Customer Reviews

Conviction: A Novel

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Payton and Rennel Price, brothers are charged with, convicted and sentenced to die for the horrendous sexual assault and murder of a 9 year old child. Fifteen years later, Teresa Paget and family are assigned the task of preventing the state from execution by lethal injection.

During the initial 54 days left to spare him his life, Paget uncovers mutliple issues which, taken as a whole, could very well prove his innocence. As a matter of fact, the state prosecutor responsible for prosecuting the matter on appeal concedes that if the information developed 15 years after the initial conviction had been known at the time of the original trial, the state would not have been able to get a conviction.

Therein lies the problem. The issues of politics play an ever important role in the fate of Rennell. Although the end was somewhat predictable, it in no way blunts to impact of what truly happens. The balance of the rights of victims vs. the rights of the accused coupled with politics, elections, favors etc., are at the crux of this fictional novel.

However, to view this book as merely a work of fiction, a good story,tense courtroom drama and nothing more would be to read the novel in a vacuum. No matter where one stands on the very emotional and complicated issue of state sanctioned executions, what Mr. Patterson addresses are the consequences of an imperfect system of criminal justice and the ultimate price to be paid in an imperfect system. In an imperfect system whether guilty or innocent, someone will always lose but the questions is,how much?

Richard North Patterson writes big books that deal with big issues; some have called him the voice of the American conscience. Patterson started his career as a trial lawyer. Then, when the Watergate scandal broke, he became the SEC's liaison to the special prosecutor. He is now on the boards of several Washington-based advocacy groups and his novels reflect what the agencies deal with: gun violence and torte reform (BALANCE OF POWER, 2003) and in PROTECT AND DEFEND (2000) he brought his laser-like focus to the United States's schizophrenic arguments about abortion. His newest novel, CONVICTION, shines a light on the virulent discussions and controversies that surround this country's death penalty: uncertainty, morality, inconsistency, politics, race, social class, and finality.

San Francisco attorney Christopher Paget --- who debuted in THE LASKO TANGENT, Patterson's first book --- his wife Terri, also a lawyer, and Carlo Paget, Chris's son and now a practicing attorney, take on the case of Rennell Price. He is a death row inmate who was found guilty (along with his brother Payton) of the sexual assault and murder of a nine-year-old Vietnamese girl. Fifteen years have passed since their sentencing and only fifty-nine days remain before Rennell is put to death.

Teresa Peralta Paget is a specialist in death row cases. She and Carlo begin to work with Rennell and come to the conclusion that he may not have been competent to stand trial --- he is clearly retarded and never could have helped in his own defense. Eventually, they discover that he was high throughout the proceedings and come to believe that Rennell is innocent and that another person helped Payton Price commit the unthinkable crime. That man is still at large, and a crusade for a final appeal to save Rennell is put into action.

The team has to work at breakneck speed against a mountain of precedents, the personal agendas of politicians, the weaknesses of other appellate attorneys, the machinations of the death penalty system, the judges who have a stake in not reversing death penalty verdicts, and the racial components of this case. The fact that Rennell may be innocent, or at the very least retarded, thus rendering him ineligible for the death penalty, is the least important element of the fight to save his life. In front of a very conservative judge and a smart, pro-death penalty prosecutor, the Pagets have their work cut out for them.

Terri is a mother. She has a teenage daughter who was molested and abused by her father. And one of the subplots of CONVICTION is that this case is driving a painful wedge between the two. Elena knows that her mother is fighting to save a convicted child rapist and murderer. She is furious about this and that the nature of such a case is a 24-hour-a-day commitment. Elena feels that Terri's role in these legal wranglings is not only taking time away from their relationship, but that it is also a betrayal. Despite her constant feelings of guilt, Terri will not give up her mission, because she doesn't believe that the State should put people to death, no matter what they have done.

CONVICTION is a sweeping commentary not only on the justice system but also on parenting, family responsibility, the death of innocence, and how a culture defines itself when it comes to sanctioning murder. It is the kind of book that provokes discussion. It prods the reader to look at what Patterson calls, "the bottom line ... much of the complexity [of capital punishment] reflects fundamental and passionate disagreement --- whether the principal goal of postconviction litigation is achieving finality or preventing the potential execution of the innocent. I hope that this novel does that conflict justice ... my belief [is that] popular fiction can address controversial legal, political, and social issues."

To be fair in assessing this book one must consider Richard North Patterson's personal integrity and his devout beliefs about the many injustices he perceives in the application and existence of particular laws. He has written a powerful polemic without resorting to didactics or pedantry. He does not preach; he sets a scene in motion, then allows his characters to play their parts with strength and believability.

CONVICTION is a timely and well-written book with a tightly focused plot that brings verisimilitude to the arguments on both sides of the death penalty issue. To read Patterson is to immerse oneself in intellectual arguments shaped to take readers a step beyond the mundane, to offer the opportunity to assess and reassess their own beliefs. Says Patterson: "I understand that writing about capital punishment will arouse a number of emotions in my readers, not all of them admiring." He admits that the narrative is rife with different views, but isn't that the point? Don't miss this novel. It's important, and it's a keeper.

--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum

Patterson takes on the polarizing subject of a potentially flawed capital punishment system.

Teresa Paget is a lawyer who works on death penalty cases. Her latest client is Rendell Price. Rendell has been on death row for fifteen years after being convicted, along with his brother, of sexual assault and murder of a nine-year old girl. After several meetings with Rendell, Teresa not only believes in Rendell's innocence, she believes that he is slow. She hopes that his mild retardation opens up an area for an appeal. After she and her team that includes her husband and stepson, she is convinced she knows who the guilty party to the murder is, and she pursues all courses of action all the way to the Supreme Court.

No one can accuse Richard North Patterson of sidestepping politically charged issues. Patterson gives us in-depth look into the process and machination of the legal system. The book is written with a view against the death penalty, but does gives persuasive arguments for both sides. The book at times got bogged down in legal-speak which is rather difficult for the layman to understand, but overall it was a fascinating look at the complexites of the death penalty.

I had just finished an exciting Harlen Coben book before starting this one. In contrast, this went into slow motion in part 2. It starts well, and then gives the reader the flavor of endless legal theories, documents and arguments. If you have ever read legal papers you will recognize the emphasis on process over truth and fairness. The initial proposition gets dragged out over too long a time.

The reality of a jaded judiciary is truer than most of us would like to think. Unfortunately the point is made all too slowly. Renell's last days go more slowly for us than for him.

I believe four out of the last five novels by Patterson have been overtly political, as if later in life the author is trying to do something meaningful other than entertaining the masses. With the exception of "Dark Lady," Patterson seems intent on writing political dramas full of characters spouting left of center and sometimes extreme liberal positions. I skipped Balance of Power and Protect and Defend, because I didn't deem it worth my time to hear what I felt would be an intelligent assault on my beliefs on abortion and gun control.

Patterson is one of the best authors around as his thriller/crime dramas prove, so even though he is tackling politics now, the novels are still going to be well-written. The problem is that Patterson is immediately going to alienate at least half of the country if he isn't careful. It is okay to spout liberal beliefs but Patterson must be careful not to insult conservatives if he wants to retain those fans.

Patterson succeeds only partly. Conviction is a story of Rennell Price, a man sentenced to die in a few months before the Paget family takes the case. They go through all the legal hoops required by law in order to save Price. In the process, they discover a lot of things about Price. He may be retarded or he may be innocent. But will that be enough to set him free?

Occassionally, Patterson acknowledges that the pro death penalty crowd has valid beliefs but too often you get the feeling that he has a disdain for conservatives and doesn't respect their opinions. Conviction does however do a good job of describing intelligently why people are against the death penalty. Whether it is deliberate or not, conservatives in Conviction all have ulterior motives or are extreme charicatures of real live people like Justices Scalia or Thomas.

For me, Conviction gets too technical while arguing the ins and outs of death penalty law. The scenes at the Supreme Court are somewhat interesting as we get a flavor of how opinions are rendered. Conviction, however, fails to stand out in the way previous Patterson novels did. Most of the characters are from previous novels, thus little background info is needed or given on the Pagets. Writing background has been one of Patterson's strengths, but here it is only relevant with Rennell Price and doesn't add much to the story.

In the afterward of the novel, Patterson thanks his publishers for believing there is room for novels that tackle social issues in today's market. Unfortunately, the social issue becomes the constant theme of the novel and overshadows all characters and plot. This book might as well be called "Death Penalty", because that is all that it is about. Patterson made some good points in the novel and while I'm 100% for killing murderers, I certainly would never want an innocent man to be executed. Conviction raises the possibility that this can and does happen. If that's the case then I might agree that changes should be made.

Rennell Price and his brother, Payton, were convicted and sentenced to die for a horrible crime, the murder of a nine-year-old girl who was asphyxiated by semen after being forced to perform oral sex. Fifteen years later, attorney Terri Paget takes on Rennell's case in a last ditch attempt to prevent his execution.

Patterson uses this story to paint a compelling picture of the death penalty process whereby the procedure becomes more important than the guilt or innocence of the defendant. As we move through this story, the evidence supporting Rennell's innocence moves from his own repeated declaration that "I never did that girl" to a last minute confession by his brother that Rennell was not involved, to evidence that supports Terri's conviction that a key witness against Rennell in the original court trial was the actual perpetrator of the crime.

Throughout all the twists and turns of the story, the state holds to its contention that the original trial was conducted fairly, the defendant had adequate opportunity to prove his innocence at that time, and therefore, for the sake of the victim's family, the execution should proceed, regadless of any new evidence that should be presented.

The story examines the role that race and mental retardation of the defendants play in the administration of the death penalty, and questions the competence of defense attorneys in death penalty cases. It also counteracts the image held by the public that death penalty defendants beat the rap through numerous appeals.

If the arguments against the death penalty are sometimes laid on a little strongly, that can be forgiven in that the book is clearly written as a protest against the ultimate punishment. Through the use of flashbacks, Patterson draws out the story of what actually happened the night the little girl was killed, and the sad history of Rennell Price's life.

The attorney, Terri Paget, is competent, and draws sympathy as she initially takes the case because she believes it is her job to let Rennell's story, however, horrible, be told, and then becomes emotionally invovled as her belief in his innocence develops. The back story of her and her daughter's survival as victims of sexual abuse is somewhat intrusive, however. I suppose the point was to emphasize the strength of Terri's abhorrence of the death penalty, but her failure to address her daughter's repugnance of the case and her involvement in Rennell's defence is contradictory and a needless complication. The people around Terri were merely props to aid in the telling of the story, and could easily have been dispensed with.

I also have to wonder why it never occurred to anybody to test the DNA and saliva on the carpet sample taken from the murder scene-- the use of DNA as a means of absolving Rennell is summarily dismissed because the semen from the victim's body is so degraded by her long immersion in the ocean that it cannot be tested. Yet the carpet sample does have traces of semen and saliva and certainly an attempt could have been made to capture DNA samples from those traces.

At the end, however, Patterson succeeds in bringing the focus of the story back to the place where Terri has tried all along to keep it, not on the rightness or wrongness of the death penalty, but in the person of one man, Rennell Price, who is sentenced to die for a crime he surely did not commit.

"Conviction: A Novel", while not a spine-tingling, whodunit kind of story was still a good read. For someone who questions why it takes so long to carry out the death penalty for a convicted murderer, this book is one that should be read. I found it enlightening as it describes the exhausting work of defense lawyers to overturn a sentence of death or at least have it commuted to life in prison. As one empathizes and even sympathizes with the central character, one also gets a real look at the laborious process of carrying out a death penalty.

When Mr. Patterson writes there is no doubt where he stands on important issues. This book is a wonderful example of the development of a character and the changed perception. The first hundred pages of the book paint a picture of Rennel as a generally horrible character. He certainly seemed the unrepentatant killer of a little girl. There is no doubt in my mind that Rennel deserved to die

However, as we see Rennel develop we begin to understand what actually happened. Our perception of Rennel and even his brother Peyton change and our sympathies shift. The lesson is clear that it is easy to understand how emotion can color judgement. Also there are many figures about capital punishment set forth that make it very difficult to favor this form of punishment.

Mr Patterson is a wonderful story teller but sometime the polemics block the progress of the story. Also when the Supreme Court get involved it is easy to see the Judge Scalia stand out.

A criticism is that Mr Patterson is often guilty of overwriting as well. Also the Paget family is just too good. These foibles do not really slow the progress down.

The plot is very similar but not quite as good as Reversible Error by Scott Turow which I read several years ago. If you have not read it I suggest you compare the two.

One will never find fault with Mr. Patterson's extensive knowledge of our legal system BUT sometimes it's very difficult to wade through his passionate liberal views. His last three books do take on some of the hottest topics in our political arena: abortion, gun control, and now the death penalty. Like the rest of the reviewers on this book, I'd hate to think of us killing innocent people...but like most know, the goverment and therefore our legal system can and will make mistakes. Everything is subject to human error. Yet, at the end of the day, it's all we have: a system of good intentions.
At any given moment any one of us can be at the wrong place at the wrong time, accused of something and unable to convince a juror of 12 because of racism, sexism, or even simply because they don't like you. It's scary.
However, Rennel's situation is a crack cocktail with every possible bad scenario Patterson could imagine: mental retardation, being at the wrong place at the wrong time, Racist neighbor, a drug addict attorney, a dumb brother with a 12th hour confession, and to top it off Fleet's murder.
But in a book that likes to throw our legal system's imperfections in our faces, I would've liked Patterson to toss in what he deemed are reasonable solutions.
Whatever your stance on this issue: Conviction is a good, thought-provoking read.

Being from Florida, home of Old Sparky and the state that competes with Texas for the most executions, we understand death is intimately married to politics. Historically, we KNOW Florida has execute innocent men. It's not just ancient history either: Bob Martinez began signing death warrants within hours of becoming governor, clearly an insufficient time to study individual cases. When his poor job performance showed he was in election trouble, he stepped up executions on the theory that Florida's conservatives would repay him. One execution was so controversial that it drew international attention, a case in which two white witnesses had not been allowed to testify to the veracity of the accused's alibi, that his vehicle had broken down in front of a police station! That did not give the governor the least pause.
It's been some years since I've read a Patterson novel, but the clever title caught my attention. Patterson is intelligent, erudite, and certainly plays fair with the subject. He simplifies some issues to force us to focus on his topic.
For example, the police were portrayed as honest and dedicated and the initial prosecutor did not take undue advantage. In real life, of course, prosecutors are political animals who sometimes let their own interests overshadow the interests of justice.
The novel has a few flaws; so many characters had been sexually abused that it began to wear. I was also less than satisfied with the demise of Eddie Fleet. However, Patterson is capable of powerful portrayal. For example, a small scene near the middle in which Chris Paget meets Rennell for the first time is as poignant as anything in modern fiction.
In terms of entertainment value, I would probably give Conviction 3 stars, but Patterson could have written a more entertaining book with much less trouble. That wasn't the author's goal. Instead, he takes us on a more difficult journey and hopes we garner something more than a 'good read', more like a freshman introduction to death penalty law. The journey gets 5 stars (for an average of four).