Grisham is Solid in This Truly Frightening Novel, Called "The Innocent Man

Williamson, a baseball hero from a small town in Oklahoma who winds up a dissolute, mentally unstable Major League washout railroaded onto death row for a hometown rape and murder he did not commit. Judging by this author-approved abridgment, Grisham has chosen to present Williamson's painful story (and that of his equally innocent "co-conspirator," Dennis Fritz) as straightforward journalism, eschewing the more familiar "nonfiction novel" approach with its reconstructed dialogues and other adjustments for dramatic purpose. This has resulted in a book that, while it includes such intriguing elements as murder, rape, detection and judicial injustice, consists primarily of objective reportage, albeit shaded by the now-proven fact of Williamson's innocence. The absence of dialogue or character point of view could make for a rather bland audio. Boutsikaris avoids that by reverting to what might be called old-fashioned round-the-campfire storytelling, treating the lengthy exposition to vocal interpretations, subtle and substantial. He narrates the events leading up to the 1982 rape and murder of a young cocktail waitress with a mixture of suspicion and curiosity, moving on to astonishment at the prosecution's use of deceit and false testimony to convict Williamson and Fritz and, eventually, elation at the exoneration of the two innocent men. Throughout, he maintains an appealing conversational tone, an effect made all the more remarkable by the book's nearly total absence of conversatio

"The Innocent Man" is non-fiction novel by John Grisham, which tells the story of Ronald Williamson. The main points of the novel, is how he was falsely accused of murder in Ada, Pontotoc County, Oklahoma, and also the chronicling of his mental breakdown. All beginning from his failure at becoming a major league baseball player.

Grisham in this novel, has produced a wonderful piece of work. It's frightening and riveting, in its delivery. It scares with a true narrative of the false conviction of men, who had to endure thru prison time, with out having committed a crime.

Yet, even greater than that fear inspiring portion, is the unfolding that it holds, of a man who at first was full of potential, and then falls into the deepest form of mental instability.

Grisham excels here, compared to his latest works.. because he gives us a character that resonates with a sad dark despondency, of a man going through life's hardships, without having the benefit of holding proper psychological faculties.

Not only is the story solid in content, but it strikes your heart, and delivers in a great form the tragedy of this man.