The Innocent Man vs The Wrong Man: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Judicial error, Trials, True Crime, Nonfiction
The Innocent Man
Murder and injustice in a small townJohn Grisham's first work of non-fiction, an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet. In the major league draft of 1971, the…
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The Wrong Man
“EARLY SATURDAY MORNING, July 3, 1954, Dr. Sam Sheppard pulled his Lincoln into the parking lot of Bay View Hospital, housed in a huge, Georgian-style mansion built on the bluffs of Lake Erie.”
The real-life murder that became known as "The Fugitive" case began before dawn on July 4, 1954, in a Cleveland suburb, when Marilyn Sheppard was viciously beaten to death in her bed. After an inadequate investigation,…
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- The Innocent Man has the widest readership — 87096 ratings behind its score.
- The Innocent Man runs the darker storyline; The Wrong Man stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| The Innocent Man | The Wrong Man | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.9 (87096) | — |
| Hardcover | 3.7 (91) | — |
| Google Books | 4.0 (1) | — |
| Apple Books | 4.0 (888) | 4.0 (24) |
Reception
| The Innocent Man | The Wrong Man | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 87096 | 24 |
| Editions | 35 | 7 |
| Citations | 2 | — |
| Film adaptations | 1 | 1 |
| Want to read | 48740 | — |
| Reading it now | 10971 | — |
| Written reviews | 6541 | — |
| Wikipedia attention | 733 | 12900 |
| Pages | 414 | 435 |