1 out of 4 stars
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Indictment of Johnson County by Winston Legge is a fictionalized account of one county in southern Alabama and the various figures associated with the county. A vast cast of characters make up this story, including less-than-wholesome lawyers, members of the mafia and cartel, corrupt politicians, and two every-day childhood friends. Many themes are touched upon in this book, from religion and homosexuality to betrayal and lost love. Overall, Indictment of Johnson County is an intricate and dynamic story.
The narrative is written in passive voice, and almost no dialogue is used in the story. Instead of dialogue or action, current and past events are described through wordy explanations; however, important information is often left out. For example, long descriptions of places, historical references, and meals are provided, yet almost no description of the characters’ personalities or appearances, other than their heritage, is ever offered.
Similarly, an overwhelming number of characters are introduced that have no real bearing on the overarching plot. Many chapters begin with a new character and a summary of their early life, education, relationships and so on, but most of these characters are never mentioned again. This digressive writing style impeded important plot development and diminished any feelings of suspense. If not for the main story arc, this book would be better suited as a series of short stories.
The primary thread the plot follows has plenty of potential. Certain plot elements had the possibility of being impactful, and the ending could have been really explosive and emotional. Unfortunately, the meandering storytelling the author employs significantly hindered the story’s potential and led to a flat plot and uninvolved ending. In general, the twists and turns in the characters’ lives feel like afterthoughts instead of full-fledged plot points.
Further, the outlines of a few compelling characters are drawn in the novel, yet none of the characters are ever brought to life. The passive writing style and lack of action or dialogue make it difficult to establish a connection with the main characters. Similarly, because of the overwhelming number of characters introduced in the novel, none were well developed or even likable. By the end of the story, it didn’t matter what happened to the characters because the author failed to establish an emotional relationship via empathy or understanding between the reader and the main characters.
Buried in the tedious writing style and mass of characters found in this book is a truly interesting character sketch of some fascinating people residing in a unique place. Sadly, the potential for an impactful and exciting story is lost in Indictment of Johnson County. In addition, there were many instances of misused commas and run-on sentences that showed a clear lack of proper editing. Therefore, I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. If the writing style were more engaging and the characters were better developed, I would have considered a higher rating.
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Indictment of Johnson County
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Thanks for submitting such an honest, fair assessment of this book. I will pass on reading it but your review was very well done. 
