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Redrum The Innocent: The Murder of Christine Jessop and the Controversial Conviction of her Next-Door Neighbor Guy Paul Morin
Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso
795 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1992
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 4, 2016
Firstly, this book is not the story of Christine Jessop, of her family, or really even of her murder. This story is about the monumental failures of the police, the legal system, and the judiciary in regards to her murder. Most of what I have read is more about Guy Paul Morin than anyone else, since he is the one who was accused of her murder.
Some further thoughts. It appears that what started as more in over their heads" for the police became an (at least silent) conspiracy by the end. They *needed* to be right. I think, for me, this is the one overriding thought so far. As an American, the ability of the prosecution to appeal an acquittal is new to me and I had to work through some of that before I could start reading about the second trial. It's not that I don't or can't understand how it happens. It is a very powerful need to make sense of and find the culprit of so heinous a crime; it's visceral. Today, the first responders would also get counseling to help them.
Further thoughts center on the victims of this case. Christine and Guy Paul are obvious victims - her since she is the one murdered, Guy Paul because he was falsely accused and convicted. But Ken Jessop is also a victim, both as a young child and later after Christine was murdered, he was (as were the rest of the Jessops) a victim of the police and prosecutors who wanted testimony changed and worked so hard to for a conviction.
The entire Jessop family were victims, as much victims of the original crime as Christine was. The Morins were victims too; victims of a legal system go haywire.
I know how the story ends, of course. Guy Paul Morin was finally exonerated on DNA evidence.
But my heart goes out to everyone in this case, and especially the Jessops and Morins both have my deepest sympathy.
The book itself is meticulously and tirelessly searching for clues and facts and tells and really anything to figure it all out. It's almost as if the author were trying to solve the case himself, just with the information he could get. Ultimately, the crime scene, the memories of the families and townspeople, the court transcripts will not be enough for that. Someone out there did this, whether they live today or have since passed on.
This case and its aftermath changed the way ordinary citizens saw their neighbors and friends, the judicial/legal system, and themselves."
Some further thoughts. It appears that what started as more in over their heads" for the police became an (at least silent) conspiracy by the end. They *needed* to be right. I think, for me, this is the one overriding thought so far. As an American, the ability of the prosecution to appeal an acquittal is new to me and I had to work through some of that before I could start reading about the second trial. It's not that I don't or can't understand how it happens. It is a very powerful need to make sense of and find the culprit of so heinous a crime; it's visceral. Today, the first responders would also get counseling to help them.
Further thoughts center on the victims of this case. Christine and Guy Paul are obvious victims - her since she is the one murdered, Guy Paul because he was falsely accused and convicted. But Ken Jessop is also a victim, both as a young child and later after Christine was murdered, he was (as were the rest of the Jessops) a victim of the police and prosecutors who wanted testimony changed and worked so hard to for a conviction.
The entire Jessop family were victims, as much victims of the original crime as Christine was. The Morins were victims too; victims of a legal system go haywire.
I know how the story ends, of course. Guy Paul Morin was finally exonerated on DNA evidence.
But my heart goes out to everyone in this case, and especially the Jessops and Morins both have my deepest sympathy.
The book itself is meticulously and tirelessly searching for clues and facts and tells and really anything to figure it all out. It's almost as if the author were trying to solve the case himself, just with the information he could get. Ultimately, the crime scene, the memories of the families and townspeople, the court transcripts will not be enough for that. Someone out there did this, whether they live today or have since passed on.
This case and its aftermath changed the way ordinary citizens saw their neighbors and friends, the judicial/legal system, and themselves."
December 16, 2025
Don’t ever be odd enough to draw the attention of the police.
Redrum the Innocent is a gripping examination of flaws in Canada’s justice system, focused on the trials, conviction and eventual exoneration of oddball Guy Paul Morin, whose nine-year-old neighbour Christine Jessop was murdered in 1984.
In October 2020, this exhaustive 1998 tome (more than 600 pages) by the Globe and Mail’s meticulous justice reporter Kirk Makin became required reading (or re-reading) when Jessop’s actual killer was identified through improvements to DNA testing. Even more riveting because the killer’s identification came 25 years after DNA cleared Morin.
Given the other wrongfully convicted whose names are etched in Canadian history (Steven Truscott, David Milgaard), the book poses a chilling question: would you be able to withstand the scrutiny of police if they decided you ticked enough boxes to be a suspect? Or the only suspect as investigators decide they don't need to look any further?
Makin outlines the flaws, mistakes and shortcomings of all players in the justice system, focusing on the inexperienced small-town investigators, a lack of disclosure and contaminated evidence. Its a cautionary tale that describes justice as a game and how the rights of the accused can get lost.
Powerful and thought-provoking.
Redrum the Innocent is a gripping examination of flaws in Canada’s justice system, focused on the trials, conviction and eventual exoneration of oddball Guy Paul Morin, whose nine-year-old neighbour Christine Jessop was murdered in 1984.
In October 2020, this exhaustive 1998 tome (more than 600 pages) by the Globe and Mail’s meticulous justice reporter Kirk Makin became required reading (or re-reading) when Jessop’s actual killer was identified through improvements to DNA testing. Even more riveting because the killer’s identification came 25 years after DNA cleared Morin.
Given the other wrongfully convicted whose names are etched in Canadian history (Steven Truscott, David Milgaard), the book poses a chilling question: would you be able to withstand the scrutiny of police if they decided you ticked enough boxes to be a suspect? Or the only suspect as investigators decide they don't need to look any further?
Makin outlines the flaws, mistakes and shortcomings of all players in the justice system, focusing on the inexperienced small-town investigators, a lack of disclosure and contaminated evidence. Its a cautionary tale that describes justice as a game and how the rights of the accused can get lost.
Powerful and thought-provoking.
May 5, 2021
"Just before cottageland Ontario funnels into the sprawling stretch of concrete that makes up Toronto and its satellites, nature takes a last breath."
The sentence that Kirk Makin begins Redrum with is one of my most favorite book quotes. I live in this area and from the first time I made that exact journey down Leslie Street from Keswick to Newmarket I have felt that exact quote. Not to mention what a perfectly eery personification to start off a book about a murdered little girl. I've read this book a few times. Firstly, because I was a 17 year old teen living in Mississauga when this happened along with the disappearances and murders of several other young girls in Toronto and Mississauga. I became more intrigued when I moved to Newmarket and worked with people who knew some of the people involved and I read it again. I still have my copy and now that the murderer has been identified through forensic genealogy I'm keen to read it again to see if I missed clues. The author did an astounding job researching and writing this book. If you are into true crime, this book is a must read. I just wish Kirk Makin wrote more books.
The sentence that Kirk Makin begins Redrum with is one of my most favorite book quotes. I live in this area and from the first time I made that exact journey down Leslie Street from Keswick to Newmarket I have felt that exact quote. Not to mention what a perfectly eery personification to start off a book about a murdered little girl. I've read this book a few times. Firstly, because I was a 17 year old teen living in Mississauga when this happened along with the disappearances and murders of several other young girls in Toronto and Mississauga. I became more intrigued when I moved to Newmarket and worked with people who knew some of the people involved and I read it again. I still have my copy and now that the murderer has been identified through forensic genealogy I'm keen to read it again to see if I missed clues. The author did an astounding job researching and writing this book. If you are into true crime, this book is a must read. I just wish Kirk Makin wrote more books.
December 3, 2017
Wow! All 630 pages left me spellbound. What a revealing look at the workings of the Canadian justice system. I am familiar with the landscape of this case, having lived a few miles away with a daughter a year or so younger at the time this happened. I wonder, if it had been my daughter, if I would have so quickly embraced the first suspect named, whether it made rational sense or not, just to have a target for my rage. All objectivity gets lost by all involved. So easy to see how an innocent person becomes tangled and ruined. Scary stuff, justice. Sometimes it seems synonymous with revenge.
May 24, 2020
The true story of the murder of little Christine Jessop and the many many blunders made by the police and others during the trials. After reading this, because it was the older addition had to go online, to find out the latest news. Hard to believe so many blunders and the whole surrounding this awful case.
March 18, 2021
Liked the level of detail and investigation by this author. I’d love to read updates to include the revealing of the Killer by forensic genealogy. As I’m sure would others
June 19, 2021
had to read this for a class at university where we were actually looking into christine jessop's murder on our own. reading this was an amazing look into many details of the case that we were unable to find in newspaper reports and interviews. it also further confirmed for me that the criminal justice system is broken and that we need to fix it in order to give people the TRUE justice they deserve. excellent read, if anyone is interested in true crime this is 100% a must.
January 13, 2012
Unlike other readers, I found this Arthur Ellis Award winning true crime tale a tiresome read which adds many tangents to an already complex tale. Makin's research was unquestionably extensive. His knowledge of the characters was in-depth and his ability to ensure that the book does not land easily to a single conclusions. Having read the 1992 first edition, the merits of the book though are made evident in the historical outcome in that Morin was exonerated in 1995.
The many players in the particular tragic series of events are strange and there were so many plausible potential killers that it remains a mystery who actually killed Christine Jessop. It is her death that gets lost somewhere amid the drama of police, courts and forensic experts. She becomes less and less present throughout the book, which is itself a tragedy.
Morin who too suffered unnecessarily as he and his family weathered this unalterable decades long battle. At the end of the drama, he remains as he began, a somewhat odd but evidently wrongly-convicted person caught in the narrowing of vision that happens in the wake of some crimes.
For patient readers, though, this book is the telling of an important Canadian criminal justice story.
The many players in the particular tragic series of events are strange and there were so many plausible potential killers that it remains a mystery who actually killed Christine Jessop. It is her death that gets lost somewhere amid the drama of police, courts and forensic experts. She becomes less and less present throughout the book, which is itself a tragedy.
Morin who too suffered unnecessarily as he and his family weathered this unalterable decades long battle. At the end of the drama, he remains as he began, a somewhat odd but evidently wrongly-convicted person caught in the narrowing of vision that happens in the wake of some crimes.
For patient readers, though, this book is the telling of an important Canadian criminal justice story.
October 19, 2020
I'm sure I'm not the only one who is rereading this book in light of the stunning revelation last week that they found Christine's probable murderer through DNA. There were some questions that came up for me as I read... There was a Christine Jessop taskforce set up through the Toronto police service that tested every man's DNA who were friends/neighbours in Queensville but somehow they missed Calvin Hoover... whose wife, Heather, was good enough friends with Janet that she was one of the only people who knew that Janet and Kenney were visiting Bob in jail that day. Does that make sense? They should have been at the head of the line.
Calvin Hoover died by suicide in 2015 so we'll never know the details of what happened on October 3, 1984. I am expecting Kirk Makin, however, to write another edition... he seemed to be on the right track in some of the conclusion he drew at the end of the book, after the inquiry into how Guy Paul Morin was wrongly accused. I look forward to that.
Calvin Hoover died by suicide in 2015 so we'll never know the details of what happened on October 3, 1984. I am expecting Kirk Makin, however, to write another edition... he seemed to be on the right track in some of the conclusion he drew at the end of the book, after the inquiry into how Guy Paul Morin was wrongly accused. I look forward to that.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 24, 2011
Such a thoroughly researched book. Stunning story with new twists and turns. At 800+ pages (paperback), it's different from the type of book that keeps you on the edge of your chair. In-depth look at how police/prosecutor and defense teams operated. Easy to see why many people have been wrongly convicted.
January 14, 2015
Interesting and suspenseful. I loved loved this book
February 15, 2016
An outstanding read, highly recommended for anyone who doesn't believe a "Making a Murderer" scenario could occur in Canada.
July 27, 2016
really like the book, very detail of the trial .
Very easy to read , a true story,
Very easy to read , a true story,
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews