Jennifer Thompson-Cannino and Ronald Cotton, with Erin Tomeo

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commendable

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False accusation and true redemption

The reader who trudges through the sluggish beginning of this book should keep in mind that it’s a true story written by two real people, and not the fictitious fodder of a psych-thriller novelist.There’s a payoff at the finish line, and along the way unfolds an unbelievable tale of injustice, faith, forgiveness and, ultimately, friendship.

Once acquainted with the authors, it is impossible to detach from this story. Thompson-Cannino makes no effort to pretty up her role as the woman who so confidently (and wrongly) picked co-author Cotton as her rapist, sending him off to more than a decade in prison. Cotton resists the temptation to which most victims of such injustice would fall prey: Self-aggrandizing renditions of his plight and vengeful blame.

Picking Cotton is a rare, pure story about power and powerlessness, and the fallibility of the human mind. Most of all, it’s a story of the transcendent possibilities of the human spirit.