The Innocent Man

Being stuck on a plane for ten hours within 24 is my version of an inner circle of hell. Thus I purchased a total of four emergency books, all the grey bricks of mass market, as a possible opiate -- the real book was locked in the checked luggage and too heavy in all ways for carry-on, and the spectre of being forced to watch the bad movie or reading the card with the safety features was just too formidable.

For emergency reading I choose only murder mysteries, as they are the most reliable and you cannot take a chance on being bored to tears by some "literary fiction" experiment. As well, in an emergency run through the airport bookstore, it's best to buy in bulk, or at least buy two books, just in case.

The fascinating-sounding Ruth Rendell began to have the eery air of familiarity quite early on, and then I could predict the next big clue, and then realized I'd already read it. The next, an Ian Rankin, was just too dull -- it seemed to have something of a political twist to it, which was just tedious.

Imagine my delight, then, to embark upon The Innocent Man by John Grisham. I'd forgotten all the hoopla about this book and began reading it as though it were any old murder mystery and noticed that its tone was that of an extremely well written legal brief. What a good idea! I thought, what elegance and restraint this shows.

Only later did I tumble to the fact that this is THE book, the one quite extensively reviewed and commented upon as Grisham's departure into what can be called True Crime but is better simply thought of as a terrifically well-researched look at gross injustice.

What a service he has done. What a shocking story. And sadly, at the same time, how commonplace -- you can swap out the names and places and be as easily reading the very excellent Redrum the Innocent, Kirk Makin's investigation and revelation of a similar miscarriage. In a small town it does not pay to be a bit weird, and never underestimate the sheer bloody-mindedness of bad cops.

How wonderful that Grisham should have turned his fine mind and huge audience to spotlight the terrible failures and prejudices that led a flawed but innocent man to death row.