Michael Finkel: True Story

Posted on May 22, 2005 by Chris Mitchell

True Story is possibly one of the most bizarre book premises I have ever encountered. And it's also one of the best books I've read for a while. "Unputdownable" is the word you will read in every review of this just published book, guaranteed. Ex-New York Times journalist Michael Finkel has written a gripping memoir of a real-life murder mystery suspense in which he became intricately entangled. Sacked from the NYT for fudging the truth in one of his features, Finkel's subsequent misery is broken by the unsettling news that an American man accused of murdering his wife and three children has been arrested in Mexico and answers to the name of...Michael Finkel. From here Finkel's book ploughs into a turbulent exorcism of Finkel's own guilt and shame at destroying his own journalistic credibility, whilst simultaneously beginning a conversation with the alleged murderer that threatens to spiral out of control. Christian Longo, the real name of the accused, turns out to be intelligent, kind, thoroughly charming - and Finkel and Longo's conversations become, for Finkel, both a way to redeem and revive his journalistic career (this could be the scoop of a lifetime) and also a way to talk about his true feelings to a man on the other end of a payphone in a maximum security wing.

As Finkel pieces together what the real Christian Longo is like and what happened that terrible night that his wife and three children died, the book becomes more and more taut. There's no slippage into cheap pulp territory here, despite the gruesomeness of the crime: Finkel's frequent but distant contact with Longo by phone and mail, interspersed with his own ever-changing thoughts about Longo's culpability, is deftly narrated, exploring Longo's life and the decisons that led up to that night. Finkel paints a portrait of a man rather than a demon which makes the books' courtroom conclusion all the more horrifying.

Finkel provides similar insight into his own motivationa and ambitions; he's not afraid to make himself look bad through his honesty but he handles his mea culpa without self-pity. Perhaps the only part Finkel glosses over is quite how he managed to get so involved with Longo - whilst he documents their conversations and letters, the sheer effort and time taken up by talking to Longo never seems to provoke reflection about cutting off the whole connection - or whether the hope of producing a bestselling book was too great a lure. Finkel does plainly admit that was his motivation - I'd like to have seen him explore it a little more, especially given the aftermath of the verdict. [It's quite possible that a second reading of the book might shut me up on this score].

Together, then, there are two compelling narratives entwined throughout True Story: Finkel's own recounting of his rise and fall, and Longo's story told from both Longo and Finkel's perspective. That Finkel was a New York Times reporter shines through the prose here - it's cold and clean, stringing together the facts without causing overload, taking the reader deeper into the story without un-necessary embellishment and, through its very sparseness, creating a distinct empathy with both Finkel and even Longo, peculiar though that might seem. Finkel's triumph in the writing of this book - besides redeeming his journalistic credentials - is that he refused to collapse Longo's case into a faceless murder trial. But becoming involved = possibly too involved - with the case, Longo brings a vital empathy to the climactic courtroom chapters, where the chain of events that led to the murders and the full gravity of those crimes is felt. And that empathy in the telling of the story is what makes great journalism.

[ENDNOTE: reading this back, I sound like a bad PR guy at the beginning. Sorry. It's late and I'm tired. But it IS a cracking book]