The Sun does Shine was an interesting book and provided an eye opening read. It was tragic that Anthony Ray Hinton spent 30 years of his life on death row even though the evidence pointed to his innocence . I can’t say I agreed with some of the things written by Anthony Ray. However, in writing a review, it is not my business to discuss my personal opinions on the topics addressed in this book. Rather, my focus is on whether the book was a book worth reading. The Sun does Shine will be meaningful for many. It provides a different viewpoint of capital punishment that might not have been considered before and will be of interest to those who want to know more about criminal law. Mr Ray was very thorough in sharing the details of his experience.
Three resounding themes seemed to reverberate as Mr Ray shared about his path to and from death row. The first is his emphasis that one of the primary reasons this happened was because of a racist system. The second emphasis seemed to be on expression his opinion that corporal punishment should be eliminated. And finally, Mr. Hinton shared how a criminal justice system that was incredibly complicated and in need of reform.
As I previously mentioned, I wasn’t always in agreement with the opinions expressed by Mr. Hinton. However, I was so disturbed that an innocent man spent 30 years on death row. And I have a deep respect that in spite of that he has such a great attitude. I appreciate Mr Hinton sharing his story which will be eye opening for many. I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I posted this on Amazon, BN and Good reads. However, I have not received an email yet that the reviews were posted. Thanks for the opportunity to read this book

Whatever I write in my review of this novel will not give this novel the justice it deserves. When I first started to read this novel, I wasn’t quite sure this novel was cut out for me. I didn’t want a novel that shouted injustice and cruelty at me, I wanted a novel that slowly walked me down the path towards proving their point and as I read further, I realized that this novel was doing just that and I couldn’t get Ray off my mind. I wanted to form my own opinion, I wanted to be a free thinker. As Ray walked me through his life behind bars and the ordeal that changed his life, it showed how extensive this sentence really is on an individual’s life.

Ray spent thirty years in solitary confinement for a crime he said he didn’t commit. Living on Alabama’s death row for thirty years, Ray fought behind bars for his freedom with the help of some amazing individuals. When finally released from prison, Ray was found innocent of his crimes. Ray tried to rationale with authorities thirty years ago that he didn’t commit these crimes but racial barriers and financial issues tied these crimes to Ray.

I read Ray’s story beginning with his childhood, to when he went to work, to when they charged him with the crimes, to when he went to trial, and then as they marched him off to prison. He had a been a religious man until the time he went to prison and then, he pushed God away. He later reconnected with God when a fellow inmate was going through a rough time. This is not a religious novel but this shows what type of person Ray was and how he felt about what he was going through. I liked how Ray did not wallow and blame the system for the situation he was in but rather he decided to try to make the best of it. In prison, Ray started doing research and encouraged others to fight for their rights (in a respectable manner). He started a book club in the prison to give the inmates something else to think about as life on death row was not a pleasant situation. Other inmates and the guards began to look up to Ray, to think that the morality inside this ward could improve, was amazing.

The vicious cycle Ray had to endure as his appeals were denied was discouraging and depressing. I was losing hope and I was wondering how Ray could keep his spirits up when all around him, individuals were walking “the green mile” and others were just waiting for the date when their walk would take place.

There were tears and goosebumps shed as I read this novel and I would love to read this novel again in the future. His story brought hope and peace to those who knew him and hopefully in the future, his story will bring change. I highly recommend this novel if this story is a genre that you enjoy reading.

I received a copy of this novel from St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion. I thank you greatly for sharing this title with me, it truly was a wonderful novel.

"The moral arc of the universe bends toward justice, but justice needs help. Justice only happens when good people take a stand against injustice. The moral arc of the universe needs people to support it as it bends. And yes, it also needs people to pick a side."

Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced to death for a crime he didn't commit. He spent 30 years on death row in Alabama. The prime of his life was stolen away by a broken system that is quick to convict and slow to find true justice--if it ever does at all.

The Sun Does Shine is a story of the immeasurable harm that racism still inflicts on the United States. It's a story of the dogged pursuit of justice in the face of a hopeless amount of obstacles. It's a story of hope, of friendship, and of unbelievable forgiveness.

Through gut-wrenching prose and exceptional empathy, Hinton relays the tale of his life and suffering on death row in a way that is both captivating and rage-inducing, forcing readers to realize this is all being done in our name. He leaves us with a final challenge: "The death penalty is broken, and you are either part of the death squad or you are banging on the bars. Choose."

Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2378366943

Amazon review pending.

'Justice' is a funny word. We like to talk about it. We like to claim we have an entire system geared toward it. But justice itself is an arbitrary, often subjective thing. Is it justice to take one life in exchange for another? Can we claim a system of justice exists when death row consists of mostly poor men, while wealthy killers get high-priced lawyers and rarely see a death chamber? And what about the innocent who are steamrolled by the very "justice" system meant to protect them?

Anthony Ray Hinton is a man who was caught in the labyrinth of a system that doesn't let go once it decides you're guilty. From day one, he had a solid alibi. But he was poor and he was black, and that alone greatly diminished his rights and his power to defend himself.

This is a story of a broken system. It's a story of corruption and persecution. It's also a story of hope, friendship, and love.

Hinton writes with honesty. He doesn't try to portray himself as anything other than what he is-what we all are-flawed. He puts us right there with him, so we feel what it's like to have our choices taken away, to be wrongly and harshly judged, to be locked up like a rabid animal, to be forgotten, to be killed.

This story is personal and profound, and it should be read by every single person. Hinton's story is not unique in that he is not the first innocent person to spend decades locked away, to barely escape being murdered by a system claiming to work for us, and he won't be the last. This will only stop when enough of us decide to pay attention, and that we've had enough.

On a side note, if you haven't read Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson, you definitely need to. Without Stevenson, Hinton would have been executed. His work as a death row advocate is unequaled.

This is the story of Anthony Ray Hinton, an African-American man born in Alabama in 1956. It takes about his early life and then details his arrest and trial for several crimes he didn't commit, showing the prejudice of the court and jury that led to him being convicted and sentenced to death by electrocution. Most of the book takes about his time on death row and his various lawyers and appeals processes. After 30 years on death row he received his freedom.

It was horrifying to read how corrupt and racist the people involved in his trial were. I didn't realize how poor of legal counsel those without money might receive. The purpose of the book was to help us see the terribleness of the death penalty, especially when it appears at least one out of ten death row inmates are innocent.

Ray's life and his ability to forgive and offer love and grace to others is really convicting. Hope, love, and grace are what everyone needs and we have the ability to offer it. Ray's faith and courage and attitude are inspirational.

This is a beautiful story but a difficult one to read. Anthony Ray Hinton, with the help of Lara Love Hardin and an introduction from Bryan Stevenson, tells the story of his life, most notably the 27 years he spent on death row for a crime he didn't commit. I'm fascinated, and troubled, by stories like his and those I read in Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Even if you don't share my particular interest, this is a worthwhile story to read. Anthony shares the discrimination he faced throughout his life, but also the lifelong bonds he had with his mother and best friend. Besides some understandably dark periods, he remains optimistic and in good spirits. I loved reading about the way he connected with other people in the prison, guards and inmates alike, and how his experience changed his feelings about justice for all. The book is well written, moves at a quick, engaging pace, and is ultimately hopeful.

As I write this review, I am wiping tears from my face -- tears that flowed more than once as I was reading this amazing book. It is hard to describe the gamut of emotions I felt as I followed Anthony Ray Hinton’s incredible story of having to spend 30 years on death row for a crime he didn’t commit. Disgusted, appalled, angry, outraged – none of these words seem to be sufficient in relaying my feelings towards the blatant miscarriage of justice that was described in this book as well as towards a broken criminal justice system that goes out of its way to protect corrupt, prejudiced officials who have no qualms about convicting and putting innocent people to death not based on hard evidence, but rather based on the color of their skin. Facing a system that treats “the rich and guilty better than the poor and innocent,” Hinton fought for decades to prove his innocence, encountering one setback after another, until finally, with the help of his attorney Bryan Stevenson, they were able to get the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the original conviction and grant him a new trial, after which the local district attorney in Alabama decided to drop the charges. Throughout his harrowing ordeal, Hinton was sustained by his faith in God, which helped him maintain hope, but most importantly, he was blessed with the unconditional love of his mother -- a remarkable woman who was the center of his universe and also his most steadfast cheerleader – as well as the unwavering support of his best friend Lester Bailey, who, for 30 years, never missed a single visit, driving 7 hours every Friday down to the prison to sit with Hinton and make sure he had everything he needed and also helping to take care of his beloved mother. Channeling the love he received from his family and friends, his own unique sense of humor, and also everything his mother taught him about life, Hinton was able to develop true friendships with his fellow inmates and even with some of the guards at the prison.

Hinton’s ability to forgive those who wronged him and, despite the circumstances, try to better the lives of his fellow inmates through humor and genuine compassion were nothing short of extraordinary. Most people in his situation would not have found the will to survive, but Hinton was different – his strong resolve and unbreakable spirit were essential in helping him survive the misery of his situation. Also, it must be said that I have nothing but the utmost admiration and respect for Hinton’s attorney Bryan Stevenson – an extraordinary man who has dedicated his entire life to fighting for justice and equality for those who are poor, underprivileged, marginalized. In Hinton’s case, Stevenson fought the courts tirelessly for 16 years, never giving up even when one court after another refused to admit the evidence that would exonerate Hinton, never backing down even in the face of blatant bias from the judges and prosecutors. Even now, as Stevenson continues to battle with the State of Alabama to get compensation for Hinton, it continues to be a struggle, this time with semantics, as the same inherently prejudiced bureaucratic system maintains that Hinton should not get compensated because the charges being “dropped” is not the same as an official declaration of innocence.

This is one of the most powerful memoirs I’ve read in a long time. Hinton’s story is unforgettable, inspirational, and is one that I know will stay with me for a long time to come. Since his release, Hinton has become a motivational speaker and works with Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative traveling around the world, going wherever he is invited to share his story, bringing awareness and also pushing for changes in this country’s justice system in the hopes that this doesn’t happen again to anyone. One of the saddest moments in the book was when Hinton’s mother passed away from cancer in 2002 – this was a woman who had been his rock throughout his ordeal, the love of his life, someone who meant more to him than life itself, the one person who, from the moment her son was arrested, never wavered in her belief that her most beloved baby boy would return home. A bittersweet reunion in the end, as Hinton walked out of the jailhouse finally a free man, grateful that Lester and his family were there to greet him, but also knowing that the mother he adored did not live to see that moment. Despite what Hinton went through and knowing the deeply ingrained societal struggles with racial bias in that state, Hinton still chooses to live in Alabama, in the same house that his mother worked hard her entire life in order to buy so that he would have a home to go back to. Hinton’s special bond with his remarkable mother was one part of his story that moved me deeply.

Remarkable, inspiring, eye-opening, and ultimately uplifting, this is a memoir that EVERYONE needs to read, and urgently, given what is happening in our country currently. Bryan Stevenson puts it best in the Forward to this book where he writes: “Reading [Hinton’s] story is difficult but necessary. We need to learn things about our criminal justice system, about the legacy of racial bias in America and the way it can blind us to just and fair treatment of people. We need to understand the dangers posed by the politics of fear and anger that create systems like our capital punishment system and the political dynamics that have made some courts and officials act so irresponsibly. We also need to learn about human dignity, about human worth and value. We need to think about the fact that we are all more than the worst thing we have done.”

Received ARC from St. Martin’s Press via NetGalley

The Sun Does Shine was incredibly written - my heart was broken for Ray Hinton, as he was arrested and prosecuted for a crime that he didn't commit. You very rarely hear full stories from men and women on death row because so many of them never leave except in a body bag. Ray is a special human who can make his thirty years of imprisonment and time spent on death row an experience that we can all learn from.

4.25 stars Thanks to NetGalley and St Martin's Press, and especially to Ray Hinton, for allowing me to read and review this book.
Published March 27, 2018.

I laughed, I was happy, I cried, I was sad. However to the unread observer you could never have imagined at what points in the story those feelings occurred. Or if I was possibly crying because I was so happy. This book provided an avalanche of emotion.

Anthony 'Ray' Hinton was happy living his life - caring for his mother, attending church, working a job he did not mind, and appeasing for the wrongs he had done as a young man. His only crime was being a black man in Alabama in the mid 80's. Ray was wrongly convicted of robbery and the murder of three men, with a gun that had not been fired in 25 years.

This book, written by him, was his journey through the unjust Alabama justice system, his many lawyers and appeals and his confinement for 30 years on Death Row. How many men and women are currently sitting on Death Row? By Hinton's count, in 2017, it is 976 in the United States and 1 out of every 10 is innocent.

Thanks to Netgalley for my copy.

A powerful poignant and inspirational story. To spend 30 years on death row for a crime you didn't commit is unfathomable to most people. That the evidence was so flimsy and non existent is unbelievable. Yet here we have the man that is testament to such an atrocity. His strength of character and his capacity for forgiveness is absolutely amazing.

This book is so powerful, emotionally uplifting whilst heartbreaking as well. This book will stay with me.

All the feels. If I could very quickly describe this book that is what I would say..."All the feels." This book can make you angry and hurt for this man who had such injustice. A man who was on death row for way too long; 30 years but teaches us to look at things we do have to be hopeful for and can rejoice in. There are so many messages about the world we live in within the pages of this book. I was on the edge of my seat for a lot of it and I knew the outcome before I began reading. I couldn't imagine being the mother to this man who was on death row for a crime he didn't commit. Being a mother, I tried to vision my own children in his shoes and it just broke my heart even more for him. I definitely recommend reading this one!

Heart wrenching, yet inspirational, story of a man's nearly 30 years on death row for a crime he did not commit.

The Sun Does Shine is somewhat hard to review. Seeing as the topic of this memoir is the death penalty and the story of a wrongly sentenced man, this is particularly sensitive. Also, I was born and still live in a country that doesn’t have the death penalty, so I grew up with the view that this punishment is unjustifiable. I still hold the opinion that no one is allowed to take someone’s life – not even the state. So in this review, I’ll focus on how Anthony Ray Hinton’s story got to me through his writing rather than politicise this topic.
Overall, I found this book profoundly moving. It’s always a bit difficult to review memoirs since you get an account of how things happened from the perspective of the writer. But this is why I love memoirs – the very personal story of an interesting person. The Sun Does Shine constitutes a challenge as its background was a highly disputed law case that several courts dealt with over decades -a law case that was impacted by gross dilettantism and pure racism. What Anthony Ray Hinton had to endure is almost impossible to image. How he managed to stay sane and hopeful is beyond me.
For those who don’t know, Anthony Ray Hinton was convicted of murder in the 1980s and sentenced to death. Since his arrest, he insisted on his innocence. He was on death row for almost 30 years. However, it’s not only the fact that he was unjustly imprisoned that makes his story so touching, but it’s also his account of the psychological impact that living a couple of meters away from the death chamber has on a person. The cries of grown men day and night, the suicide of other inmates, and watching the only family you walking to their death, one man after the other, leaves you speechless.
But what makes this story truly inspiring is how this man refused to give up hope, and how he managed to survive. While he was driven by fear and anger during his first years of imprisonment, he realized that hate was a choice he still had. So was hope. Instead of choosing hatred, he decided to reach out to his fellow inmates, be there for them, talk to them in their darkest hours and connect through the power of literature. He did all that regardless of the men’s history. Hinton does not sugar-coat anything, neither what some of those men did, nor how they dealt with their punishment. And yet he decided to look for some humanity in a place that intends to be utterly devoid of it.

Moreover, Hinton chose to forgive those who wanted to see him dead. Those who lied or didn’t care about his life – the life of just another poor black man. As a reader, you can’t help but be awed by this attitude. The only thing that was a bit difficult for me was the overly lengthy descriptions of the legal dispute as I didn’t understand half of it. But of course, this biography is largely about the legal injustice Hinton had to suffer from. Therefore, I know that some parts are necessary to get the big picture. I’d love to provide some great quotes, but there are just too many, so I just have to pick one:

“Remember none of us are the worst thing we have done, and right now, wherever you are, whoever you are, you can reach out to your fellow man or woman and bring your own light to the dark places.”

tl;dr Review:

One of the best books I have ever read in my life. Full of sorrow and hope, it shines a light on the death penalty that will make you want to take a stand.

Full Review:

I’ve read a lot of books in my lifetime. I go through between 2-3 books a week, barring something like my recent move to our new home. Assuming I read 2 books a week (just for calculating purposes) at that pace for 75% of the year, that’s 39 weeks and 78 books. I also started reading super young (my mom actually got pulled aside by my 1st-grade teacher because I was reading at a middle school level and the teacher was worried that I might uncover some “questionable content” LOL), but let’s say I read true novels starting at 13. I’m 30 now, so that’d be 78 books a year for 17 years, or 1,326 books.

I do all this math (which I hate, so you know it’s gotta be for a good reason) because I wanted to prove that when I say this is one of the best books I’ve ever read, that is taking into account a large number of books.

As you can see from my previous reviews, there are books I’ve enjoyed and even loved. There are plenty of books to which I’ll happily give 5 thumbs up to for how well written they are and how amazing the storytelling was in them. But it takes a lot for me to say a book is one of the best I’ve ever read.

This is one of those books.

To be honest, I’d been on a bit of a reading high lately. I’d read some pretty great books (The Flight Attendant, The Red Word, etc). So when I picked this one up to read, I had hoped it would be good, but I wasn’t going to bet the house it’d be a great book either.

The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life And Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton (with Lara Love Hardin) is about a man who was unjustly convicted of a crime he didn’t commit and how he spent 30 years on death row before he was finally freed.

As a caveat, I’ve been anti-death penalty since law school when I truly learned just how fallible our legal system could be. My focus in law school was primarily on criminal law and issues within our current criminal justice system. I mention this because it’s not that I don’t believe in punishment, I do. And it’s not that I think everyone can be rehabilitated, because I don’t. But I do believe in the words of Sister Helen Prejean:

“The profound moral question about those we condemn to death is not, ‘Do they deserve to die?’ but ‘Do we deserve to kill them?'”

The justice system is run by humans. Humans are inherently fallible. And the system was created by white men who took into account what white men fear and want to punish (don’t believe me? Here’s a piece I wrote on how women get away with murder because of it).

It’s not just who created the system, but also the fact that for every “true” murderer that we condemn to death, there’s a good chance that we’re also condemning someone innocent. One study found that one in every 25 people on death row is likely innocent. The states are supposed to represent the people.; do you want to be represented at the death of an innocent person? Do you want to be a part of a system that puts anyone innocent to death?

I won’t go on my full diatribe against the death penalty further here because that’s for another blog post at another time. But suffice it to say that this book reaffirmed my opposition to it.

It also did so much more: It gave me hope. It gave me peace. It brought me to tears multiple times.

Not only was this book so well written that I could feel the pain and anguish in my heart as Mr. Hinton suffered, but it also shined a light on how much we take for granted. This book reminded me of all that life has to offer, and how I would be selfish and silly not to go out there and do everything I could to make the most of it.

I highlighted and bookmarked the shit out of this book. There were so many passages and parts that crept into my heart or head and took up lodging there. But the quote that stuck with me the most was this:

“Every single one of us wants to matter. We want to our lives and our stories and the choices we made or didn’t make to matter. Death row taught me that it all matters. How we live matters. Do we choose love or do we choose hate? Do we help or do we harm?”

If you want a book that will leave you feeling both committed to a cause, yet uplifted in ways you never thought possible, then I highly recommend reading this book. I even recommend it to people who support the death penalty because I believe this book will have you look at it with new eyes.

In case you couldn’t already tell, I give this book a solid 5 thumbs up.

The following 4-star review was posted to Amazon and Goodreads on 4/21/18:

I received an advance copy of The Sun Does Shine, so I was able to read it a while ago, but it has taken me some time to process it. My feelings about the book are very much bound up in my feelings about the application of the death penalty in America, especially given my experience clerking in two death penalty states (when I entered private practice I left criminal law behind and never looked back). But those feelings are neither here nor there, but this isn’t a book about the death penalty, it is a very personal book about Anthony Ray Hinton.

You can pick up the U.S. Supreme Court opinion that led to Hinton’s release—I did after reading the first chapter of this book—but it will tell you very little. Hinton’s court-appointed trial lawyer screwed up. He misinterpreted the law and thought he only had a very small amount to pay for an expert. Any competent ballistics expert would have changed the result of the case, so that was that.

Hinton tells you more about the case. He had what should have been an airtight alibi—he was working overnight in a locked facility at the time one of the murders took place—but it availed him not. An acquaintance testified against him (because, according to Hinton, of bad blood related to two sisters). The prosecutor pursued him, and continued to criticize him, with an almost religious zeal. Perhaps most remarkably, Hinton asked one of his brothers for the money to pay for a decent expert. That brother refused. He makes another choice and Hinton doesn’t spend 28 years on death row.

But, again, this isn’t a book about his trial, or even really the incredibly drawn out appeals process. (If I must say something about how the death penalty works in America, it is that the process should be streamlined to avoid just this sort of thing. But there is limited appetite for that: men like Hinton get out sooner, but a lot of other men die sooner. Ok, one more thing about the death penalty and then back to Hinton: the problems with the death penalty in America are really problems with the justice system in America. Abolishing the death penalty doesn’t fix any of those broader issues.) It’s not a book about his trial or the appeals process or the death penalty, The Sun Does Shine is a book about Anthony Ray Hinton.

As such it lives and dies by his voice. And oh how that voice makes it shine. Hinton walks us through a process that sees him explore the four corners of his soul. We see his despair, his hope, his rage, his grief. We see him sustained by the incredibly love given and returned by his mother and his best friend (who, remarkably, visited him weekly in prison for decades). It is never glib, narrative conventions and pressures notwithstanding. Which leads to the difficulty writing about it. It is deep and moving and at times very funny—wholly human—an impressive enough endeavor to describe without resorting to pure adulation.

This is a book that I am so glad I read even though it broke my heart in so many places. To be false accused is the worse thing a person has to go through except living on death row for 30 years for something they did not do. It’s one that will definitely stay with you for a very long time. Everyone who believes in the death penalty should have to read this book.

Read this book and pass it to your friends.

The Sun Does Shine is as compelling an argument against the death penalty as I've ever read. Convicted of a crime he didn't commit and forced to live on death row for nearly 30 years, Anthony Ray Hinton tells a story of injustice, despair and keeping hope alive from inside a corridor of hell. Most poignant to me is when he learns to befriend and forgive the men behind the bars around him and fight for their humanity. In his time at Holman State Prison, 54 convicts were murdered by the State of Alabama. In the afterword, Hinton invites readers to contemplate a list of all the inmates currently on death row in the United States. Most of them have done terrible things, but statistically, some of them are innocent. Can we really justify sacrificing a few innocents in the name of revenge?

Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for a digital ARC. All views are my own.

This story is so well written and will most likely haunt me for a long time. It's not only a call for justice but also a call for compassion and how one survives in the darkest of times

The Sun Does Shine

Antony Ray Hinton, in a memoir of his life in prison on death row for a crime he did not commit, begins his saga in The Sun Does Not Shine when he was twenty-nine years old and chronicles its ups and downs for twenty-seven years. The book is co-written with Lara Love Hardin with a foreword by Bryan Stevenson, best-selling author of Just Mercy.

A bad joke doesn’t show up until over half the book is finished, but its truth is there from the beginning. Question: “What does capital punishment mean?” Answer: “It means a guy without capital gets punished.”

With enough evidence to have cleared him from the beginning, including the verification that he had clocked in at work before the crime began and clocked out after it was over in a place too far away to have made the trip, he is convicted. Adding a competent attorney to that evidence should have cleared Ray to live a normal life, but he is poor and black in Alabama.

Written in a style that gives a feel that Ray is sitting across from you at the table over a cup of coffee (or several considering its length), he takes you to his small bare cell with less than most of us would consider essentials. Recounting a story that goes through a range of emotions, surprisingly including a fair batch of humor, leaves one wondering at the resilience of the human spirit. I will not spoil his story by relating his coping mechanisms that thread through and add interest to the memoir.

I recommend the book to anyone interested in justice and to those, like me, who have wondered how a human being could survive in what amounts to a small cage with little or nothing to do.

Oh man, this was fantastic. Highly recommended as a book flight with Just Mercy (could read them in either order, as they approach the story from two different sides). Anthony Ray Hinton is not a perfect man, but he is sent to death row by a racially-biased judge, jury, and prosecutor for a crime he didn't commit. There is no evidence linking him to the case, the gun evidence is fabricated, and his own ballistics expert (the only one the state could afford to give his appointed attorney) is blind in one eye. Basically, it's a total clusterf*ck. Hinton is on death row for thirty years before being exonerated (this isn't a spoiler, as it's part of the introduction) and has to figure out how to live life in a small cell with death literally just a few feet from his door. This book is emotional, filled with faith, suffused with joy and hope, and just amazing on so many levels. There's an emotional hangover in it for you, if you're up for it, but even if you're not, it's worth putting on your shelf. I just couldn't put it down, couldn't stop talking about it, and couldn't wait to finish it up so I could revel in a great ending. This book will appeal to the book-lover in you as well as the justice-seeker.