My first non-fiction book review. I admit, when I started this book, I didn’t think it’d capture as much as it did. Then again, you all know me by now, I love crime whether it’s books, movies or TV shows. I might’ve even considered that career field if I had the capability. Yet this book not only left me questioning the legal system but myself if I ever wanted to pursue those sorts of occupations.
We all put our faith in the criminal justice system. We trust the professionals: the police, the lawyers, the judges, the expert witnesses. But what happens when the process lets us down and the wrong person ends up in jail?
Henry Keogh spent almost twenty years locked away for a murder that never even happened. Khalid Baker was imprisoned for the death of a man his best friend has openly admitted to causing. And the exposure of 'Lawyer X' Nicola Gobbo's double-dealing could lead to some of Australia's most notorious convictions being overturned.
Forensic scientist Xanthé Mallett is used to dealing with the darker side of humanity. Now she's turning her skills and insight to miscarriages of justice and cases of Australians who have been wrongfully convicted.
Exposing false confessions, polices biases, misplaced evidence and dodgy science, Reasonable Doubt is an expert's account of the murky underbelly of our justice system - and the way it affects us all.
Thank you to Pan Mac Millan, who provided a paperback copy in exchange for an honest review. In no way does this influence my opinion.
A true crime that focuses on the injustices that some people have faced in Australia. Dr. Mallet focuses on six specific cases throughout the decades and goes in-depth with substantial evidence, confessions, and my favorite for those who aren’t too familiar with much of the legal terms—excerpts.
The capturing part about each case for me was how the victim had been brutally murdered and with much evidence to go by, the justice system still failed and put so many innocent lives away for years to come. As I write this, some might still serve their sentence. It’s aggravations to see the pattern evolving over the years and where it still comes into play today. They’re driven by their ego, racism, and corruption to ever pursue a case and free an innocent man. Not only are their lives ruined, but their families and loved ones. And the actual victim’s family who will never receive proper closure as they live in doubt of the actual murderer being out there.
The way Dr. Mallet wrote was simple but menacing. She builds up the suspense, the frustration that she feels, and influences it perfectly onto the readers. Hopefully, this way we can take charge too and research further into some of these cases. I know I did.
I noticed this book was very unbiased. That’s one thing I looked out for and was happy with the result. Mallet didn’t approach it with a determined mindset. Rather she gave it all as it is with facts, opinions, quotes, and confessions so that the reader can decide for themselves what should’ve happened and how far the justice system went to assure themselves and the community of these wrongful convictions.
It took a while to read with this book being my first non-fiction in a while, but I enjoyed every single page. I wanted to get lost in this void and truly feel what Khalid Baker, Kelvin Condren, and many more faced during all those years. There’s a lot to take away from this book. After reading this I went down a loophole of links, articles, and videos of some of these cases and others. There are so many people in the world wrongfully convicted and I find it amazing what little support can do for them.
Comentarios