Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12480 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08-06
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Synopsis
In 1970, Harold Stamp, a retarded twenty-year-old was convicted on disputed evidence and a retracted confession of brutally murdering his grandmother - the one person who understood and protected him. Less than three years later he is dead, driven to suicide by isolation and despair. A fate befitting a murderer, perhaps, but what if he were innocent? Thirty years on, Jonathan Hughes, an anthropologist specialising in social stereotyping, comes across the case by accident. He finds alarming disparities in the evidence and has little doubt that Stamp's conviction was a terrible miscarriage of justice. But how far is Hughes prepared to go in the search for justice? Is the forgotten story of one friendless young man compelling enough to make him leave his books and face his own demons? And with what result? If Stamp didn't murder Grace Jeffries then somebody else did...and sleeping dogs are best left alone...

Customer Reviews

Disordered Minds
Interesting characters though the plot hook is not as strong as in her other novels. Some editing would have helped as the pace of the novel is quite uneven. The climax is not so much built towards as arrived at.

Not Bad
Troubled, young man, Howard Stamp is convicted of the murder of his grandmother, Grace, in 1970. He dies in prison three years later. Anthropologist, Dr. Jonathan Hughes, is writing a book on injustice, and believes Stamp's case is worth re-examining. Local Councillor, George Gardener, also believes Stamp to be innocent.

When Hughes and Gardener meet up to discuss Howard Stamps's case, it opens up a can of worms, and links become apparent, between Stamp's case, and the disappearance of a thirteen year old school girl, a few days prior, to the murder.

This novel is pretty good, as the events of what happened back in 1970, slowly unfold, chapter by chapter. You are left guessing as to who is the murder/murderers, and their motives, throughout the book. Although, I have to admit, I thought the ending, could have been a bit more complete.

Gripping
As with all her Books, Minette excels herself. Gripping, engrossing, unputdownable!