The Man No One Believed by Joshua Sharpe certainly caught my attention, especially since I’m new to the area that’s the subject of the book. It was fascinating to learn about, and I appreciated the depth of research that went into telling the story.

That said, the ending left me feeling a bit let down. Not through any fault of the author, but because of the unresolved nature of the case itself. By circumstance, things remain incomplete, and as a reader I was left wanting more closure than the story could provide.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

On the evening of March 11, 1985, shots rang out inside Rising Daughter Baptist Church in Camden County, Georgia. When police arrived at the scene, they found 66-year-old church deacon Harold Swain and his 63-year-old wife, Thelma, dead on the floor of the predominantly Black church’s entryway. Though a dozen witnesses were present at the shooting, it would be over a decade before an arrest was made and even longer before the man now believed to be the killer was discovered.

Former Atlanta Journal-Constitution crime reporter Joshua Sharpe’s The Man No One Believed: The Untold Story of the Georgia Church Murders (W. W. Norton) follows the winding route to justice for the Swains, including a wrongful conviction and subsequent efforts to free the innocent man and uncover the real killer. Part true crime, part cold-case investigation and part exoneration narrative, it’s an empathetic, engrossing and tightly researched account that often disregards the bigger picture.

Sharpe’s narrative basically follows chronological order, outlining each investigator’s reasoning and blind spots as they interpret the evidence. This approach helps avoid the sensationalism and narrative manipulation that are often hallmarks of the true crime genre. However, it also scatters the narrative focus, making it difficult at times to keep track of the players and action, and it breaks up discussions of the issues that affected the case — corruption, racism, greed, professional arrogance — before they fully develop.

The text makes an effort to maintain a tone of journalistic neutrality throughout the book while noting the oversights, errors and biases of the officials involved in the case. But Sharpe doesn’t discuss ways to hold those involved accountable either for their part in the botched investigation or in future cases, despite claiming a desire to hold power to account. Nor does he directly discuss what they mean, why they matter or how they connect to broader trends and norms. He also spends very little time considering wrongful conviction and exoneration outside of the Swain case — a surprise, given the book’s title. The authorial perspective often feels muddled and cagey, as Sharpe skirts the edge of argument without quite stepping into that territory. The result is a narrative heavy on subtext but missing a clear thesis about the systems that informed the response to the case.

This is not an issue when it comes to the book’s Camden County setting and people. Sharpe, a Waycross native who grew up less than an hour from Rising Daughter, shows a distinct familiarity with and appreciation for the region and population, giving crisp, intimate descriptions of both while generally avoiding sentimentality or moralizing. Sharpe’s attention to the Swains is particularly strong. He includes plenty of details about their history and anecdotes about their family and community life that establish the depth of their loss. He’s also good at putting readers in the shoes of investigators and suspects alike, presenting clear-eyed portrayals of sometimes-unsavory people without condemning them outright. His South Georgia setting gets the same treatment. “If you were just passing through, you might think Camden County was a forgotten corner of heaven,” he writes. “But if you stayed there long enough, you’d find rot at the roots.”

That rot, Sharpe suggests, shows in the “good old boy network” behind the region’s biggest companies and the Camden County Sheriff’s Office. In the 1970s and ’80s, Camden County was part of South Georgia’s so-called “Cocaine Lane,” and Bill Smith, the department’s brash, larger-than-life sheriff, “invented a new way to make his county’s pushers work for him” by taking advantage of a Reagan-era law that allowed police departments to spend seized drug assets.
The Camden County courthouse is located in Woodbine, the county seat. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

With Smith in charge, the Sheriff’s Department was plagued with corruption rumors, and Sharpe implies that the Department had little incentive to end the steady flow of drugs and money through the region, informing the circumstances that led to the murders and their aftermath. This is plausible based on the facts as Sharpe lays them out, but he fails to adequately follow through, raising readers’ suspicions without addressing them.

For example, Sharpe mentions evidence that Dale Bundy, the cold case investigator Smith eventually assigned to the Swain case, latched on to the first potential suspect he came across in his investigation and ignored alternative possibilities. But Sharpe doesn’t describe this evidence or how this approach compared to norms within the Sheriff’s Department or elsewhere. He also notes that the investigator was a close friend of Smith’s but does not discuss how that might have affected his treatment of the investigation.

Discussions of racism’s influence on the case also suffer from this lack of follow-through. The book’s long time span — beginning in the 1980s and ending in the 2020s — lends itself to exploration of 40 years of changing attitudes toward policing and race relations. Early on, Sharpe summarizes the history of racial politics in Camden County and states that racial animus and White ignorance likely impacted the case. He peppers evidence of racism and privilege throughout the rest of the narrative. However, he neglects deeper exploration of the ways those factors might have impacted the case or changed over the years, and he never brings up systemic racism as a factor. This miss feels egregious, given the issue’s continuing dominance in the national conversation and the evolving ideas about racial justice over the decades since the murders.

Without a thesis or strong sense of perspective to give the narrative broader significance and help readers understand the bigger picture, it’s easy to close this book feeling like an expert on the Swain case but having no deeper understanding of the larger issues at play. Nevertheless, The Man No One Believed, populated with distinct characters and enough twists and turns to keep readers guessing, is worth the read.

I was torn between a 3 and 4 star. I also find it hard to criticize anyone who took the effort to write a book --especially someone who investigated and helped to get an innocent man out of prison. But I found the first parts of the book a bit disjointed. The jumping around to stories about smuggling and drug running ... you know it's going to tie in at some point, but I wish there had been a better flow to it. Maybe it was the formatting in the Advanced Reader Copy I had that added to the appearance of it being a bit jumbled --so I err on the side of a 4 star.

Having said that... I am glad I read it. And it's a story that needed to be told. I remember hearing about this case. Probably on Unsolved Mysteries. I had no idea of the fall out that happened since. What a frustrating mess of corruption. And a man lost two decades of his life because of it.

It should be required reading in police academies and law schools --says me, a former law student.

I am not normally one to read true crime stories. However, being from the area, I decided to read this one. Joshua Sharpe does a wonderful job telling of the murders as well as his break down of who was responsible. I really enjoyed how he showed the true discriminations and policies of the time of the murders. The story definitely had me turning the pages and burning the midnight light. A well written account. I received a copy through Netgalley. A review was not required.

Many thanks to NetGalley and WW Norton & Company for gifting me a digital ARC of this true crime story by Joshua Sharpe. All opinions expressed in this review are my own - 4.5 stars!

In 1985, a white man walked into a southern Georgia church and brutally murdered Harold and Thelma Swain, both pillars of the area's Black community. The killer vanished into the night and the case went cold until another officer was assigned and quickly zeroed in on Dennis Perry. Despite no real evidence, he was convicted and received a double life sentence. The author retraced the case and discovered grave injustices and was diligent in pursuing the truth.

This was such a well-written book, covering the crime and victims, but also the deeper corruption, greed, racism, and hate involved. Sharpe was a bulldog to investigate this case even when he was in danger, and tried so hard to get justice for Perry and the Swain's. Not only that, but to find the real murderer. This book shines light on how powerful journalism can be, to overtake evil.

The Man No One Believed is a fascinating look at the justice system dealing with a double homicide in Georgia in 1985. This was a long overdue story that needed to be told. Joshua Sharpe did that with Harold and Thelma Swain’s story. He highlighted issues of corruption and racial disparities in the Southern United States. It details the case of a wrongfully convicted individual, Dennis Perry, who was ultimately released from prison, while the actual perpetrator was later identified, tried, and incarcerated. Additionally, it moves beyond a mere recounting of the crime, addressing broader themes such as racism and prejudice associated with the case. The narrative acknowledges the profound impact on both the victims’ families and those connected to the wrongfully convicted man, emphasizing the lengthy and difficult process spanning over four decades.

I really enjoyed this book, as I was not aware of this crime. It was a fascinating read, and I would recommend it to all of my true-crime readers.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher, N.N. Norton & Company for the opportunity to read and review an advanced reader's copy of The Man No One Believed.

Another example of a flawed judicial system and a clear lack of initiative and motivation to find and convict the right person for a brutal crime. Joshua Sharpe did an amazing job investigating this and getting it down on paper in a way that kept the true story intriquing. Often these types of Journalistic true crime novels end up just being fact’s spewed at you on the pages and don’t focus on the true narrative of the story being shared. I really found that Joshua did a great job balancing this on the pages. Honestly such a hear breaking story to read about but one that everyone should take the time to learn about and reflect on.

The Man No One Believed is out August 5th, 2025! Thank you NetGalley, Joshua Sharpe, and W. W. Norton & Company for the ARC. This ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Joshua Sharpe delivers a riveting, deeply humane work of literary journalism that rises far above conventional true crime. Centered on the 1985 murders of Harold and Thelma Swain—beloved leaders in their Black church community in rural Georgia—and the decades-long wrongful conviction of Dennis Perry, The Man No One Believed is part investigation, part moral reckoning, and wholly unforgettable.

Sharpe reconstructs how thin evidence, small‑county politics, racial bias, and prosecutorial tunnel vision converged to put the wrong man behind bars. His reporting is meticulous yet propulsive; the book reads with the urgency of a thriller even as it peels back systemic rot layer by layer. I was especially struck by the way Sharpe weaves courtroom records, forensic missteps, and first‑person interviews into a narrative that indicts complacency as much as corruption.

What gives the book its emotional voltage is Sharpe’s compassion for everyone harmed by the crime and the miscarriage of justice that followed: the Swain family’s grief, Perry’s stolen years, a mother who never stopped believing her son, and a community divided by race and doubt. The scenes of Perry’s long wait for vindication—and the eventual unraveling of the case against him—left me gutted and grateful in equal measure.

If I had one wish, it’s that the post‑exoneration stretch were longer; after so many pages spent exposing failure, I wanted more on what accountability and repair could (or couldn’t) look like. Still, the impact is enormous. Sharpe stands comfortably alongside Bryan Stevenson (Just Mercy) and the journalistic rigor of works like Ghettoside in showing how individual stories illuminate structural injustice.

Powerful, urgent, and necessary—this is narrative journalism doing its highest work.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the gifted copy in exchange for my honest review.

Wow what a read. Heartbreaking and also maddening, this does not disappoint.
Thanks to author, publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book. While I got the book for free it had no bearing on the rating I gave it.

This book was difficult to stay engaged with. It read very slow and it was a story that could have been told in fewer pages.

*some spoilers ahead*

This is a well researched and well written account of the Georgia Church Murders. I hadn't heard of this case before reading this book, but it did an excellent job with recounting that night and retelling all of the suspected events and theories that were floating around. I'm also glad that this wasn't only a rehashing of those events, but also included a broader discussion of the racism and hate bound up in this crime. I'm sad that it took so long for Perry to get justice and to have his conviction overturned, but I'm glad it came before it was too late for him to enjoy his life. However, it's awful that there was a bigger push to free Perry than to pour the resources needed into finding the Swain's real killer. The DA's office was so frustrating, and the reluctance to free Perry and prosecute Sparre was infuriating. I'm glad that there's still some hope for the Swain family, and that there were a few people pushing for justice even when everyone else was content to let Perry take the fall and move on.

The Man No One Believed: The Untold Story of the Georgia Church Murders by Joshua Sharpe is an outstanding and powerful true crime book that tells the harrowing story of a double murder committed in a Georgia church in 1985. The victims—a prominent African American couple—deserved justice, but instead, the case became a tragic example of corruption and wrongful conviction.

Sharpe’s research is meticulous, guiding readers from the night of the murders through both the original investigation, and the deeply flawed investigation, the wrongful arrest and conviction of an innocent man, and ultimately, the hard-fought battle to exonerate him. He paints such a vivid and detailed picture that you feel like you're right there with him, sitting in on interviews and uncovering the truth piece by piece.

The book also exposes the staggering level of corruption and negligence it took for such a miscarriage of justice to occur. It’s infuriating, heartbreaking—and ultimately, hopeful.

I can’t recommend this book enough. It’s a triumph not only because the real killer was eventually found, but because the innocent man was freed, and thanks to Sharpe’s work, their stories are now known. This is true crime journalism at its best.

I received a copy to review. All opinions are my own.
This was a very well written book that covered every aspect of the crime and subsequent conviction and everything afterwards. I definitely was shocked by this case and how it was handled and it’s so important for writers and journalists to cover things like this to keep the public informed and educated. I also enjoyed the authors ties to the area and how he handled gathering the information for this book.

Joshua Sharpe writes an incredible story of a 1985 double murder, and the fight to exonerate an innocent man.

A white man walked into a South Georgia church and brutally murdered Harold and Thelma Swain in 1985. The killer vanishes into thin air. The case remained unsolved for 15 years and then one day authorities charge an innocent man. Dennis Perry received a double life sentence.

Joshua Sharpe discovers a path of corruption and injustice. Even after he hits dead ends during his investigation he finds it unacceptable. He is determined to find the truth. He eventually finds evidence to prove Perry's innocence and discovers the real killer. The real culprit is an alleged white supremacist who wasn’t shy to tell everyone he had committed the murders. I find it scary that he decided he needed to face the real murderer.

As he was fighting for justice, people that were to help with the investigation turned up dead. The local officials fought to keep Perry in prison in spite of evidence that proves he had nothing to do with the murders.

This is one of the most unbelievable books of corruption in a local community and the cover up is even more incredible. This book kept me on the edge of my seat.

THE MAN NO ONE BELIEVED by Joshua Sharpe is an absolute must-read for anyone interested in true crime—and especially those interested in learning more about cases where justice took far too long to be served.

Sharpe, an investigative journalist, was asked by a Georgia Innocence Project to look into the conviction of Dennis Perry, who was (wrongfully) convicted of the double murders of Mr and Mrs Swain. The Swains, who are black, were killed while in their country church attending a missionary meeting. Despite zero physical evidence, and the only witness statement coming from a woman who suffered from hallucinations and delusions, Perry was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to life.

It was heartbreaking to read this book in many ways. To know what Perry went through as well as the Swain family, who believed police when they were told the right man was behind bars. Much applause goes to the few investigators who knew Perry was innocent and who did all they could despite pushback to help prove it. The amount of racism, shoddy police work, and blind eyes due to politics displayed throughout this case is mind boggling.

I literally finished this book in a single day. I could not put it down. The author did a stellar job researching and investigating and I was so happy to see the outcome of his (and everyone involved… including the brave witnesses who came forward) hard work. People need to realize that something like this can happen to anyone.

Sharpe writes in a way that is easy to read and quickly become invested. Some of his descriptions, especially of the area, are at the same time so beautiful.

Many thanks to the author, the publisher, and netgalley for providing me an advanced reader copy of this title in exchange for my honest review.
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