First published 1997
Louise Bronk sits on Texas death row awaiting lethal injection. The serial killer contacts journalist Molly Cates, who covered his trial, with a desperate plea. He insists he is innocent of the murder that earned him his death sentence. He begs Molly to help prove his innocence before his execution. The "red cry" refers to the final scream of condemned prisoners as they walk from death row to the execution chamber. Criminal elites view resisting this cry as the ultimate test of courage. Bronk refuses to make this cry. Molly agrees to investigate, torn between correcting a potential miscarriage of justice and potentially saving a hardened criminal. She persists despite receiving threats and then physical attacks. Her investigation transforms from seeking truth to fighting for her own survival. Walker examines journalistic ethics and capital punishment through this complex thriller.
Genres: suspense, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Texas
Period: 20th-century
374 pages · Paperback · CALMANN-LEVY
Content warnings: death, murder