men were pinpointed as murderers, imprisoned for 12 years (one of them on death row), and then exhonerated. They never received an appology for their torment, never a word of regret for their misfortune. And to top it all off, the real killer was revealed but never fully brought to justice.
My only real criticism of this book is that I would have liked to learn more about the true killer. What changed in his relationship with the police with whom he was dealing drugs? What happened to him in the end?
- Reviewed by customer ID: ADZF67SLIXU9O
• An Amazing Read! 20 June, 2008
Usually, I prefer to read fiction, but I found myself hooked on this book from the opening pages. It concerns the wrongful conviction of Ron Williamson, a former baseball player, fallen on hard times, for the murder of waitress Debbie Carter.
The book gives a great insight into the small Oklahoma town of Ada, where the crime took place, and how the local police, and District Attorney, were hell bent on getting a conviction for the murder.
There is also, great detail given to the trial, and Ron's life on Death Row, but it always stays interesting, throughout. If this book was fiction, I would have found it a great read, but as it is factual, it makes even more compelling reading.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A1G7NIRU8QR7MW
• Not The Usual Grisham 01 July, 2008
I loved The Painted House and A Time To Kill but those were fiction. About halfway through The Innocent Man, I started speed-reading and finished in about 20 minutes. Maybe real people are boring?
- Reviewed by customer ID: A2FCCPB5N43KU3
• Dull 04 July, 2008
The most excruciatingly dull grisham book and the first I just can't finish. I tried over and over to get engaged in the story and the amount of boring detail just killed my interest. Don't buy this book and if you get it for free don't read it. Too many more interesting options.
- Reviewed by customer ID: A26DJA6P4RJP4B
• Solid Enjoyable Non-fiction 28 June, 2008
John Grisham is one of the most successful authors of all time. He is a machine, constantly grinding out new dramatic fiction pieces like clockwork, and he has established a fan base that will never leave him, no matter what he writes.
Grisham is an author you can trust, and when I say that I don't meant that he is someone who puts out easy work, but I mean that the majority of his stories are going to be a guaranteed compelling read.
The Innocent Man is Grisham's non-fiction work originally pulped in 2006. Grisham read a piece in the New York Times about Ronnie Williams of Oklahoma, and was intrigued by his story. So after some preliminary work, he spent the next 18 months digging through the Ron Williams history, which included interviews with family, law enforcement, and going over the case transcripts and much more work for this book. And how an author who comes out with a best seller every year has time to research this story for 18 months is beyond this blogger's imagination. Either Grisham has a clone or he is a serious workaholic.
The book is a good read. The name can tell you what it is about, and after the first five chapters or so, you figure out who is going to take the fall for a crime that they didn't commit (If your like me and have no knowledge of the actual story which made national news). There are some fairly gruesome details about an actual murder, but it is not any worse than anything you would see on a legal drama on broadcast TV these days.
The injustice of a small town justice system is the theme, and the victim is bounced around without being given a fair chance. This book shows how an innocent man can be set up to fall due to bad police work, a bad public defender and a home town judge who wants to get reelected. For example, the `Innocent Man' is given a public defender that is blind, and can't dispute any of the shoddy physical evidence that is brought before the trial.
Now this isn't like the TV series, The Fugitive, where the main character is squeaky clean and easy to relate to. This Innocent Man has a shady history with some serious character flaws and mental health issues, but the fact still remains that he was sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit.
This book is enjoyable if you are a true crime fan, you are a fan of the author, or if you just like a good legal drama, as this reads just as good as any legal fiction that is put out.
And a fair warning for readers of the paper back version (the hardback version may be the same, I don't know) but the pictures inserted into the middle of the book reveal the ending of the book, so don't look them over if you don't want to know what happens. They're not huge spoilers, but they are big enough.
- Reviewed by customer ID: ANCUOKFJOQ4CS
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