Eight top books set in prisons

International bestselling author Brad Parks is the only writer to have won the Shamus, Nero, and Lefty Awards, three of American crime fiction’s most prestigious prizes. His novels have been translated into 15 languages and have won critical acclaim across the globe, including stars from every major pre-publication review outlet. A graduate of Dartmouth College, Parks is a former journalist with The Washington Post and The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger. He is now a full-time novelist living in Virginia with his wife and two school-aged children.

Parks's new novel is The Last Act.

At CrimeReads he tagged eight great books set in prisons, including:

An American Marriage by Tayari Jones

Roy and Celestial are the upside of the New South—a young African-American couple on the rise. Yet just as they seem to be reaching escape velocity from the racial oppression that defined their parents’ generation, Roy is sentenced to twelve years for a rape he did not commit. Much of the book is letters between the couple while he’s incarcerated, and while Roy doesn’t really delve into the nitty gritty of prison life, it’s a gripping reminder that for every person sitting in prison, there’s usually someone outside who is serving a different kind of sentence.

Read about another entry on the list.

An American Marriage is among Sara Shepard's six top stories of deception and Julia Dahl's ten top books about miscarriages of justice.

--Marshal Zeringue