Thunder Dog by Michael Hingson with Susy Flory 4

 

"So blind people are still able-bodied, with full command of their intelligence and abilities; they just use alternative techniques on their journey through life. And sometimes those techniques can even be superior to the techniques of light-dependent people."   -Michael Hingson

The subtitle of this book is almost a summary: The True Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero. I can't say I really enjoyed this book, but I was educated by it. For that reason I gave it a 4 rating. Thunder Dog was chosen as our book club's March selection by a member who is blind and has a guide dog. I really look forward to hearing what she has to say about the book.

Author Michael Hingson was on the 78th floor of the World Trade Center, north tower, at 8:46 AM on September 11, 2001, that day that lives in infamy. The reader who experienced that terrorist attack only through television gets an up-close and personal perspective of the horror through Hingson's account. And it is so interesting to know the teamwork that helped him and his dog, Roselle, to survive an event that so many others did not.

I thought Hingson was a bit arrogant, but I guess his intelligence and self-confidence served him well, along with others he helped and encouraged. Roselle was very likeable!

Though it wasn't particularly entertaining, I am glad I read the book.

Bone Valley by Gilbert King 5

 

"This isn't simply a story about guilt or innocence. It's about what happens when the legal system locks itself into a version of events and refuses to let go, even when the facts no longer support it. Sometimes an injustice isn't the result of prosecutorial oversight, or bias. Sometimes it's something else---a calculated series of choices: quiet, deliberate, and capable of destroying a life."

    -Gilbert King, from the Prologue

This a true story of the worst travesty of justice I've ever known. In Lakeland, Florida,1988, 22-year-old Leo Schofield was accused of killing his 18-year-old wife, Michelle. He declared his innocence from the very beginning. He had an unprepared defense attorney, and they faced an unethical, or worse, prosecutor. The investigation was shoddy, critical evidence was ignored and there was a serious rush to judgement and even official misconduct. Leo was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. 

In multiple appeals, new prosecutors and judges seemed determined to uphold the guilty verdict regardless of any new evidence. Fast forward 30 years and Gilbert King hears Leo's story and along with an assistant Kelsey Decker begins his research into this perversion of justice. They would invest some 6 years on the project as Leo remains in prison being disappointed time and again.

I found this story gripping and all the more so as I got to know Leo. I've rated it a 5. I read King's Devil in the Grove, a Pulitzer winner, several years ago and it was a similar story of outrageous injustice in Florida. King mentions Bryan Stevenson's book Just Mercy which I have also read. All have made a lasting impression on me. Photographs at the end of the book make Leo's story even more personal.

This is like a true crime story but with a moral imperative. I couldn't help but think: what if the jury had recommended the death penalty? Totally different story!