Life After Death (2012) You have to look extremely hard to find the silver lining in the case of the West Memphis Three, the trio of teenagers who, it… Memoir Nonfiction Blue Rider Press
PLIGHT OF THE INNOCENT This thrilling memoir is penned by one of the three teenagers wrongfully convicted of murdering a group of children in 1994
PLIGHT OF THE INNOCENT This thrilling memoir is penned by one of the three teenagers wrongfully convicted of murdering a group of children in 1994
EW's GRADE
B+

Details Release Date: Sep 18, 2012; Writer: Damien Echols; Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction; Publisher: Blue Rider Press

You have to look extremely hard to find the silver lining in the case of the West Memphis Three, the trio of teenagers who, it is now widely agreed, were wrongfully convicted of three child murders in 1994. But there's no doubt the saga has inspired some memorable cultural artifacts, such as Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's Paradise Lost documentaries. To that list can now be added this evocative, chilling memoir, Life After Death, by one of the three, Damien Echols, who penned much of the text prior to his release last year. ''Ghosts are using my head for a neon disco, and I want to go home,'' he desperately writes at one point, and the reader is as close to sharing his plight as any sane person would care to be. B+

Originally posted Sep 19, 2012 Published in issue #1226 Sep 28, 2012 Order article reprints