A Criminal Injustice: A True Crime, a False Confession, and the Fight to Free Marty Tankleff

This book is more than just an absorbing murder mystery and crime drama. It is the cautionary tale that tells all good people how a system, sworn to protect us, breaks down, makes mistakes and then refuses to admit the sad truth. It is the reason we loathe politicians, including District Attorneys, whose careers and their next election is more important than integrity and courage. Justice delayed is justice denied and with the freedom that came to Marty Tankleff, thanks to Jay Salpeter and a dedicated platoon of lawyers, justice finally came to a deserving soul. But it remains denied to the Tankleffs who were murdered, the Tankleff family, the people of Suffolk County and State of NY but most of all, the real murderers who will one day spend the rest of their lives behind prison walls. Read this book. It will make you a more vigilant citizen.

This book is well written, very informative and helps readers to see how Marty couldn't have killed his parents.....couldn't put it down, worth reading

As a resident of Port Jefferson I have been following Marty's case since Sept. 6 1988. At long last this book tells the entire world what we have all known for 21 years. I could not put the book down. The injustice of this case was brought to life by the authors. It made me ashamed to be a resident of Suffolk County. Excellent reading for anyone interested in the criminal justice system and how it does and doesnot work.

A Criminal Injustice is the most exciting, intelligent, compelling, well-written true crime book I've ever read (and I've read a lot of them). I don't know how they did it but the authors, Richard Firstman and Jay Salpeter, have somehow streamlined a complex case of murder, a coerced confession and unjust incarceration into a real page-turner. It doesn't matter that you may know how it ends, there are details here and major developments that still come as a surprise. It has all the elements of a great novel but is, of course, stranger than fiction. Can't wait to see the movie!

Got the book on New Year's Eve. Finished it last night at 1:30 am. Over the four days, I took breaks in between for meals and a New Year's Eve party and sleep. Other than that, I could not do anything else but read it. It's compelling, astonishing, riveting. Every thinking person on Long Island should know how a young boy's 17 years were stolen away and how the real murderers of Arlene and Seymour Tankleff just got away with it. Wow.