iUniverse Author’s New Book Reviewed by The New York Times

Former iUniverse author Damien Echols, who spent 18 years on death row after being wrongly sentenced for murder has released his life story with Penguin Books.

The New York Times has this to say:

“(Echols) writes, with as much nostalgia as he can summon for his tough and tumultuous upbringing. He likes horror films and horror novels because they remind him of home. And he describes the horrific living conditions, in a shack without water or electricity but with crop dusters spraying overhead, that his family took for granted. Even so, these memories constitute Mr. Echols’s idea of living in freedom.”

New York Times reviews iUniverse author Damien Echol

The Times reviewer further writes:

“And they make good stories, even if this book’s emphasis is often on filth, hellishness and disgust. They are so well told that Life After Death sometimes sounds like the work of a ghostwriter. But the book reprints enough handwritten pages of Mr. Echols’s prison writing to make it very clear that the literary talent is entirely his. He was still in the ninth grade at the age of 17, but he is an autodidact who read thousands of books while incarcerated. “

Echols first memoir, Almost Home: My Life Story by iUniverse Publishing was released in 2005. A used copy now sells for hundreds of dollars.

Read the full New York Times Review