In the town of Ada, Oklahoma, Ron Williamson was going to be the next Mickey Mantle. But on his way to the Big Leagues, Ron stumbled, his dreams broken by drinking, drugs, and women. Then, on a winter night in 1982, not far from Ron’s home, a young cocktail waitress named Debra Sue Carter was savagely murdered. The investigation led nowhere. Until, on the flimsiest evidence, it led to Ron Williamson. The washed-up small-town hero was charged, tried, and sentenced to death—in a trial littered with lying witnesses and tainted evidence that would shatter a man’s already broken life…and let a true killer go free. Impeccably researched, grippingly told, filled with eleventh-hour drama, John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction reads like a page-turning legal thriller. It is a book that will terrify anyone who believes in the presumption of innocence—a book no American can afford to miss.

【作者简介】

约翰•格里森姆（1955— ）

美国当代著名作家。

1981年毕业于密西西比大学法学院，而后在密西西比州执业近十年，专长于刑事辩护和人身伤害诉讼。1983年当选为州众议员，任职到1990年。

自1988年出版第一部小说《杀戮时刻》以来，约翰•格里森姆每年出版一部小说。他的作品在全世界销量突破三亿册，长期居于《纽约时报》畅销榜前十名，被翻译成四十种语言，其中九部小说被改编为电影。

曾获英国图书奖终身成就奖（2007）、美国国会图书馆创作成就奖（2009）和哈珀•李法律小说奖（2011，2014）等奖项。

【译者简介】

于霄

华东政法大学副研究员，律师。译著有《在世界与我之间》、《我知道笼中鸟为何歌唱》、《正义的慈悲：美国司法中的苦难与救赎》和《誓言：奥巴马与最高法院》等。