Room 553: Real-life story #4

Howdy from Texas,

Readers have asked where the idea for Room 553 came from. While I won’t give too much away, I’ve always thought a lot about truth versus perception and about how the notion of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ sounds nice in theory, but is it actually reality?

With the release of Room 553, I thought it would be interesting to share some true stories of wrongful convictions.

You’ll find the fourth and final story below.

By the way, this does not answer the question of whether my character actually is guilty (you’ll have to read the book for that) but rather takes a look at how evidence is weighed and ultimately (as Max describes) how scary it can be to have a jury of your peers deciding your fate.

Hope this week has been good to you.

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Kirk Bloodsworth

Kirk Bloodsworth’s case is important because he was the first person ever to be sent to death row and later exonerated. After a 9-year-old girl had been found strangled, sexually assaulted, and beaten with a rock, Bloodsworth was arrested and charged with the murder, despite the witnesses being unable to identify him in a lineup and looking nothing like the original description of the perpetrator. With no physical evidence tying him to the crime, he was still convicted of rape and murder and sentenced to death.

Due to misinformation and a failure to provide the defense with the information that there might’ve been a second witness, Bloodsworth’s conviction was overturned and he was retried and sentenced to two life terms. DNA evidence later exonerated him and he was released in 1993 after 9 years served.

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“She felt no remorse for drawing blood. In the context of their relationship, it had its place.”

For Max and Laurel, nothing is off limits when they meet in room 553. Their illicit affair is exhilarating, passionate—and dangerous.

Driven as much by compulsion as pleasure, Max can’t stop. His mistress is Jesus on the streets, and Satan in the sack. But when things take a sharp and sudden turn for the worse, he finds himself ensnared in a trap of his own making.

Under heavy scrutiny by the police and the media, Max is hailed as a cold and evasive womanizer. He made mistakes, to be sure. But does that make him a killer?

Unnerving and addictive, Room 553 is a vivid and sensual psychological thriller that weaves a story of cruelty, reckless desire, and blind, bloody justice.

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