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A review by brittneyreadsbooks
Blood on the Page: A Murder, a Secret Trial, a Search for the Truth by Thomas Harding
4.5
In June 2006, police were called to number 9 Downshire Hill in Hampstead. The owner of the house, Allan Chappelow, was an award-winning photographer and biographer, an expert on George Bernard Shaw, and a notorious recluse, who had not been seen for several weeks. Someone had recently accessed his bank accounts, and attempted to withdraw large amounts of money. Inside the darkened house, officers found piles of rubbish, trees growing through the floor, and, in what was once the living room, the body of Chappelow, battered to death, partially burned and buried under four feet of paper.
The man eventually arrested on suspicion of his murder was a Chinese dissident named Wang Yam: a man who claimed to be the grandson of one of Mao’s closest aides, and a key negotiator in the Tiananmen Square protests. His trial was the first in modern British history to be held ‘in camera’: closed, carefully controlled, secret. Wang Yam was found guilty, but has always protested his innocence.
I think I’d have to say this is one of the best true crime books I’ve ever read. The case itself is so intriguing – why was the trial held in camera? Why was evidence overlooked and leads not followed up on? Wang Yam absolutely seems like a shady guy but with some many inconstancies and holes in what supposedly happened, how was he found guilty? What was the evidence given that the rest of us aren’t allowed to know about?
Harding writes that it was as though there was a brick wall around this case. With the gagging order and the fact that almost everyone he reached out to made it impossible for him to get information, or just refused to answer his questions, it’s clear that without a huge amount of time and dedication we wouldn’t have this book.
What I loved the most though, was simply the way it was written. Harding covers so much – the crime itself, what he knows of the investigation, the trials and hearings (multiple because Wang Yam has had appeal after appeal), Allan Chappelow and Wang Yam’s individual histories AND he inserts his own case notes along the way.
The weaving together of so many angles and points of view was executed beautifully, creating a truly engaging and intriguing read.
My only criticism is that Harding comes off a little biased and too quick to accept Wang Yam’s version of events. I don’t know if the evidence provided was enough to find him guilty beyond reasonable doubt, but that doesn’t necessarily make me believe his cries of innocence, either.
The man eventually arrested on suspicion of his murder was a Chinese dissident named Wang Yam: a man who claimed to be the grandson of one of Mao’s closest aides, and a key negotiator in the Tiananmen Square protests. His trial was the first in modern British history to be held ‘in camera’: closed, carefully controlled, secret. Wang Yam was found guilty, but has always protested his innocence.
I think I’d have to say this is one of the best true crime books I’ve ever read. The case itself is so intriguing – why was the trial held in camera? Why was evidence overlooked and leads not followed up on? Wang Yam absolutely seems like a shady guy but with some many inconstancies and holes in what supposedly happened, how was he found guilty? What was the evidence given that the rest of us aren’t allowed to know about?
Harding writes that it was as though there was a brick wall around this case. With the gagging order and the fact that almost everyone he reached out to made it impossible for him to get information, or just refused to answer his questions, it’s clear that without a huge amount of time and dedication we wouldn’t have this book.
What I loved the most though, was simply the way it was written. Harding covers so much – the crime itself, what he knows of the investigation, the trials and hearings (multiple because Wang Yam has had appeal after appeal), Allan Chappelow and Wang Yam’s individual histories AND he inserts his own case notes along the way.
The weaving together of so many angles and points of view was executed beautifully, creating a truly engaging and intriguing read.
My only criticism is that Harding comes off a little biased and too quick to accept Wang Yam’s version of events. I don’t know if the evidence provided was enough to find him guilty beyond reasonable doubt, but that doesn’t necessarily make me believe his cries of innocence, either.