Convicted was a very interesting read. I always enjoy a good
memoir/autobiography. I especially like how the co-authors, Jameel
McGee and Andrew Collins, write back and forth in alternating chapters
about their viewpoint of the situation. But most of all, I love that it
was a story of God's grace and healing. Who doesn't need more of that
kind of encouragement? In light of the current racial tensions in the
US, it was a blessing to read of the possibility of reconciliation and
restoration.
Both Jameel and Andrew did a great job of
taking us inside their own minds, how they were feeling at the time of
the events in the book. It was fascinating to read of their thought
processes from Jameel's arrest to his trial, incarceration and finally
to his release from prison, and then the same from Andrew. That very
thing is what's sometimes missing in a story, but Convicted delivered on that front.
The one thing that bothered me about Convicted is
that I felt that both authors nearly slandered Judge Robert Bell. I
happen to know that Judge Bell is a man of God, but it's pretty clear
from the book that neither of these men is aware of that. A meeting
with Judge Bell would have been a great way to tie up the story.
I received an uncorrected proof of this book from Waterbrook in return for my honest review.
