Having approached this book with an open mind (and staying with it to the end) I found this an excellent piece of work. It is often too easy to pick a title by a well known author - and expect the book to be the same as previous offerings. This was John Grisham's first non-fiction novel, and those who may have been expecting a legal fiction thriller, and bought the book in error, shoud perhaps have read the cover before complaining within their review.
I feel that the incidents and injustices described within the book do leave you with a strong sense of how legalities, the justice system and pre-judgement can spiral to the point of no-return, purely because of the egotism and self-opinions of those we place trust in.
The book was so powerful, that it compelled the prosecuting district attorney in the case, Bill Peterson, to create a website in a 'self-defence' attempt to lambaste any innacuracies within the book. This wouldn't be that funny, but all the prosecutor seems to be able to do is to pick holes in points that were not that relevant to the case, again attempting to deflect responsibility from hiself and his colleagues.
The book will shock, and leave a bitter taste, especially in view of the fact that neither the prosecutor nor those involved in this harrowing case of injustice and mistrial seem to feel it necessary to apologise for their wrongdoings. As clear a case of finding a scapegoat for a crime at any price as you will ever see, in a shallow attempt to appease a small town community.
Give it a try - I wish more non-fiction writers provoked such interest with their books.
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