Book details

  • Genre:young adult fiction
  • Sub-genre:Thrillers & Suspense / Crime
  • Age Range (years):13 and up
  • Language:English
  • Pages:304
  • eBook ISBN:9798350943245
  • Paperback ISBN:9798350943238

Memoirs from Death Row

By Raymond Andrew Clark

Overview

Memoirs from Death Row, provide the reader with the intense 13-hour countdown to the execution of a fictional character on Tennessee Death Row. The character is Virgil Shelton, who holds a secret that he believes might save his life. There is also an old black, prison guard who has an unusual relationship with him. The guard has a secret as well; he hears condemned men's thoughts. He has been hearing them for over 35 years and 41 executions. As the countdown of his life continues, Shelton is confounded by the book of Isiah, a passage it that one of the victims was reading before he killed her. As his time dwindles, he receives a shocking letter from a parishioner of a church who is supporting him. This letter prevents him from revealing his secret and proceeds to his execution. During his execution, his comes face to face with the relatives of his victims. There before he dies, he confesses to them and God. The old guard's secrets are also revealed when he provides him with those book of Isiah, passages. He then tells Shelton that he will finish his stories.,
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Description

"I don't wanna die". This is a real fictional story of the last 13 hours of Virgil Shelton's life. He is a condemned murderer housed in the Tennessee Death Row. During his 16 years on death row; he has written several stories that he describes as his memoirs. Shelton has what he believes is a secret that might prevent him from being executed. That secret is the murder of three people in Kent, Iowa. While on death row he develops an unusual relationship with an old prison guard, who has his secret. The guard, Stoney Fox, has worked on death row for over 35 years and witnessed 41 executions. Fox's relationship with Shelton provides him with some stability and the realization that he just might be executed and accepts that fact. Meanwhile, one of Shelton's victims in Kent, Iowa was a black woman who was reading the bible when he murdered her. She was reading the book of Isaiah. Shelton has been confounded about the book of Isiah, for all the years on death row. One day Shelton receives a letter from a parishioner of a church who is supporting him. Shockingly, the letter reveals that her grandmother was killed by a monster in Kent, Iowa. That monster was him. Now, he knows that he can never be revealed that secret. However, just before he dies, Fox has summoned the relatives of the victims in Kent, Iowa. To everyone's utter amazement, Shelton provides a stunning confession to those crimes and asks both the relatives and victims to forgive him as he is dying. The guard also reveals to him the precise two passages in the book of Isaiah she was reading before he killed her. The old prison guard's final words to him are: " I will finish your memoirs son". These are the stories of Virgil Shelton.
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About The Author

Raymond Andrew Clark, frew up on the tough side of Cleveland, Ohio, eastside. His interest in writing began while he served in the United States Navy in military human resources. He later became interested in fictional writing and storytelling when he was the police chief at the University of Tennessee, Memphis. He was the first black police chief in the University of California system, having started his career on the Oakland Police Department and a former graduate of the FBI Instructor Development program. He has received many civic awards, including the NAACP Achievement award, and mentioned in the United States Congressional Records. He is the author of "LEarning to Cage Your Gorills," a transormation program for men and women returning from prison to assist them from reoffending. He has taught literally thousands of re-entry participants.
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