FRAMED: ASTONISHING TRUE STORIES OF WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS.
BY: JOHN GRISHAM, AND JIM MCCLOSKEY

This was a STUNNING and meticulously researched, well written non-fiction book that John Grisham, and Jim Mcloskey masterfully recreated ten cases of heartbreaking wrongful convictions of innocent people. You can tell throughout the writing that both of these two men, who both tell of five cases each, are very passionate about their work exonerating the falsely convicted The chosen title, "FRAMED," is aptly the most perfectly way to describe how I felt as I read each story told. Making it in my opinion, a well matched moniker for this book that's BRILLIANTLY told. "FRAMED," was the word that I couldn't help thinking over, and over, as I read the details from beginning to end, that are included in this IMPECCABLY written, and GRIPPING narrative. I felt so upset as I learned about how twenty-one innocent lives were destroyed when they were truly innocent. This is the first non-fiction book that JOHN GRISHAM has written since, "THE INNOCENT MAN." He collaborated with JIM MCCLOSKEY, who is the FOUNDER of CENTURION MINISTRIES, who has devoted forty-five years of his life, tirelessly trying to overturn wrongful convictions of innocent individuals. There are hundreds of stories just like these, that sadly happened within a flawed United States Criminal Justice System that makes this book required reading by all citizens, since this book illuminates a vast amount of eye-opening experiences that shocked me. Until reading this important book, I knew that there are miscarriages of justice vaguely, but had no idea how often it happened, and that those who I've trusted to protect the population caused some of these injustices in the first place. This terrific and insightful careful examination that zeros in on ten cases impacted me from changing my vague idea of what I thought I knew, to learning about truly horrifying examples how innocent people lost so much from those who I never could have imagined possible. They are all true. This masterful well written book was so powerful that I felt a visceral reaction that I hope others will, and I will be recommending this highly to every reader in this Country, since this book deserves to reach as wide of an audience as possible. I don't know how anyone who reads these harrowing accounts, and witnesses the ten cases that these two have chosen to highlight will finish this, and not be influenced to do what they can to do their part to raise awareness. Or at the very least take these cases of useless suffering more seriously.

IT"S NOT AN EASY BOOK TO READ EMOTIONALLY, BUT IT IS A NECESSARY ONE!

John Grisham is at the top of his game, as he expertly has informed me of misconduct of those who are entrusted with power to serve justice, and have unbelievably abused it. Once I read these gripping, miscarriages of how law enforcement from detectives, prosecutors and even judges acted unethically to put it mildly, these innocent people didn't stand a chance, and once convicted how it's next to impossible to exonerate them. There are innocent lives that have been devastated in this book that I will never forget. It happens due to law enforcement in the legal community who act unlawfully, and morally that have abused their positions of power to make some of these wrongfully convicted innocent lives suffer needlessly that I will never forget. I was astounded that some lives were never the same, and how some persevered after things were as bad as it could get as their stories unfolded. The writing was so strong, yet accessible that I felt like an eye witness. I really loved this non-fiction book by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey. There are of course, other factors that contributed to wrongful convictions like prison snitches looking to gain something, false eye witnesses, perjury, etc. Thankfully, with science and advances in DNA technology, there has been nothing that I read that would suggest these ten cases have happened recently. More like years ago, but still it happened and the innocent paid and some lives were destroyed and luckily with advances in forensic science have made things improved and harder to frame innocent people. It still happens, but it's less frequent. Thankfully these heartbreaking. cases happened years ago., , Which makes me think of the second story about the High School Custodian that landed on Death Row, falsely convicted of raping and murdering the pretty High School girl. Today, socioeconomically speaking, can affect your ability to get a competent Criminal Defense Attorney
versus a Public Defender, along with Detectives with tunnel vision, could easily get someone innocent spending years incarcerated. I keep thinking of those men in the military in the first story, and I can't stop thinking how one of them was married with children, who put it behind him, juxtaposed with the one who never recovered and can't keep a steady job.

I don't want to give too much away, but both John Grisham, and Jim McCloskey are still devoting their time working on exonerating the wrongly convicted. John Grisham, I think works with both the Innocence Project, and with Jim McCloskey at the Centurion Ministries. I want to leave you with this small quote from the synopsis: "A fundamental principle of our legal system is the presumption of innocence, but once someone is found guilty there is very little room to prove guilt.''

Publication Date: October 15, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, John Grisham & Jim McCloskey and Doubleday Books--Doubleday for generously providing me with my ARC, in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#Framed #JohnGrisham #JimMcCloskey #DoubledayBooks #NetGalley
FRAMED: ASTONISHING TRUE STORIES OF WRONGFUL CONVICTIONS.
BY: JOHN GRISHAM, AND JIM MCCLOSKEY

This was a STUNNING and meticulously researched, well written non-fiction book that John Grisham, and Jim Mcloskey masterfully recreated ten cases of heartbreaking wrongful convictions of innocent people. You can tell throughout the writing that both of these two men, who both tell of five cases each, are very passionate about their work exonerating the falsely convicted The chosen title, "FRAMED," is aptly the most perfectly way to describe how I felt as I read each story told. Making it in my opinion, a well matched moniker for this book that's BRILLIANTLY told. "FRAMED," was the word that I couldn't help thinking over, and over, as I read the details from beginning to end, that are included in this IMPECCABLY written, and GRIPPING narrative. I felt so upset as I learned about how twenty-one innocent lives were destroyed when they were truly innocent. This is the first non-fiction book that JOHN GRISHAM has written since, "THE INNOCENT MAN." He collaborated with JIM MCCLOSKEY, who is the FOUNDER of CENTURION MINISTRIES, who has devoted forty-five years of his life, tirelessly trying to overturn wrongful convictions of innocent individuals. There are hundreds of stories just like these, that sadly happened within a flawed United States Criminal Justice System that makes this book required reading by all citizens, since this book illuminates a vast amount of eye-opening experiences that shocked me. Until reading this important book, I knew that there are miscarriages of justice vaguely, but had no idea how often it happened, and that those who I've trusted to protect the population caused some of these injustices in the first place. This terrific and insightful careful examination that zeros in on ten cases impacted me from changing my vague idea of what I thought I knew, to learning about truly horrifying examples how innocent people lost so much from those who I never could have imagined possible. They are all true. This masterful well written book was so powerful that I felt a visceral reaction that I hope others will, and I will be recommending this highly to every reader in this Country, since this book deserves to reach as wide of an audience as possible. I don't know how anyone who reads these harrowing accounts, and witnesses the ten cases that these two have chosen to highlight will finish this, and not be influenced to do what they can to do their part to raise awareness. Or at the very least take these cases of useless suffering more seriously.

IT"S NOT AN EASY BOOK TO READ EMOTIONALLY, BUT IT IS A NECESSARY ONE!

John Grisham is at the top of his game, as he expertly has informed me of misconduct of those who are entrusted with power to serve justice, and have unbelievably abused it. Once I read these gripping, miscarriages of how law enforcement from detectives, prosecutors and even judges acted unethically to put it mildly, these innocent people didn't stand a chance, and once convicted how it's next to impossible to exonerate them. There are innocent lives that have been devastated in this book that I will never forget. It happens due to law enforcement in the legal community who act unlawfully, and morally that have abused their positions of power to make some of these wrongfully convicted innocent lives suffer needlessly that I will never forget. I was astounded that some lives were never the same, and how some persevered after things were as bad as it could get as their stories unfolded. The writing was so strong, yet accessible that I felt like an eye witness. I really loved this non-fiction book by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey. There are of course, other factors that contributed to wrongful convictions like racism, prison snitches, false eye witnesses, perjury, etc. Thankfully, with science and advances in DNA technology, there has been nothing that I read that would suggest these ten cases have happened recently. More like years ago, but still racism is still rampart, and very much alive, which makes me think of the second story about the High School Custodian that landed on Death Row, falsely convicted of raping and murdering the pretty High School girl. Today, socioeconomically speaking, can affect your ability to get a competent Criminal Defense Attorney
versus a Public Defender, along with Detectives with tunnel vision, could easily get someone innocent spending years incarcerated. I keep thinking of those men in the military in the first story, and I can't stop thinking how one of them was married with children, who put it behind him, juxtaposed with the one who never recovered and can't keep a steady job.

I don't want to give too much away, but both John Grisham, and Jim McCloskey are still devoting their time working on exonerating the wrongly convicted. John Grisham, I think works with both the Innocence Project, and with Jim McCloskey at the Centurion Ministries. I want to leave you with this small quote from the synopsis: "A fundamental principle of our legal system is the presumption of innocence, but once someone is found guilty there is very little room to prove guilt.''

Publication Date: October 15, 2024

Thank you to Net Galley, John Grisham & Jim McCloskey and Doubleday Books--Doubleday for generously providing me with my ARC, in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

#Framed #JohnGrisham #JimMcCloskey #DoubledayBooks #NetGalley

Wow, this book will shake you and your belief in the justice system to the core. In this book, Grisham and McCloskey highlight 10 men who were wrongfully convicted of crimes that they did not commit. Some spent their entire lives in prison due to this grave injustice. As I read this book, I was literally flabbergasted when all the evidence pointed to other perpetrators - including DNA evidence - and police and prosecutors refused to look at anyone else for the crime (or re-worked their crime narrative to "make it fit"). I don't usually read nonfiction, but this was a page turner and I highly recommend it.Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance digital copy.

Crazy to think these things happen, some of the stories shared felt so unreal but I guess this is the world we live in.

Each author shares five stories of wrongful conviction and imprisonment, ten in total.

This reads like fiction. There were so many false confessions, so much ignored/destroyed evidence, so many unqualified expert witnesses, and such lazy police work. But this is real life, and the stories in 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘥 are just the tip of the iceberg.

Grisham was once a lawyer but is now a best-selling author and currently sitting on the board of both The Innocence Project and Centurion Ministries. McClosky is the founder of Centurion Ministries, the first organization dedicated to exonerating the wrongfully convicted.

Read this.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! No spoilers. Beyond amazing I enjoyed this book so very much. The characters and storyline were fantastic. The ending I did not see coming Could not put down nor did I want to. Truly Amazing and appreciated the whole story. This is going to be a must read for many many readers. Maybe even a book club pick.

Fantastically horrific. This is a must read. The flaws of the criminal justice system are outlined clearly and painfully in this collection of wrongful conviction stories. While the language and details can a bit confusing due to the law lingo, you will still find yourself captivated by this guy-wrenching, anger-inducing real-life stories.

I desperately wanted to love this book. I adore John Grisham and his writing and strongly support organizations like Centurion and the Innocence Project. I was so excited to read it!

However, I believe that formatting the book as a brief retelling of ten different stories made each of them less impactful. So many facts needed to be conveyed about each case, and in providing the necessary context, the emotional weight of each case was left behind.

I've read other books from the perspective of the falsely imprisoned person and found those to be a lot more moving. Those stories have stuck with me for many years after reading and have changed my opinion on the death penalty.

The most powerful aspect of this book is not necessarily the individual stories it tells but the way it reveals how common these gross miscarriages of justice are.

It is horrifying how frequently this happens and how so many experts who testify at trial are simply presenting junk science to the jury.

While I didn't connect emotionally with this book, I strongly believe that it is an important book for people to read to better understand how flawed the American justice system really is.

Thank you to #netgalley for this ARC of #framed

In this nonfiction account, John Grisham has paired up with Jim McCloskey, a minister and the founder of Centurion Ministries, to bring us the stories of ten wrongful convictions. If you are a fan of true crime this book is for you as you will be led through from start to finish (often decades later) through the crimes, the investigative phase, the court cases, the appeals (and appeals and appeals) and new trials. This is not an easy book to read, as their are ten different stories, each filled with a plethora of characters, including the wrongly and unfairly accused innocent victim. Add in the astonishing behavior of police, prosecuting lawyers, judges, and both star and expert witnesses, and I found I could only read one story at a time. I was overwhelmed at times feeling shock, astonishment, anger, and extreme sadness, and I had to keep reminding myself these were true stories, even if my brain did not want to believe it.

Thank you NetGalley and Doubleday Books for my DRC in exchange for my honest review.

This book has left me speechless more times than I can count. The sheer number of innocent lives impacted by these injustices is heartbreaking and enraging. Especially in light of what's happening in our country right now, I can't recommend this book enough!

This book should be required reading for anyone interested in our criminal justice system and its punishments. The stories are sad, frightening and frustrating to read. Grisham and McCloskey were intimately involved in the stories of the men and women highlighted in this book and it is apparent how they feel about the death penalty when it is used within a system of corruption and the need for power. This book serves to illustrate just how dangerous it can be to continue using it as punishment. Innocent lives taken by the government is abhorrent and even those whose I no ent lives have been taken by life sentences is egregious. It is not humane or civilized.

Good book and once again, an eye-opener to those who seek the truth. The book is well edited and just long enough. Kudos to John Grisham for getting it published.

It is truly unfortunate to live in a society where books like this shine a light on some of the injustices that occur in reality. However, this book is crucial and necessary for telling the stories of many who face the shame, consequences, and injustices while being wrongfully convicted. Framed does a wonderful job of outlining the stories of several individuals whose innocence was ignored and who were wrongfully convicted. I highly recommend this read to all willing to take their blinders of our justice system off to advocate for changes. I rate this book 20/10, though it was difficult to read.

Never having been involved in the justice process- I am not understanding how the investigators are satisfied with just closing a case. If the wrong person (s) go into the system in addition to the injustice for them and their families- the victims, families and the public are still at risk of the true perpetrators.

Just when I need to have faith in the justice system- Framed removes the veil and will not let me be disillusioned. Chapter three regarding medical examination post mortem done not for public safety but for financial gains.
My favorite part it each chapter begins with the reader know who done it. And seeing just how off base the suspects are. This is a must read for true crime fans.

This is an important book as part of an important discussion. The judicial system is not looking great in these stories. The prejudice and incompetence described is astounding.
The first part of the book reads fast and like a novel, but the stories become repetitive half way through. Every individual story is devastating, but to keep the readers attention, I think the book would have benefitted from mere editing.
Hopefully this book can be part of a larger discussion about the judicial system in America.

Thank you NetGalley for the chance to read and review this ARC.

Oh, this book.
I am so glad to see Mr Grisham turn his writerly talents to this desperately important issue. Coupled with the lived experience of Mr McCloskey, these stories, alternately told by each author, spring from the page directly into the heart of the reader. The criminal justice system has always been a travesty, and it isn’t getting better. The efforts of the folk who work for Mr McCloskey’s organization, Centurion, the Innocence Project, the Innocence Network, and others perform a highly-needed service in the cause of justice in America. The stories in this book represent a tiny fraction of the number of wrongly-convicted souls victimized by the sometimes egregious and outrageous errors made by those who would seek to rack up numbers of convictions, and seem to care much less for addressing and stopping actual wrongdoing.
It has been said that many times prosecutors and law enforcement officers focus less on finding the right answers, in favor of focusing on those cases they believe, rightly or wrongly, are able to secure a conviction. After all, if they actually addressed all criminal behavior and succeeded in wiping out crime, they would work themselves out of a job. Many times those enlisted by an unthinking public with the duty to right wrongs weirdly and inexplicably overlook obvious perpetrators, ignore leads, and even accuse those telling the truth of lying about the facts of a crime. In some cases citizens who come forward to offer assistance as eyewitnesses end up jailed and convicted of the very crimes they witnessed, because of the too-ready willingness by law enforcement to believe their own invented stories about a crime, that very often belie ready evidence and cold hard facts about a case, but instead conform to their own racist, sexist, and classist prejudices that blind them to truth.
The cases described in ‘Framed’ are important examples of the flaws in the criminal justice system. We should pursue reforms that tru,y reflect our purported reliance on innocent until proven guilty’. This would, of course, completely upend and overhaul the training and norms that are followed by law enforcement now. But until these reforms occur, we will continue to be threatened by the ravages of an unjust and dangerous mentality that places convictions above justice. And we cannot say we are ‘the land of the free’ so long as we look away and allow the unjust criminal justice process to continue.

A collection of ten stories about innocent people being found guilty of murders they did not commit. It’s easy to read in terms of writing style but difficult in terms of how corrupt law enforcement and the judicial system can be. A worthy read.

Framed is John Grisham's latest where he tells the factual stories of people who have been wrongly convicted of crimes. Through the telling of these stories we learn about how the justice system can go astray when winning instead of justice, is the objective. This non-fiction collection enumerates many miscarriages of justice, some of which are not accidental but instead are quite intentional actions by the law enforcement agents we count on to protect us.

This is an important book because having John Grisham's name on it will encourage many readers who have enjoyed his fictional outings.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of Framed in exchange for an honest review. Framed is available now.

Good read, an unbelievable, yet true stories of justice gone wrong. So many Corrupt police, judges and practices that those wrongfully convicted have little to no hope. Grisham and McCloskey have done a great job documenting these stories.

Special thanks to NetGalley for the advanced reader copy of this book. John Grisham is one of my favorite authors; one that is tried, tested and true. This book, though, was very different from most of his other books. I knew that going in and while I found the stories extremely frustrating and unjust, the whole book sort of slogged on and I found myself just trying to get through the pages vs. being engrossed in the story. I won't hesitate to read another John Grisham book, but I hope he returns to his typical writing.

Wow will this book infuriate you! Grisham and McClusky each share 10 stories of wrongful conviction. Each read more like a podcast episode so for that I enjoyed. I learned a lot and while I wish there was more of a solid resolution- what can be said other than out system is flawed?

Oh man! These powerful horrific stories call into question our justice system from the judges to the police. It is horrible to see the system that we all generally wholly believe in do the wrong thing time after time is heart breaking. This book is good but will leave you mad and how these miscarriages of justice happen.