The Innocent Man (John Grisham) 5

John Grisham's novels might never be praised by University professors, but he is a pretty good story teller. In The Innocent Man he tells a familiar story for Grisham readers. It involves a small town crime and all of the happenings, both personal and legal that go on following it. However, The Innocent Man is not a novel, but the true story of Ron Williamson and the people he comes across in his life before, during, and following his conviction for a murder he did not commit. Grisham did a good job of letting the reader get to know the individuals involved. He did not sensationalize the villains nor did he raise up the supposed protagonists in this story. Each individual's character was portrayed as factually as he could, and the faults of those who were victims were exposed as well. There is a ton of information about the investigation and the case against Williamson in the book. Grisham and his crew seem to have done an extensive amount of research for it, and he portrayed the facts in an in depth and entertaining manner that feels almost like a novel at times. Grisham's writing did include several opinions about actions and people who he did not approve of several times, although they were never more than a sentence. Otherwise it was a very good telling of an important story for the American public to read. I came into the book knowing that it would not support the death penalty in the United States. However, I felt the book also provided a good look at how our legal system can take advantage of those with lower intellectual functioning and mental illness. I don't know if John Grisham should tackle nonfiction again, but this seems like it was the perfect real life story for him to write about.