In his first work of nonfiction, #1 New York Times bestselling author John Grisham pens an exploration of small-town justice gone terribly awry, in a book that reads like one of his fictional, page-turning legal thrillers. A gritty, harrowing true-crime story.-- Time.

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.

A gritty, harrowing, true-crime story. -- Time

A triumph. -- Seattle Times
Grisham has crafted a legal thriller every bit as suspenseful and fast-paced as his best-selling fiction. -- Boston Globe