'One of the best books I've read this year. Just astounding.' - Paula
Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train.Law student Alexandria Marzano-
Lesnevich, working on a retrial for death-row convicted murderer and child
molester, Ricky Langley, finds herself thrust into the tangled story of his
childhood. As she examines the minute details of Ricky's case, she is
forced to face her own history, to unearth long-buried family secrets, and
to reckon with how her own past colours her view of his crime.When
Alexandria begins a summer job at a law firm in Louisiana, and sees Ricky's
face flash on the screen as she reviews old tapes, and hears him speak of
his crimes, she is overcome with the feeling of wanting him to die. Shocked
by her reaction, she digs deeper and deeper into the case, realizing that
despite their vastly different circumstances, something in his story is
unsettlingly, uncannily familiar.As enthralling as true-crime classics such
as In Cold Blood and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and broadcast
phenomena such as The Keepers, Making a Murderer and Serial, The Fact of a
Body is a groundbreaking, heart-stopping investigation into how the law is
personal, composed of individual stories and proof that arriving at the
truth is more complicated, and powerful, than we could ever imagine.