INTENSE LIES
by Taree Brown
A Black man is wrongfully accused of and imprisoned for a crime he did not commit—and battles to regain his freedom—in a book Brown calls a fictionalized version of real-life events.
Thirty-something Tyler “Ty” Montgomery, owner of a successful employee-staffing business, begins his story in a hotel room in Marietta, Georgia, wondering how he has arrived at a low point in his life. His second wife, Cindy, has changed the locks on their house and filed for divorce, and the next day—after he’s served with an order of protection—his situation gets much worse. When he finds a lawyer willing to take his case, he learns he’s been charged with a felony, stalking his wife at her workplace. The attorney requires $50,000 up front—which does not include handling the divorce—and informs him that there is a warrant out for his arrest, he should turn himself in, and he won’t be permitted to post bail because he’s a flight risk. Tyler storms out and leaves town until he can figure out a way to navigate through Cobb County’s “racist power base” and its corrupt Department of Justice. Unfortunately, he’s up against Assistant District Attorney James Marvin, who, with Cindy, is out to destroy Ty financially. Ty goes to prison, but is eventually released, and in the final pages of the book, the author says, somewhat confusingly, that its story is both “fictitious” and “chronicles his own experiences of being wrongfully, accused, imprisoned and, ultimately, freed.” Brown is an articulate writer who, in Ty, has created a compelling character who struggles to fit together the pieces of an indecipherable puzzle. Even for fiction, however, some aspects of the plot strain credulity or leave vital questions unanswered, including exactly how Ty was eventually freed. Brown’s descriptions of prison life ring true, but may leave many readers wishing he’d been able to tell his story as a memoir instead of requiring them to sort out for themselves what’s fact and what’s fantasy.
A harsh indictment of racism and other ills in Georgia inspired by experience.