Richard North Patterson’s
Richard North Patterson’s“Conviction”
earned a five-star rating from me.
This novel will take you down the road of capital punishment and the law and people who manipulate the system, sometimes not to the letter of the law and the evidence provided or uncovered at later dates, but to their own opinions on what should be or shouldn’t be to protect “the system.”
There are two main tragedies in this novel: one, the death of an innocent young girl; and two, the conviction of an innocent man, as evidence finally revealed. I do not wish to divulge the end of the story (my reason for using the word ‘conviction.’) Were I on the original jury, with the evidence that was presented to me at that time, I too may have found this man as guilty as his brother. Were I given the opportunity to serve on a second jury, if this man had been granted another trial, based on new evidence uncovered, I would never have found him guilty.
Justice comes in many different forms. It is meated out by ordinary humans who have created, studied, and who implement the laws of the land. It is good to have laws, but it is not good when those laws are manipulated to personal veiwpoints, as is the case in this novel.
However, I am not here to discuss the merits of our legal system, within any country’s boarders. I am here to review a book that touched to the very fibre of my conscience, bringing me to tears many times, and also to anger and frustration. Patterson does a great job portraying ‘the system’ and he did due diligence in his research of the law. He does admit to watering down some of the legal procedings for ‘lay people’ because it would have just been too detailed for most of us to understand all the different levels of the legal system.
Five Stars may not even be enough … see what you think after reading “Conviction.” Your, Writer on the Run pondering the system…
