Μια ωραία έκπληξη από τον John Grisham.

Ένα μη μυθηστορηματικό έργο που περιγράφει την αληθινή ιστορία ενός ανθρώπου, ψυχικά ασθενή και εθισμένου στο αλκοόλ και τις ουσίες.

Η καταπάτηση των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων από το σύστημα.

Δε μπορείς παρά να νιώσεις φρίκη διαβάζοντας πόσο εύκολο είναι στη πραγματικότητα να βρεθεί ένας αθώος άνθρωπος στη πτέρυγα των θανατοποινιτών απλά και μόνο επειδή δεν έτυχε δίκαιης νομικής εκπροσώπησης και λόγω μιας σωρείας παρανομιών της αστυνομίας, της εισαγγελίας και του δικαστή.

Ένα πολυετής αγώνας και η σωματική και ψυχολογική κατάρρευση ενός ανθρώπου που στερείται τη σταθερή πρόσβασή του σε φάρμακα και ενώ είναι αθώος το σύστημα έκρινε πως αξίζει να θανατωθεί.

Somehow I've avoided Grisham up until now. Stumbling across his only non-fiction book, I was intrigued enough to jump in. I was nor disappointed. By turns fascinating and infuriating, this account of a wrongful murder conviction left me both angered and amazed. How could police, attorneys and others behave in this way? The corruption, incompetence and unfairness of a legal system that fails its poorest and most vulnerable is breathtaking. A sad indictment, and one that further answers the question of our failing trust and deference to those in positions of power. A great read.

You are great Grisham and I love you, but this was probably one of the worst books I have ever forced myself to finish.
Despite that, I want to give this book five stars for the research and relevance.

Nice try for doing a non-fiction novel though! :)

Onvan : The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town - Nevisande : John Grisham - ISBN : 385517238 - ISBN13 : 9780385517232 - Dar 360 Safhe - Saal e Chap : 2006

My second Grisham for April, and also my non-fiction read for that month (Both the Grishams I read in April, in fact, were different from his usual, the YA Theodore Boone, and this, non-fiction). The Innocent Man I guess would be classified as ‘true crime’ and this was more or less my first foray into the genre (unless Arthur and George, and Conan Doyle’s version of it counts). This book deals with the conviction of and many years spent on death row by an innocent man, Ron Williamson, of the small town of Ada in Oklahoma. Williamson as a child is an excellent baseball player and seen by most as a future star but when his career doesn’t really take off, let alone him achieving any success, he turns to alcohol, drugs and women, not being able to really even hold a job very long. He faces serious charges on more than one occasion. But in the early 1980s, his life is turned upside down when he finds himself a suspect and the accused in murder of a young waitress close to his house, a woman he’s not even met. Along with him, his friend Denis Fritz, a school teacher also finds himself a co-accused (simply for being Williamson’s friend and having taken a trip out of town with him), and on the flimsiest of evidence, and the testimony of snitches who tell any story that will get them an advantage, Ron ends up on death row and Dennis with a life sentence. In prison, Ron is fighting not only for his freedom but also his sanity, for already disturbed before he has even landed in prison, his stay behind bars drives him deeper into depression and into losing his sanity. His is not the only such case as we see, there are many innocents languishing in prison, even on death row, some from the same town because of a mix of circumstances, from inadequate legal help and financial resources to the authorities themselves, who while not as such corrupt (as one would generally understand it), aren’t much concerned with a fair trial, but more so with securing the conviction of people they believe are guilty (not necessarily based on any evidence).

This book was for me a very disconcerting read. Just the thought, no, in fact proof that, not one or two but many many innocents end up in prison, even on death row as a result of botched up investigations, poor legal aid, and trials that are far from fair, is disturbing. That there are investigators who seem to begin with ‘gut feelings’ and then towards collecting evidence or so-called evidence that can convict the person they have these feelings about (conveniently overlooking what doesn’t help them) rather than thoroughly investigating the case, and even judges who aren’t as concerned with ensuring a fair trial as they ought to be, and all this in a system which supposedly proceeds on the presumption of innocence (while in fact perhaps it is in a sense a presumption of guilt in practice)―what can this do but shake one’s faith in the system (The blurb behind my copy puts it more aptly, ‘It is a book that will terrify anyone who believes in the presumption of innocence…’). Williamson was far from the ideal person, had made many mistakes, committed crimes even; he was a mess, but did he need to suffer as much as he did because of it? The journey is no easier for the victims’ families who believe the culprits have been caught, punished only to be told that these weren’t the ones after all. What are they to believe? What if a mistake was made again the second time? How do they know? And even if the suspect's innocence is finally proved, does his or her life ever get back to ‘normal’ again? Not everyone will stop looking at them with suspicious eyes, what reparation can they get for a life that can never be ‘normal’ (besides all of what they've been put through)? While this book was about a case in the 1980s when aspects of evidence weren’t as strong or developed as today (particularly, no DNA testing), one can’t help but wonder that even this could well be botched up just as things back then, though may be in a different way. Reality can certainly be far scarier than a horror story.

The book, I thought, was well written―it certainly held my attention throughout (I have read reviews that this one is not as good as In Cold Blood but since I haven’t read that one I can make no comparisons), and yet, while I wanted to read on to see how things would turn out, there were times I just put it aside because I kept feeling so unsettled reading it. But then that was probably the point of bringing these cases before us, to show us how far from perfect this system can be and is, and how it can turn lives upside down for no reason whatsoever. For that alone, it is worth a read.

Novo izdanje je otišlo u štampu, 10 godina posle prvog objavljivanja u Srbiji... Odsad je Grišamov izdavač Kosmos izdavaštvo Beograd/Nova knjiga Podgorica
Sjajan prevod Vlade D. Jankovića... Netflix upravo prikazuje dokumentarnu seriju snimljenu po ovoj knjizi koja se bavi istinitim događajem...

“A tragic life was over, and the one who’d lived it had now gone on to better things. …He was finally free.”

I am a fan of Grisham. I will just say that off the top. I think there is only one book of his I gave a poor rating too, and that was “The Exchange,” the story that followed “The Firm” years later. I have even enjoyed his non-courtroom books, like “Sooley” and “Calico Joe.”

I read this one years ago, (it was published in 2006), and thought I had already provided a review, but apparently, I did not. So, it almost seems fitting to provide a review now, since his latest non-fiction book, “Framed” had just been released. Which I am also currently reading.

This book is his first non-fiction book. The story follows the wrongful conviction of Ronald Keith Williamson, who was tried for murder and then exonerated. Dennis Fritz, a friend of Williamson was also tried, convicted and exonerated of the same crime.

Grisham shares in his 2024 novel, “Framed” the following…

“I had never considered nonfiction – I was having too much fun with the novels – but Ron’s story captivated me. From a pure storytelling point of view, it was irresistible. Filled with tragedy, suffering, corruption, loss, near death, a measure of redemption, and an ending that could not be considered happy but could have been much worse, the story was just waiting for an author.”

Grisham’s telling of the story starts with the disappearance of their supposed victim, Debbie Carter who was later found dead at her home. Within a very short time, readers will be introduced to witnesses, relatives, law personnel and forensic experts.

Grisham’s introduction of Williamson comes by showcasing his habits that would come to the interest of the police. He does a relatively good job of allowing readers to see him as a victim of his own life and mental deterioration. Which allowed the prosecution to prey on him even more.

The story is grim with lots of narrative focused on an abusive system of “justice” and how it locked away its supposed “killers.” The descriptions of prison life were vivid and disturbing. Even if vindication is provided, would it bring peace to those who were locked away as innocent men?

This is a gripping, riveting, and compelling story with a strong focus on attention to detail. Which may or may not muddy the reading experience. Still, the story is obviously well-researched. For some readers, this story may even spark outrage for a system of justice that was clearly blind and unscrupulous.

The Author’s Note will give excellent background on Grisham’s motivation for writing this story and the people he encountered through his research.

It should be noted that this book should be titled "The Innocent MEN," since it describes 2 cases, each involving 2 men, 4 men altogether. We have the all too common and dastardly scenario of the DA's office and local police conspiring to win the case at all costs, fudging, manipulating, cheating, and tampering state's evidence, regardless of truth and justice.

But for me, such behavior on the part of law enforcement authorities is not the shocking aspect of these tragic chronicles, but the decisions made by the juries which led to the convictions. The jury of your peers is supposed to be the strength of the US justice system, and here we see the horrible consequences when it fails to do its job. Unfortunately, this element was not stressed enough in the book. It is apparent that the residents of this locale, in this case the rural town of Ada in the conservative state of Oklahoma, were unduly influenced by biblical notions of vengeful justice, preventing them from conducting a more impartial consideration of the reasonable doubt that was present in all of these cases.

Of course, the significance of these trials is bolstered by the fact that they were capital murder cases, with the death penalty looming in the background, and as any true Grisham fan knows, capital punishment is one of the issues that disturbs Mr. Grisham (see The Chamber), and which no doubt served as the main inspiration for him to get these stories out there.

I also learned of the heroic attempts of defense lawyer Barry Scheck, founder and chief advocate of the "Innocence Project," dedicated to the utilization of DNA evidence as a means to exculpate individuals of crimes for which they were wrongfully convicted (362 wrongful convictions overturned as of 2019). Apparently Mr. Scheck was not just a showboating attorney in the O.J. Simpson trial.

This book should be required reading for all secondary schools, students that someday will form the crop of potential future jurors.

So. I finished this book late last night, and since then, I've been pondering what I was going to write in this review. How did I feel about this book? I still don't know.

On the one hand, I feel like it should get a high rating from me for telling the story of how fucked up Oklahoma's justice system was, and how unrepentantly it stole years, and lives, from innocent men. For seemingly no reason. I feel like it should get all the stars for bestselling author John Grisham to have gotten that story the kind of attention it deserves, and all the light shined on it that can be.

But at the same time, I have read many other bestselling author John Grisham books, and this was arguably not one of his best written. I have read quite a few other true crime books, and this was not one of the best written of those either. It jumped around between timelines and people, could have used a bit more structure as far as the chapters and sections went, probably could have used a timeline and a "character list" to help track the plethora of lawyers, inmates, police, etc all traipsing around the story. But my main issue with this is that it read like a highschool report, with all of the immature snark one would expect when the irritated teenager didn't really care for the subject they were assigned.

And, granted, derision was warranted when it came to the "investigation" and the prosecutor, and the judge who let this travesty of a trial proceed, and the judges who upheld it on appeal, and all the other people and systems that failed or were trampled on along the way to get a conviction, with no evidence at all. But, the issue that I take with it is that it no longer feels like reporting and journalism, it feels like propaganda.

"Look how evil cruel the prosecution was" vs "this is what happened and this is why that SHOULDN'T have happened and this was how it was wrong."

I expected better from Grisham. He used to be a lawyer, and he still IS a writer, so he should be an expert at objectively explaining the facts of the case, the law and why it matters and, in this case, how the system failed these men, and do so with skill. Let the reader handle the anger and derision on behalf of these guys - you just present the facts for them. Or if you MUST include it, put it in your intro or author notes or something.

Also, it annoyed me that this was called "The Innocent Man" as though only one person had their life ruined. There were two innocent men convicted of this murder. In addition to that, two OTHER presumably innocent men were convicted in Ada, on no evidence, without even a body, of abduction and murder of another woman. And several other men were mentioned with similar stories of wrongful conviction - but Grisham decided to title this in the singular, as though the other men weren't innocent victims of injustice as well.

All that being said, it wasn't a bad book. I read it pretty quickly, though that was likely more because I wanted to know if they were going to be freed and get justice... I needed to know what would happen.

All in all, I think this book had serious flaws, but it was a story that needed telling, and so I'm not sorry it was written. This kind of thing happens all the time, still, though hopefully not QUITE so blatantly. Prosecutors are supposed to work for the people, let's not forget. If they are more concerned with their conviction rate than their accuracy, that's a problem we should all be concerned about. Not just because it could happen to anyone to be wrongfully accused and convicted - but also because that leaves real perpetrator(s) free. Free to rape, or murder, or assault or whatever, again. We should all be concerned with making sure that convictions are based on solid evidence and truth, not a desire for a quick conviction statistic.

I really became engrossed in and enjoyed reading this book, it was a a pleasant surprise on a bookshelf when I was running short of reading material ! I loved John Grisham and read his best sellers when I was in highschool, but haven’t read any of his work since then and didn’t even know he’d written a non-fiction true crime book. This story is incredible, with lots of details around the main character Ron Williamson and his false conviction and eventual exoneration with DNA evidence, but only after many years of suffering on death row. Woven in were interesting side stories of related cases, victims, criminals, lawyers, cops and their impacted family and friends.

A true story by John Grisham.
Although I did enjoy this book I felt it required editing by approximately 100 pages to avoid the tedious parts.
A very disturbing true story that is written well by John Grisham in the main but rambles on too much at times with unnecessary details and sub plots. I feel pretty sure that given a good edit I would have enjoyed this far more and awarded a higher rating.

A well written True-Crime that is easy to follow and understand. However, it is also unnecessarily repetitive and could have been shortened. Despite that annoyance, it was still incredibly interesting and I found myself not wanting to put it down.

I've heard of John Grisham many times, but learned about this particular book through the Netflix Documentary on the story. I started becoming very interested in the ways the court systems fail to protect the innocent when I watched another Netflix Documentary, Making a Murderer, which is the story of a man by the name of Steve Avery who went to prison for several years for a rape he did not commit, only to be thrown back in prison shortly after for a murder he also claims he did not commit. This story, The Innocent Man, also shows how little evidence (or none at all) it takes to put a person in prison simply because some cops had a "hunch" that it was them. It's sad how ill treated Ron Williamson was by the judicial system and infuriating how long they ignored his severely poor mental health. This is sadly one in thousands of stories about wrongfully convicted persons and something I believe is important to bring awareness to.

I appreciate Grisham going beyond his comfort zone to write this as a True Crime rather than fiction. He did a wonderful job at stating facts and leaving out his personal opinions, while still keeping it interesting.