Wendy DeCora.com

This non-fiction work by John Grisham tells the story of Ron Williamson, who was wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death. It is the story of this man’s life long struggle with serious mental illness and how the justice system failed him in every way imaginable.

Its the type of story that you couldn’t dream up if it weren’t true.

I must admit, that about a third of the way into the book itself, I got bogged down and bored with the details of everything and set the book aside while I read other things, but after I picked it back up, I couldn’t put it down. Even though I knew he was eventually released, I had no idea it would take so long or take the toll on so many people that it did. The idea of ever being in the court system is a very frightening one to me indeed.

I’m a bit behind my reading pace from last year, but this year has been my first foray into Stephen King and some of his books are a bit longer than my other fave authors. (As I type this, I can picture my copy of The Stand sitting on my bookshelf taunting me.) I ended up reading the first 250 pages of this book and then consuming the rest of it in the unabridged audiobook format during and after Thanksgiving travels. What I most enjoy about King’s novels, the way he paints the characters and their surroundings with words in a way that reads/sounds simple, yet is so detailed, is probably the reason that his tales translate to audiobook so well.

This story was a fascinating look at a person suffering through the grief of the death of her husband, while coming to terms with the sad, yet fantastic world that her husband had lived with and taken her to. The story has a few creepy moments, but it isn’t really a scary tale… haunting is probably more appropriate because the main character, Lisey, is haunted by her husband’s past.

I don’t know if I can properly put into words how the book is structured, but for me at least, the first 1/3 or so seemed confusing and a bit scattered. Upon finishing the story, I am led to believe that this was intentional as Lisey spends the book trying to remember things from the past that are so part of her in the present, such as words and phrases that her husband used, but she can’t remember the reason behind them. They are all remembered and acknowledged by the end of the story and everything makes sense.

I recommend this book.