Book Review By Jack Smith
Whatever side you choose to support concerning the “Death Penalty,“ the facts are that with the advent of Innocence Lawyer groups, hundreds of prisoners have been exonerated in the past ten years. Based on true accounts, Grisham’s main character is just such a lawyer but also an Episcopal priest named Cullen Post. Post works for a nonprofit group that devotes its time and limited resources to try to free prisoners who they believe are innocent. The story focuses on Post’s investigation into the wrongful conviction of a black man named Quincy Miller who was set up to take the fall for the murder of a white lawyer in a small Florida town some twenty-two years ago. It’s fairly easy to convict an innocent man and virtually impossible to exonerate one. Post acknowledges that most of the prisoners who contact their group are, in fact, guilty, but it’s the others who have become his vocation. It’s worth noting that Grisham is a board member of the Innocence Project.
