Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three

Phenomenal book which must be read by anyone concerned about the flaws of the criminal justice system in our country.

This book is about the West Memphis Three, who were teenagers at the time of their wrongful interrogations, wrongful trial, and wrongful convictions! Law enforcement, prosecuting attorneys, and even the judge broke every cardinal rule. All they cared about was getting a conviction for a horrendous crime, but it would have been nice if they had not sacrificed the lives of three innocent teenage boys in the process.

The three were released from prison in 2011 under a bizarre "prosecution covers their ass" deal where the three admit guilt, but are still released. They are currently fighting for a complete exoneration.

There is a movie in production based on the book, but I recommend reading the book FIRST so that you are prepared for this shocking and graphic story!

This is a highly detailed account of the disturbing 1993 murders of three boys in West Memphis, Arkansas. As well as the subsequent trials of Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley Jr, Jason Baldwin. The tragedy of this case is that no thorough investigation was taken at the time of the crime, further compounded by the judicial system which failed to render a just outcome.
These three teenage boys were railroaded, condemned and convicted without any real evidence. The West Memphis Three reached a deal with prosecutors, on August 19, 2011, they entered Alford pleas, which allow them to assert their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to convict them. Judge David Laser accepted the pleas and sentenced the three to time served. They were released with ten-year suspended sentences, having served 18 years and 78 days in prison. To this day they are fighting to exonerate their names.
The most chilling aspect of this case is that the real murderer is still out there.
No justice for the children no justice for the West Memphis three.

Having greatly enjoyed, and been strongly affected by, all 3 HBO documentaries about this disturbing case, I was expecting the book to shed new light. Instead, it largely recapitulates what we already now from the documentaries (perhaps inevitable, since together they span 9+ hours), and trots out the same kind of baseless speculation and nearly libellous "maybe X did it," or "maybe Y did it," kinds of claims, without offering any compelling evidence for those accusations. I would watch the movies rather than read this book -- they're much more illuminating.

Final footnote: the performance left a great deal to be desired. Why do female narrators so often feel compelled to deepen their voices in a patently ridiculous fashion whenever a man is talking? (Given the fact that virtually everyone in this book is male, this is a *big* liability).

Also: I'm not entirely sure why the narrator also felt the need to do extremely unconvincing Arkansas accents for every single player in this story -- virtually all of whom are from Arkansas. Either find a narrator with an appropriate accent, or JUST READ NORMALLY. I beg you.

This is a fascinating story, and I had followed it over the past 10 years or so via the series of 3 excellent film documentaries (i.e. "Paradist Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills"). I was hoping this book would fill in some of the missing details that a short-form filmed documentary simply can't cover, or at least retell the story in a more nuanced way. But I'm 3 hours into the audiobook and it just hasn't given me a reason to keep listening.

If you have never heard the story of the West Memphis 3 you might find this book fascinating because the story and characters are so compelling. It's a mind-blowing human drama, to say the least. But for someone who has seen the documentaries this audiobook had very little to offer, at least for me. The narration was pretty good, although her voice sometimes got grating. To be honest, I can't tell if the narration suffered a bit because of the storytelling or if the story suffered because of the narration, but the net effect was to cause an interested reader to walk away from the audiobook halfway through.

Yes. I have read the book and now listened to it and enjoyed it much more

Not sure its hurts the heart that one with the IQ of 68-72 teenage was physiologically tortured by police that we as good parents teaches our children to trust them. How do I compare the content of this book with another.

The 3 Teenage boys

Don't live in west Memphis and wear black

I am several hours into this book, and am returning it and looking for something better. Not sure if my dislike of it stems from my own prejudices and preferences, or whether this book is really as lacking as it seems.

First off, I did not like the narrator. I had previewed her and wasn't thrilled, but had an open mind and thought she would be ok, depending on the story.

But she is just grating on me by now, hard to say why. Really not much inflection at all in her adapting to the various characters' voices, nor in the horrible, grotesque turn of events with which the story begins. She seems flat, unmelodic, mechanical, and too slow most of the time.

But I am so far objecting to the story itself. Right at this point, we are very deep into an investigation of a grisly murder of three young boys, and the investigation is delving deeper and deeper into the idea of a cult situation, with one "suspect" all picked out, and the aim is to round out whatever can be constructed to pin the crime on him.'

I have no feelings as to his guilt or innocence. I am just disgusted at the total lack of normal police standards in conducting this "investigation" and the fact that no other suspects were ever apparently considered at all.

And so, it is just asking too much of me that I must spend the rest of the hours and energy following this sorry tale through to what has to be its logical conclusion - lives ruined, the guilty going free, and so on. For me to go ahead and learn every dastardly detail about how the so-called justice system totally failed in this case is just a bridge too far. I already feel I am getting somewhat upset for nothing. There is a feeling I am getting from the events so far, that this whole thing has no redeeming value and there is not a thing I or anyone else can do at this point. I could be wrong, but that is the half-baked conclusion I have drawn from the information available and from reading around one-third of the book so far.

Hoping to find something better for my dollars and my interest.

Yes, this book should be read by everyone to understand how arbitrary at best and corrupt at worst our criminal judicial system is. It was eye opening to see how far the prosecutors went to convict their chosen parties and to be right and how a case can be built from the top down.

I can not think of one I have heard that I would compare this book to. But I am certain the legal system is ripe with similar tales of corruption and lies.

That wouldn't be nice.

When the young men would not turn on the other boys in order to gain their freedom. They had more integrity than the educated idiots prosecuting them! Shows how intelligence does not correlate with character!

Listen to this book and you will know that justice is ofttimes a four letter word! Also, narrator voice is better suited for sing songy books of love and poetry not for a book so powerful.

The flow of the book presented the case from beginning to end in a cogent and logical progression.

It was very in depth and detailed. I don't know what could have made it better.

Jesse Miskelley

When Jesse told his attorney that he didn't know why people kept saying that he worshiped "Satin" [sic] Poor Jesse, borderline retarded, didn't even know what "Satan" was although he was being accused of being a devil worshiper. How poetic.

Just a fantastic book and performance.

Very well written - makes you think!!

I want to find out more about this crime!!