Conviction: A Novel

One of my favorite books

Excellent book.. suspense from beginning to end.. this is like Ludlum for Lawyers.. very indepth and intimate about the workings of the legal world.

very good, touching story

read the whole book in one go!! i just couldnt put it down. absolutly awesome,if u like the auther u must read this

The horrific crime on which the novel hinges is the killing of nine-year-old Thuy Sen, whose body is found in San Francisco Bay. The medical examiner quickly ascertains that the little girl did not drown but choked to death on semen. After Thuy Sen's picture is broadcast on television, an elderly eyewitness identifies her dope-dealer neighbors Payton and Rennell Price as the killers. This story...more

The horrific crime on which the novel hinges is the killing of nine-year-old Thuy Sen, whose body is found in San Francisco Bay. The medical examiner quickly ascertains that the little girl did not drown but choked to death on semen. After Thuy Sen's picture is broadcast on television, an elderly eyewitness identifies her dope-dealer neighbors Payton and Rennell Price as the killers. This story is told in flashback after Terri Paget, who specializes in representing death row inmates, takes on the 15-year-old case, representing Rennell, who has 59 days before he is to die by lethal injection. Rennell is a hulking retarded black man whose sullen passivity inspires little sympathy in anyone. Over the next several months, Teresa comes to believe in Rennell as she fights not only to stop his execution but to prove him innocent.   hide

This was a riveting book. It was a hard read because it was so technical and there was so much law to understand. The characters were easy to like and connect with, and the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat. I think it would be a good book cclub selection because thee is so much to examine and analyze.

Wonderful insights into the interminable difficult topic of capital punishment. The plot is egregiously slanted in defense of a removal of such a sentence by questioning the integrity of the justice itself. Fantastically and well told story of a uphill struggle of a defense lawyer to protect her mentally challenged and innocent client against the grinding mechanism of death penalty whose chances...more

Wonderful insights into the interminable difficult topic of capital punishment. The plot is egregiously slanted in defense of a removal of such a sentence by questioning the integrity of the justice itself. Fantastically and well told story of a uphill struggle of a defense lawyer to protect her mentally challenged and innocent client against the grinding mechanism of death penalty whose chances of surviving is diminishing by the hour. The only thing that could be a real turn off is that the author spends occasionally way too much time on the legal aspect of capital punishment full of confusing legal verbiage.   hide

Good coverage of the death penalty debate in our country--I still support it even though the author clearly doesn't.

Talk about someone being determined to help another human being because she has the gut feeling he is innocent. This is an awesome read.