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The Wrong Guys:

Murder, False Confessions, and the Norfolk Four

"Over the past few years, I have read many stories about wrongful convictions. By their very nature, they are compelling and fascinating. The Wrong Guys might be the best one yet."

--John Grisham

 

 

"An eye-opening indictment of a myopic criminal-justice system."

--Kirkus Reviews

 

 

"A harrowing examination of wrongful convictions…. This study demands and rewards close reading and should inspire outrage."

--Booklist

 

 

"A riveting account of one of the most disturbing miscarriages of justice in recent American history. Perceptive, gracefully written, and assiduously researched, The Wrong Guys rises above the standard true-crime narrative."

--Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking

 

 

"The authors passionately relate the case of the Norfolk Four as a tragic one in which facts were not allowed to interfere with a good theory, and the justice system failed to do justice."

--Publishers Weekly

 

 

"A harrowing tale of how four innocent men were wrongly convicted by a deeply flawed legal system that failed to find the truth or dispense justice at virtually every turn. A narrative tour de force, this book may well become a true-crime classic."

--Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project

 

 

"[A] powerful book…. Engrossing…. A compelling story."

--Boulder Camera

 

 

"Tom Wells and Richard Leo are the ideal storytellers for this tale…. Travesties like this will occur until attorneys and judges come to understand that innocent people do confess. And The Wrong Guys, with its step-by-step deconstruction of one especially Kafkaesque case, is a great starting point to teach that lesson."

--California Lawyer magazine

 

 

"A compelling and appalling story."

--The Champion magazine

 

 

"A stunning story."

--Isthmus (Madison)

 

 

"The Wrong Guys is a powerful and terrifying account of one of the most extraordinary criminal justice cases ever. Lest anyone think that the problem of wrongful convictions in America has been solved, Wells and Leo's shocking account shows otherwise. A gripping story."

--Jon Gould, chair of the Innocence Commission for Virginia