Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

Pros: Like Stephen King, Berendt has the great knack of describing people's interactions in small-ish town America that feel authentic. And like Jonathan Franzen, he has the eye for detail to describe certain biases, preferences, and physical items that let you know he really did spend the time in the environment and can give you a window in. It's pretty funny and enjoyable. Beautiful title, great cover photo.

Cons: This is more my fault than Berendt's, but I didn't know that it was nonfiction. With a title as wondrous as that, I somehow didn't expect a nonfiction legal case. Not what I expected, not really what I was in the mood for, and not exactly my kind of book. If you like nonfiction crime stories that profile an environment, I expect you'll like it more than I did