This book outlines the cases of Levon Brooks and Kennedy Brewer, two black men living in Mississippi, and the murders of two three year old girls. In the early 1990's, two little girls were snatched from their homes, made off with, sexually assaulted, and killed. Anyone who can sexually assault and murder a child is a severely disturbed person. Police did not seem to take evidence seriously, if at all, and the medical examiner and his "forensic expert" dentist friend made egregious errors in judgment and protocol. I was absolutely horrified reading this, but the sad fact is that stuff like this is still going on. It isn't just a "southern" problem, though everyone knows we are a little slow on the uptake down here sometimes. Reading things like this really makes you lose faith in the criminal justice system more and more, and I cannot even imagine how minority families feel as this really impacts them most of all. It's tragic and is long overdue for a major change. I can really understand why people have such a negative view of courts and such.

The book appeared to be well researched and factual, and I enjoyed that about it. I did not enjoy the fact that it did not include any photographs, so I had to stop reading at several points and do a Google search to see what these people looked like. (I like to have a face with who I am reading about.) During my Google searching, I ran across The Innocence Project website, which I was familiar with, but never really check. My sister probably does, as she is super into true crime, more than I am. The Innocence Project does really great work trying to get wrongly incarcerated people exonerated and released, and if you are unfamiliar, do look into it. I have to say that this book was enraging for so many reasons. The fact that two little babies were snatched out of their beds, assaulted, and murdered is enraging. The fact that two innocent men had thirty years of their lives wasted for something heinous that they did not do is enraging. The fact that the killer, who everyone knew was off, was waltzing around is enraging. The fact that the criminal justice system is so grossly corrupted and negligent is enraging. Also, the fact that these parents were adults in the 1990s means that their parents were alive in the Serial Killer Seventies and Eighties, and they really didn't seem to teach their children how to lock their doors and windows at night is half enraging and half mind blowing. I am not going to sit here and say that I am a super parent, or that I am the most observant, or that people won't break into your house if they really want to get in it, but I do use some basic self preservation skills and check my doors. People are out here in the world being entirely too trusting and not thinking with their whole brain. I am glad that these guys were finally exonerated and that the actual murderer came forward. Those poor girls and their families, and the wrongfully accused men and their families had a long wait for justice. How hard that must have been to reconcile. Overall, this was a good book. I'm glad I found it at the library.