Almost Midnight: An American Story of Murder and Redemption

This December, ten years ago, while a hostage to a group of terrorists in Lima Peru, my name was called for me to come down from the second floor of the Japanese Ambassador's residence. I was to be released. It happened at 11 am on a Sunday morning at the same time a special prayer service was going on at my church in Lima. My pastor was asking for the safe release of all the hostages. He asked that the Lord to intervene and gain the release of me and other church members held hostage. It was already happening as they prayed. All of us have our own stories, we know there's power in prayer. I thought of all that when I read "Almost Midnight" by Michael Cuneo. The book is about Darrell Mease, a criminal in Missouri who brutally killed three people in a drug deal (crystal meth). Mease was convicted and sentenced to death. He had received the Lord at an early age and his mother was still active in the Assembly of God church. She led prayers for her son. Mease turned to the Lord again and made what many considered to be a sincere conversion. A blue grass musician received a word from the Lord that he was to speak to Mease and tell him that the Lord was his lawyer and that he was not to worry he would not be put to death. After the musician visited him in jail, Darrell Mease had a revelation that he was to be spared the death penalty. Time went by and his execution date was scheduled for late January 1999. He never lost faith that he would be spared. With only two weeks to go before his execution, the date was suddenly changed. It seems that Pope John Paul II was scheduled to visit Missouri on the same day as the original execution date and Governor Mel Carnahan had it changed to early February to avoid embrassing the Pope who was a strong opponent of the death penalty. The Papal staff were aware of the change in the execution date for Mease. The Pope's visit was a one day stopover in St. Louis. During the visit, the Pope presided over a special prayer service attended by Governor Carnahan. As the service concluded, the Pope slowly made his way to the Governor, took his hand and whispered in his ear, "Please have mercy on Mr. Mease." Amazingly, Governor Carnahan commuted Darrell Mease's death sentence based on this personal plea from the Pope. One of the pastors who had attended the interfaith prayer service at which the Pope had descended from the altar and talked to the governor had also ministered to Darrell Mease on death row and had urged him to make peace with God as his execution date approached. Darrell had told him that God had been clear that he would not allow his execution. The pastor said, "I was blown away -- Darrell had never asked the pope to say a word on his behalf. He'd simply continued to pray. Absolutely remarkable. And I thought there was a lesson here for all of us. The Scriptures are radical, and God's mercy is boundless. But most Christians don't truly appreciate this. We're too timid in the our fai

"What on earth is a Canadian of northern Italy Jewish descent teaching at New York's Fordham University researching a meth-related multiple murder in the Ozarks?" I asked Mike Cuneo as he sat across from me in Branson's Bob Evans Restaurant. He was in the tourist town researching the Darrell Meese case for a book. Meese was sentenced to die by lethal injection in 1990 after the brutal shotgun murder of three people, Lloyd Lawrence (a man many locals admitted "needed killing") his wife, and their paraplegic grandson. A drug kingpin might deserve it, but two innocents?Governor Mel Carnahan had just recently made news for his commuting Meese's death sentence, after having met with Pope John Paul II in St. Louis during the Pope's visit. Cuneo,"I don't know why Carnahan would do that. He's killed himself politically, I would think," I told Cuneo. Little did I know that the governor who saved Meese's life would lose his own in a tragic plane crash during a race for senator-and still beat opponent John Ashcroft.Like the Meese case, Almost Midnight, Cuneo's "American story of murder and redemption" is filled with sudden turns, surprises, and ironic twists. It's interesting and riveting investigative journalism. For Ozarkers, it shows a subculture that exists in the land of Bible belt religion, country music, and family-friendly tourists, a subculture unknown to many residents unless they are involved in law enforcement or social services. Cuneo covers the events that lead up to the murders, Meese's hair-raising road trip to the Southwest that only leads him closer to justice back home and death row, and the trial itself. He also looks closely at Mease's time in prison, where the convicted murderer rediscovers religion. It is there that he professes "God is my lawyer" and is miraculously delivered from lethal injection-just as he predicted he would be.It sometimes takes an outsider, or a novelist, to show us the family skeleton we deny exists. Cuneo takes us on the real wild ride in actuality that Dan Woodrell does in fiction in Tomato Red. For those who are Ozarkers, the book is interesting to read just to see "if Cuneo misses the mark" in capturing a portrait of an area and a culture. For non-Ozarkers, it's an interesting portrait of the Ozarks and its denizens that, unfortunately, can add to the stereotype that exists. Cuneo's Almost Midnight, with its detailed descriptions of the virtues-loyalty, self-reliance, family, and faith-and the negatives-violence, chemical dependency, and lawlessness-of our Ozarks' culture presents a remarkable portrait of Meese and ourselves.The tourist area that prides itself on family values and a friendly atmosphere while hosting almost 8 million visitors annually has a below-the-surface reality that's hard to confront. All it takes is a Meese incident, or an incident like the triple murder of the Husman children and mother at Kissee Mills, Mo., this last March, to let us know now shallow is the soil that covers what's b

After reading this book I was surprised that the author is an academic. This is not quite Truman Capote, but I think it is just as good as John Krakauer's book about the fundamentalist Mormons. He writes with great accessibility and insight about Mease and the world he comes from. I can't say I found Mease more sympathetic after all was said and done but I did gain a much better understanding of him and his actions.

This is an extremely provocative book that takes the reader on a fascinating trip into the lifestyle and culture of the Ozarks. It opened up my mind in so many ways and allowed me to see that there is a whole other world and way of living right here in the United States that I had never thought about before. The way that Cuneo was able to get up close and personal with Mease, outlaws, investigators, and many others who were involved in the case allows for a read like no other. The story of Darrell Mease's life and surroundings takes the reader on an extremely personal ride describing his SPIRITUALITY, love, dissapointments, the murderous day, and the incredible tale of what happens after the murder. As interesting as this story is in and of itself, the way Cuneo tells it makes it all the better. This is a story that will remain imprinted on my mind forever.

This book showed me a side of America that I had no idea existed. I found myself immersed in the world of Darrell Mease and life in Ozarks. I felt as if the actual murder was just an minimal part of the story. You will take more from the learning about the culture of the Ozarks than anything else. Cuneo's unorthodox style and methods of research are apparent in the books content. It seemed as if he was more than just an outsider writing about a controversial event, but rather an insider who spent time surrounding himself with outlaws, cockfighters and an assortment of other characters in Southwest Missouri. This book is as good as it gets!