Murder and injustice in a Small Town
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***NOW A MAJOR NETFLIX SERIES***
A gripping true-crime story of a shocking miscarriage of justice, from international bestselling thriller author John Grisham.
In the baseball draft of 1971, Ron Williamson was the first player chosen from Oklahoma. Signing with Oakland, he said goodbye to his small home town and left for California to pursue his dreams of glory.
Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits - drinking, drugs and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept 20 hours a day on her sofa.
In 1982, a 21 year-old cocktail waitress, Debra Sue Carter, was raped and murdered, and for five years the crime went unsolved. Finally, desperate for someone to blame, police came to suspect Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with murder.
With no physical evidence, the prosecution's case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence.
Ron Williamson was sent to Death Row.
But as Grisham methodically lays out, there was no case against him. Ron Williamson was wrongly condemned to die.
If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.
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In 2018, THE INNOCENT MAN was adapted by Netflix into a gripping six-part true crime series.
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'A master at the art of deft characterisation and the skilful delivery of hair-raising crescendos' - Irish Independent
'John Grisham is the master of legal fiction' - Jodi Picoult
'The best thriller writer alive' - Ken Follett
'John Grisham has perfected the art of cooking up convincing, fast-paced thrillers' - Telegraph
'Grisham is a superb, instinctive storyteller' - The Times
'Grisham's storytelling genius reminds us that when it comes to legal drama, the master is in a league of his own.' - Daily Record
'Masterful - when Grisham gets in the courtroom he lets rip, drawing scenes so real they're not just alive, they're pulsating' - Mirror
'A giant of the thriller genre' - TimeOut
Industry Reviews
A true story, very well told - a true Grisham classic * London Evening Standard *
A true story, very well told * i *
horrifying, but gripping * EVENT magazine, The Mail on Sunday *
Such strong emotions are, for me at least, the sign that a True Crime book has done a complete and comprehensive job of telling the story. I think the book will have wide appeal. Fans of John Grisham's fiction will not be disappointed and should definitely be enticed to make the move to his non-fiction. For those readers interested in the American justice system and the question of Death Row then I believe this book offers a close look into the inner machinations of that system. And for lovers of True Crime - like me, then this book is most certainly up there with some of the better ones I have read." 4 1/2 star review * TheBookbag.co.uk *
carefully plotted, absorbing * Real Crime *
