Conviction [Hardcover]

Richard North Patterson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2005

When the body of eleven-year-old Thuy Sen is found in San Francisco Bay, the police swiftly charge Rennell and Payton Price with her grisly murder. A twelve-person jury, helped along by an incompetent lawyer for the defense, are quick to find the brothers guilty - and to sentence them both to die for their crimes. Twelve years later, Payton is days from his execution, and overworked pro bono lawyer 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's innocent. Racing against the clock and against insurmountable legal obstacles, Teresa, Chris, and Carlo desperately try and stop the execution of an innocent man. Praise for "Balance Of Power": 'Richard North Patterson has a keen eye for how Washington really works. His portrait of the gun lobby is right on - both in terms of its power and its political tactics. A must read for anyone interested in the gun debate' - Bill Clinton. '"Balance Of Power" and "Protect And Defend" stand as a remarkable project in popular fiction: an extension of the genre of the legal thriller to explore the morality and strategies of the US' greatest civic controversies' - Mark Lawson, "The Guardian". "Balance Of Power" is a rip-roaring novel ...a great read by a masterful writer' - Senator Edward Kennedy.

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After focusing on gun control and tort reform (in Balance of Power) and late-term abortion and Supreme Court nomination (in Protect and Defend), Patterson takes on the death penalty, exploring its uncertainties and injustices from the perspective of San Francisco lawyer Christopher Paget—hero of the author's first book, The Lasko Tangent—and Paget's lawyer wife, Terri. The horrific crime on which the novel hinges is the killing of nine-year-old Thuy Sen, whose body is found in San Francisco Bay. The medical examiner quickly ascertains that the little girl did not drown but choked to death on semen. After Thuy Sen's picture is broadcast on television, an elderly eyewitness identifies her dope-dealer neighbors Payton and Rennell Price as the killers. This story is told in flashback after Terri Paget, who specializes in representing death row inmates, takes on the 15-year-old case, representing Rennell, who has 59 days before he is to die by lethal injection. Rennell is a hulking retarded black man whose sullen passivity inspires little sympathy in anyone. Over the next several months, Teresa comes to believe in Rennell as she fights not only to stop his execution but to prove him innocent. It's a compelling story, but Patterson's true interest is in the legal details. He mostly succeeds at explaining the often Orwellian legal complexities of the death penalty, but the price he pays as a novelist is high. Many readers will skip over vast sections of the book, but those who stick with it will find the ending moving and come away with a greater understanding of a controversial issue.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Former trial lawyer Patterson, who has tackled such weighty issues as abortion (Protect and Defend, 2000) and the Second Amendment (Balance of Power, 2003), now turns his keen eye to the issue of the death penalty. Terri Peralta Paget has just taken the case of Rennell Price, who is on death row for the murder of a nine-year-old girl. Rennell and his older brother, Payton, were convicted 15 years ago of sexually abusing the girl and killing her in the process. But as Terri goes over the case and talks to the detective in charge of the initial investigation and the lawyer who handled Rennell's subsequent appeals, she starts to have doubts about Rennell's mental capacity and his guilt. Physical evidence placed the victim at the scene, and the prosecution's star witness, Eddie Fleet, named the brothers as her killer, but the same lawyer, an incompetent cokehead who mishandled their defense, represented both Rennell and Payton. As with his previous novels, Patterson examines a complex issue through the lens of a compelling, gripping story. Readers familiar with his characters (many of whom have appeared in his previous novels) and those looking for a powerful courtroom drama will not be disappointed. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: San Val (October 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417801131
• ISBN-13: 978-1417801138
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,696,922 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

RICHARD NORTH PATTERSON is the author of The Spire, Eclipse and fourteen other bestselling and critically acclaimed novels. Formerly a trial lawyer, he was the SEC liaison to the Watergate special prosecutor and has served on the boards of several Washington advocacy groups. He lives in San Francisco and on Martha's Vineyard with his wife, Dr. Nancy Clair.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OUTSTANDING, January 30, 2005

By 

D. LEE "dml48221" (Palo Alto, California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Conviction (Hardcover)

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?

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A timely and well-written book with a tightly focused plot, February 5, 2005

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Bookreporter (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conviction (Hardcover)

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

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling Death Penalty Legal Procedural, February 7, 2005

By 

A. Christie "bibliofiend508" (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Conviction (Hardcover)

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.