I think an author is allowed to express personal opinions in his creative work. Honestly if you do not want to hear about the death penalty then do not read a book about a convicted innocent man.

My point is not that he is not allowed to express an opinion, my point is the opinion is expressed with all the finesse of a baseball bat. I don't care what the author's personal opinions are, that's his business. But I DO care if their writing craft devolves because they are idiotically butthurt about something and they can't sustain their craft because they are trying to pound you into submission. Tell me anything you like, just don't tell it to me with the delicacy of the Jerry Springer show.

I totally disagree with you, Molly. I thought this was one of Grisham's finest. You're right about the baseball ball. I physically ached at the imprisonment and death of an innocent man.

I was concerned about that but just as much for the demonized mother. Life isn't black and white. Because the death penalty may be flawed it does not follow that everyone around an unjustly condemned man is evil. It is a McDonald's level argument, and it actually made me care less about the innocent man. What was TRULY important was the victim. And the victim was just a prop in this book. I ached for her, not really anyone else.

From what I have been reading its focus is about how to save an innocent man before he dies. I love the twists and turns and the fact that no other lawyer wanted to touch the case flak steps up and gives his all to prove that the state is fixing to execute and innocent man.

You may not be aware that the Texas Court of Criminal appeals is just as described, including the judge refusing to stay open even 1 minute after 5 despite being called about an appeal. Also, Dallas County DOES have the highest number of DNA exonerations. After living in East Texas for much of my adult life, I can assure you that the racism is not exaggerated. I would like to think that the football team at Longview would behave so honorably. I can assure you that our governor has behaved just like the one created here, including refusing to stay the execution of someone ( not quite as sympathetic as Donte) where there was concern about the experts that were responsible for his conviction. When a panel was created to investigate, he fired the chair and added one of his cronies. That governor is Rick Perry- the recent presidential candidate that was confused on many issues.

I did not call into question the realities of the book. I called into question the bias, the writing quality, and the hatred towards the true victims exhibited in this "book".

Molly I see your point, but I think the reason Grisham portrayed the murdered girl's mother the way he did was to show just how easy it is to believe an untruth. She invested everything she had into hating Donte because she truly believed that he murdered her daughter. Then after she found out the truth, she felt victimized, by the detective, the media, and everyone. I felt sorry for her, but not as much as for Donte.

I would be more in agreement with your thinking if Grisham had simply portrayed the victim's mother as mourning and hoodwinked. He did not. He portrayed her as a foul, attention-grabbing hypocrite who was thoroughly repulsive in every way. Also if the point of her portrayal was to show how easy it is for us all to be conned by our evil legal system, then he would have had closure with her character, not a jubilant SO THERE in her face.