Conviction: A Novel

Written by Richard North Patterson

Narrated by Patricia Kalember

When the body of nine-year old Thuy Sen is found in the San Francisco Bay, the police quickly charge Rennell and Payton Price with her grisly murder. A twelve-person jury, abetted by an incompetent defense lawyer, is nearly as quick to find the brothers guilty, and to sentence them both to die for their crimes.

Fifteen years later, overworked pro bono laywer Teresa Peralta Paget, her husband Chris, and stepson Carlo, a recent Harvard law graduate, become convinced not only that Rennell didn't receive a fair trial but that he may well be innocent. Racing against the clock and facing enormous legal obstacles, Teresa, Chris, and Carlo desperately try to stay Rennell's execution, taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court, and to an enormously moving and powerful conclusion.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
• Release date: Jan 25, 2005
• ISBN: 9780739301371

Richard North Patterson

Richard North Patterson is the author of In The Name Of Honor, Eclipse, The Spire, Exile, The Race, Degree Of Guilt, Eyes Of A Child, Silent Witness, and many other bestselling and critically acclaimed novels. Formerly a trial lawyer, he was the SEC liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor, the assistant attorney general for the state of Ohio, and has served on the boards of several Washington advocacy groups. In 1993, he retired from his law practice to devote himself to writing. His first novel, The Lasko Tangent, was the winner of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel in 1980. He is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and is a recipient of their President's Award for Distinguished Alumni. He lives in Martha's Vineyard, San Francisco, and Cabo San Lucas with his wife, Dr. Nancy Clair.

Reviews for Conviction

[schmerguls · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the fifth book by this author I have read. It tells of the effort by a skilled lawyer to try to prevent the execution of a defendant convicted of murder (along with his brother) of a nine-year old girl who died during a sex crime. Both brothers were represented by the same lawyer who did an unbelievably bad job defending . The account takes up the effort by a new lawyer after 15 years to save the mentally deficient brother. It is a tense and emotionally draining story, illustrating the impetus involved in the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act--which is a real law passed by Congress and designed to make it harder to overturn a death sentence, and which leads the prosecution to argue that innocence makes no difference..

[nyiper · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I'm so happy to discover another legal writer who has so much work for me to read! I listened to the audio version and the story is gripping as you follow the enormous efforts to provide a defense for a convicted man to prevent his death. It was exhausting to comprehend the layers and layers of complexity to get through a very tangled puzzle of law, holding out hope, again and again.

[mbergman_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I've enjoyed Patterson's other "issues" books about presidential & judicial politics in relation to abortion. This one about the death penalty is more like a traditional legal potboiler & is not as good.