IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER ...

IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER by Gerry Conlon (Plume: $9.95; 234 pp.). Gerry Conlon’s bitter memoir served as the basis for the current Daniel Day-Lewis-Emma Thompson film. Conlon was by no means an admirable or even likable character: He grew up in dire poverty in West Belfast to become a small-time burglar, a drunk and a gambler, with no ambition beyond getting the cash for his next pint or bet. At 20, he was picked up by the British police on suspicion of helping the Irish Republican Army bomb a Guildford pub. Conlon and three friends, who became known as the “Guildford Four,” spent 15 years in prison for crimes they hadn’t committed, and which the prosecutors knew they hadn’t committed. He presents a chilling account of torture, abuse, falsification of evidence and obstruction of justice by the British police, judiciary and prison officials. The international outcry produced by this scandalous miscarriage of justice eventually lead to Conlon’s vindication. “In the Name of the Father” offers provocative reading as negotiations over the future of Ireland continue, and American legislators call for limits on appeals as a way of streamlining the judiciary system.