John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction, an exploration of
small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal
thriller yet.
In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the
State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland
A’s, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his
dreams of big league glory.
Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad
habits—drinking, drugs, and women. He began to show signs of mental
illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept
twenty hours a day on her sofa.
In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue
Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not
solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron
Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in
1987 and charged with capital murder.
With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk
science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis
Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was
sent to death row.
If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty,
this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book
will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair,
this book will infuriate you.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013
Audiobook "Heart of Dixie" by Tami Hoag
She was a blond goddess, a box office megastar. Every woman wanted to be
her; every man wanted to bed her. But over a year ago Devon Stafford
vanished without a trace. As a biographer, Jake Gannon had taught
himself to follow the clues of a person’s life story like a detective.
As an ex-Marine, he was accustomed to being firmly in control. But when
his car died in a little town called Mare’s Nest on the Carolina coast,
he had to admit he’d come to a dead end.
There he met a .38-toting tow-truck driver named Dixie La Fontaine. She was no celebrity, but Dixie had an irresistible sex appeal all her own. What did this down-to-earth woman know about a missing movie star? Surprisingly, quite a lot. And Jake was going to uncover it all…if Dixie didn’t end up shooting him first.
There he met a .38-toting tow-truck driver named Dixie La Fontaine. She was no celebrity, but Dixie had an irresistible sex appeal all her own. What did this down-to-earth woman know about a missing movie star? Surprisingly, quite a lot. And Jake was going to uncover it all…if Dixie didn’t end up shooting him first.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Audiobook "Martin Misunderstood" by Karin Slaughter
A darkly comic tale about Mr Less-Than-Average in an average world.
Martin Reed is the proverbial butt of everyone’s jokes. Working as a glorified accountant at Southern Toilet Supply and still living with his cantankerous mother, he has become resigned to the world in which he lives — the school bullies now pick on him in the workplace, women still spurn him and his arch enemy is now his supervisor. So when he leaves home one morning to find his car bumper hanging right off, he thinks it’s nothing more than the usual pranks his toxic colleagues like to play on him.
But everything soon conspires against Martin when he arrives at work to find the police on site, including a beautiful Dutch detective with a gold badge in one hand and a list of questions for Martin in the other. A co-worker has been brutally murdered and her body abandoned in a ditch. And the overwhelming evidence points to Martin – especially when he can’t or won’t admit that he has an alibi.
When a second victim is found in the company bathroom, things really conspire against Martin. The one bright star on his otherwise bleak horizon is the beautiful and sympathetic Detective Anther Albada, but even she’s beginning to have her doubts about his innocence. Could Martin be guilty? Or is he just misunderstood?
Martin Reed is the proverbial butt of everyone’s jokes. Working as a glorified accountant at Southern Toilet Supply and still living with his cantankerous mother, he has become resigned to the world in which he lives — the school bullies now pick on him in the workplace, women still spurn him and his arch enemy is now his supervisor. So when he leaves home one morning to find his car bumper hanging right off, he thinks it’s nothing more than the usual pranks his toxic colleagues like to play on him.
But everything soon conspires against Martin when he arrives at work to find the police on site, including a beautiful Dutch detective with a gold badge in one hand and a list of questions for Martin in the other. A co-worker has been brutally murdered and her body abandoned in a ditch. And the overwhelming evidence points to Martin – especially when he can’t or won’t admit that he has an alibi.
When a second victim is found in the company bathroom, things really conspire against Martin. The one bright star on his otherwise bleak horizon is the beautiful and sympathetic Detective Anther Albada, but even she’s beginning to have her doubts about his innocence. Could Martin be guilty? Or is he just misunderstood?
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Audiobook "Skipping Christmas" by John Grisham
Imagine a year without Christmas. No crowded malls, no corny office
parties, no fruitcakes, no unwanted presents. That’s just what Luther
and Nora Krank have in mind when they decide that, just this once,
they’ll skip the holiday altogether. Theirs will be the only house on
Hemlock Street without a rooftop Frosty; they won’t be hosting their
annual Christmas Eve bash; they aren’t even going to have a tree. They
won’t need one, because come December 25 they’re setting sail on a
Caribbean cruise. But, as this weary couple is about to discover,
skipping Christmas brings enormous consequences–and isn’t half as easy
as they’d imagined.
A classic tale for modern times, Skipping Christmas offers a hilarious look at the chaos and frenzy that have become part of our holiday tradition.
A classic tale for modern times, Skipping Christmas offers a hilarious look at the chaos and frenzy that have become part of our holiday tradition.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Audiobook "Hide" by Lisa Gardner
You have good reason to be afraid …
It was a case that haunts Bobby Dodge to this day-the case that nearly killed him and changed his life forever. Now, in an underground chamber on the grounds of an abandoned Massachusetts mental hospital, the gruesome discovery of six mummified corpses resurrects his worst nightmare: the return of a killer he thought dead and buried.
There’s no place to run …
Bobby’s only lead is wrapped around a dead woman’s neck. Annabelle Granger has been in hiding for as long as she can remember. Her childhood was a blur of new cities and assumed identities. But what-or who-her family was running from, she never knew. Now, a body is unearthed from a grave, wearing a necklace bearing Annabelle’s name, and the danger is too close to escape. This time, she’s not going to run.
You know he will find you …
The new threat could be the dead psychopath’s copycat, his protégé-or something far more terrifying. Dodge knows the only way to find him is to solve the mystery of Annabelle Granger, and to do that he must team up with his former lover, partner, and friend D. D. Warren from the Boston P.D. But the trail leads back to a woman from Bobby’s past who may be every bit as dangerous as the new killer-a beautiful survivor-turned-avenger with an eerie link to Annabelle.
From its tense opening pages to its shocking climax, HIDE is a thriller that delves into our deepest, darkest fears. Where there is no one to trust. Where there is no place left to hide.
It was a case that haunts Bobby Dodge to this day-the case that nearly killed him and changed his life forever. Now, in an underground chamber on the grounds of an abandoned Massachusetts mental hospital, the gruesome discovery of six mummified corpses resurrects his worst nightmare: the return of a killer he thought dead and buried.
There’s no place to run …
Bobby’s only lead is wrapped around a dead woman’s neck. Annabelle Granger has been in hiding for as long as she can remember. Her childhood was a blur of new cities and assumed identities. But what-or who-her family was running from, she never knew. Now, a body is unearthed from a grave, wearing a necklace bearing Annabelle’s name, and the danger is too close to escape. This time, she’s not going to run.
You know he will find you …
The new threat could be the dead psychopath’s copycat, his protégé-or something far more terrifying. Dodge knows the only way to find him is to solve the mystery of Annabelle Granger, and to do that he must team up with his former lover, partner, and friend D. D. Warren from the Boston P.D. But the trail leads back to a woman from Bobby’s past who may be every bit as dangerous as the new killer-a beautiful survivor-turned-avenger with an eerie link to Annabelle.
From its tense opening pages to its shocking climax, HIDE is a thriller that delves into our deepest, darkest fears. Where there is no one to trust. Where there is no place left to hide.
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