Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Raffaele's story, as told through Andrew Gumbel's taut, forceful prose, is required reading for anyone who wants to understand the institutional and human failings that drive wrongful convictions everywhere. In their haste to solve a brutal murder, police in Perugia jumped to a rash conclusion and made a public accusation. When the truth became clear - Meredith Kercher was killed by a lone assailant because she walked in on a burglary - it was too late for the authorities to back down. With the local justice system at their back, and with the help of reporters looking for a juicy story, they perpetrated a hoax that went on for almost four years. I supported Amanda and Raffaele throughout their ordeal, and I know the details of the case. What I didn't fully understand, until I read this book, was the pressure Raffaele faced from all quarters to distance himself from Amanda and save his own skin at her expense. I shudder to think how differently this story would have ended had he done that. But he did not. He took the high road, and he prevailed on his own terms. I could see, when I got involved early in 2008, that Rudy Guede committed the murder and the rest of the case was bogus. But I didn't know anything about either of the innocent defendants. I didn't realize then what I do now - that I was supporting two young people of exceptional character. This book is a gripping true story of courage and integrity pitted against ruthless power. And the good guys won.