The Innocent Man by John Grisham Review
December 11th, 2006 by admin
Because John Grisham is a best selling fiction author you may not be aware this book is a non-fiction book, his first one. I didn’t realize it was non-fiction when I got it. Because I’ve enjoyed most of Mr. Grisham’s previous books I automatically assumed this one was another fiction book.
It’s the story of Ron Williamson. His dream was to play major league baseball, a dream he thought was going to be realized when he was drafted by the one of the major league teams in 1971. But he was plagued by injuries, mental problems, and substance abuse problems.
Several years after the death of a cocktail waitress, Ron and a friend of his named Dennis Fritz were arrested and charged with murder of the cocktail waitress. Both were eventually convicted and sent to prison.
This story is sad and maddening. Through errors and misguided beliefs, these two innocent men were put in prison for crimes they didn’t commit.
Although the book can be a little dry at times because it covers a lot of legal information, John Grisham does a good job of telling the story and getting the reader to think about the fairness, or the possible lack of fairness in the justice system along with bringing up the issue of the death penalty. In this book you’ll read about real people’s lives and the anguish and agony they go through because of mistakes and assumptions of a few people in law enforcement.
My rating (0-10 smilies): 7 ☻☻☻☻☻☻☻☺☺☺