Nothing grips like Grisham!
THE INNOCENT MAN
BOOK SYNOPSIS
In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A's, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league 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 in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital 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.
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.
EXTRACT
Chapter 1
The rolling hills of southeast Oklahoma stretch from Norman across to Arkansas and show little evidence of the vast deposits of crude oil that were once beneath them. Some old rigs dot the countryside; the active ones churn on, pumping out a few gallons with each slow turn and prompting a passerby to ask if the effort is really worth it. Many have simply given up, and sit motionless amid the fields as corroding reminders of the glory days of gushers and wildcatters and instant fortunes.
There are rigs scattered through the farmland around Ada, an old oil town of sixteen thousand with a college and a county courthouse. The rigs are idle, though - the oil is gone. Money is now made in Ada by the hour in factories and feed mills and on pecan farms.
Hardcover: 368 pages
RRP: £7.99
ISBN: 9780099493570
To buy the audiobook, click here.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
THE WORLD OF GRISHAM
Click here for a close-up look at the locations that have provided the backdrop to the Grisham action. Zoom in on the cities or even buildings that featured in your favourite John Grisham book - and you can add to the map with your own Grisham places of interest.
REVIEW OF THE DAY
The Last Juror
Review by Ashwini Vasudevan
The Last Juror
John Grisham style of writing actually inspires one to take up writing themselves, infact, after ...
READER'S POLL
Who is your favourite Grisham character?
Which is your favorite Grisham film adaption?
