Book Talk: Charlie Donlea, ‘Don’t Believe It’

I didn’t understand the meaning of the title of Charlie Donlea’s novel until I finished the book. But I should have. After all, I’ve read some of his other books, and I know him to be a master of sowing doubt in the reader’s mind. “Don’t Believe It” (2018, 379 pages in softcover format) is no exception. As one reads through the book, he or she is likely to form an opinion that solves the mystery. But the author tells us, right up front, don’t believe it.

The story is, for the most part, told through the works of Sidney Ryan who makes documentary movies. In this instance, she’s producing a live TV series about Grace Sebold, a woman who has been imprisoned in St. Lucia, a Caribbean Island, for ten years for murdering her boyfriend, Julien Crist. 

Grace and Julien arrived in St. Lucia for a friend’s wedding, but Julien died when he fell from one of the twin Pitons on Sugar Beach. Based on sketchy evidence, the local police arrest Grace and put her on trial where she is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Sidney, whose documentaries have been instrumental in freeing a couple of other people who were wrongly imprisoned, has received numerous letters from Grace (and many other prisoners). For some reason, Grace’s plea seemed to hold enough doubt to warrant a trip to St. Lucia for a face-to-face.