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by: Richard North Patterson
Binding: Audio CD
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780739301357
Format: Audiobook, Unabridged
ISBN: 0739301357
Label: Random House Audio
Manufacturer: Random House Audio
Number Of Items: 14
Publication Date: January 25, 2005
Publisher: Random House Audio
Release Date: January 25, 2005
Sales Rank: 816553
Studio: Random House Audio
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
In his acclaimed career as a perennial bestselling author, Richard North Patterson has established himself as one of our most important voices in fiction and a keeper of the American conscience. He consistently writes novels that are intensely dramatic and deeply thought provoking. Now, in Conviction, Patterson tackles one of the most emotional and complex of all legal debates: When, if ever, does the state have the right to exact the ultimate punishment–and is the death penalty a crime unto itself?
Fifty-nine days. That’s how long Rennell Price has to live–after spending fifteen years on death row for the horrifying sexual assault and murder of a girl whose body was found floating in San Francisco Bay. But attorney Terri Paget, who has fought her own way out of hopelessness and abuse, has dedicated her life to fighting for people like Rennell Price. This time, Terri has a client she believes may actually be innocent, which means that an unpunished killer may still be free.
“I didn’t do that little girl” is all Rennell Price has ever said in his own defense. In a trial, Rennell, along with his older brother, Payton, was found guilty of the heinous crime, and the conviction has been upheld through one appeal after another. But as Terri spends time with Rennell and re-creates the events that put him on death row–beginning with the first minutes of the police investigation–she starts to understand the forces that shaped Rennell and the reason he has never been able to defend himself adequately.
As Terri prepares for a last appeal, she gets a new weapon for her battle–fresh evidence suggesting that another man, not Rennell, helped Payton commit the atrocity. But the grim machinery of capital punishment is already in motion, involving precedent and politics reaching from California to the highest court in the nation. As more people are drawn into Terri’s last-ditch battle, and as agendas and personalities clash while time is running out for Rennell Price, this much is clear: The serious doubts about Rennell’s guilt may not be enough to save him.
Conviction raises issues of ethics, political expediency, and personal trauma that will shake readers to their core. For here, in a novel of vivid characters on both sides of the law and profound tension on every page, Patterson illuminates the mysterious precincts between justice and truth–where the fate of one man involves not only his own life and the lives he has affected but the moral life of a nation.
From the Hardcover edition.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Extremely mixed feelings about this book ...
As an attorney who has worked in criminal law, I found this book to be interesting from a technical point of view. I thought the court scenes were done quite well - the trials and the appellate arguments were exceptionally interesting (when in reality they are not). In fact, the first 100 pages were a very quick read considering how many court scenes there were.
However, this book is also exceptionally preachy, one-sided, and I think unfair to those involved in criminal prosecution. ... Read More
Rating:  - A bloated, self-important, sermonizing waste of time
There are absolutely strong arguments to be made against the death penalty and the near certainty that it has led to the government's execution of innocent men. Those arguments are totally and completely undermined by Conviction, a worthless mess of a novel that mercilessly and rabidly pounds into the poor reader Patterson's ultra-left agenda, never stopping along the way to be credible or tell an interesting story.
The world Patterson has created is one where professionals sit around ... Read More
Rating:  - Promising but ultimately preaching and biased
This book started out with a good deal of promise in the first third, but ended up falling far short of my expectations.
The story revolves around a family of lawyers who take up the case of Rennell Price, who was sentenced to death along with his brother Payton, for murdering a young girl. Price has only a few weeks left until his execution as the lawyers try to find a way to save his life, believing he is innocent of the crime. Their case rests on three claims - the first that Price ... Read More
Rating: - Hard to review without giving away the end, but I'll do my best
After I finished Patterson's last book on gun control (Balance of Power) and felt like I had been attending a lecture, I wasn't sure I would read any more of his books. I had always liked his legals thrillers, but I didn't like the preachy quality in Balance of Power. I was pleasantly surprised by the first 1/2 to 2/3 of Conviction. Although it's a derisive issue - death penalty - and there is no question on which side of the debate Patterson falls, I thought the plot was intriguing and engaging. ... Read More
Rating: - Very technical
The plot line was very similar to John Grisham's The Chamber, only this book was much more technical - lots more legal jargon. I had to skim parts because I was getting bored trying to wade through all of it. And speaking of legal jargon, the main female character was explaining legal concepts to her stepson that he should have learned on day one of law school! I realize that is the author's "tool" to explain those concepts to the reader, but it was hard for me to think it was credible that the character ... Read More
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