Burned: A Story of Murder and the Crime That Wasn't (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781524742133)

Was a monstrous killer brought to justice or an innocent mother condemned?

On an April night in 1989, Jo Ann Parks survived a house fire that claimed the lives of her three small children. Though the fire at first seemed a tragic accident, investigators soon reported finding evidence proving that Parks had sabotaged wiring, set several fires herself, and even barricade her four-year-old son inside a closet to prevent his escape. Though she insisted she did nothing wrong, Jo Ann Parks received a life sentence without parole based on the power of forensic fire science that convincingly proved her guilt.

But more than a quarter century later, a revolution in the science of fire has exposed many of the incontrovertible truths of 1989 as guesswork in disguise. The California Innocence Project is challenging Parks's conviction and the so-called science behind it, claiming that false assumptions and outright bias convicted an innocent mother of a crime that never actually happened.

If Parks is exonerated, she could well be the "Patient Zero" in an epidemic of overturned guilty verdicts--but only if she wins. Can prosecutors dredge up enough evidence and roadblocks to make sure Jo Ann Parks dies in prison? No matter how her last-ditch effort for freedom turns out, the scenes of betrayal, ruin, and hope will leave readers longing for justice we can trust.

Author: Edward Humes
ISBN-10: 1524742139
ISBN-13: 9781524742133
Publisher: Dutton
Language: English
Published: 01/08/2019
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.30w x 1.10d

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 08/01/2018 pg. 61
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2018
Publishers Weekly 10/29/2018
Booklist 11/15/2018 pg. 2
Library Journal 01/01/2019 pg. 86
Shelf Awareness 01/04/2019