Beneath a Ruthless Sun: A True Story of Violence, Race, and Justice Lost and Found

Mable Norris Reese (Chesley) was my grandmother and I grew up with Jesse's story being a part of my family history. As a young girl, I met Jesse and "Aunt" Pearl when he was released from Chattahoochee and spent time with them before they moved to Green Cove Springs. Even with all that they had been through, they were the kindest, sweetest people I knew.After reading Gilbert's book, I'm horrified (but not surprised) at how much more there was to the story - I can certainly understand why my family would have censored so many things when talking to a young child. I still get chills thinking about how much my grandmother, grandfather, mom, Jesse, Aunt Pearl and Richard Graham went through to get Jesse's freedom.My grandmother would have been honored to have her story told by such a skilled and determined researcher and compelling storyteller as Gilbert King.

I read the entire book on the day it was published. Gilbert King did lengthy research and structured the story to keep the reader captivated. He made the scenes and people come alive ;it is a portrait of the worst in human nature and also the best.As a former southerner I remember the racism and prejudice which sickened me during those decades and therefore I can imagine the truth in this dark story.It’s a story with villains, heroes and innocents. I am glad that the author brought this story to light.I highly recommend this book.

There are a couple of important story threads in BENEATH A RUTHLESS SUN.However let's start at the beginning. Blanche Knowles, citrus baron Joe Knowles's wife, is raped in 1957, a Jim Crow year. She says it was a bushy-haired black manWillis McCall, the virulent racist sheriff of Lake County, Floridas rounds up every black man he can find. The two main suspects are Sam Wiley Odom, whose main crime seems to be his uppity attitude and Bubba Hawkins who happens to be related to Virgil W. Hawkins who had the audacity to apply to law school at the University of Florida.Then matters change. A white, mentally retarded man, Jesse Daniels, is arrested and promptly confesses, although he insists to his mother, his lawyers and everyone else he knows, he didn't do it. Now, why would a racist sheriff, who has gone so far as to murder black suspects, charge a white man with a crime the woman says a black man committed? She later changes her story, insisting it was so dark in the room she couldn't be sure who did it, but she identifies Jesse's voice. Remember the old saying, “Nothing is as it seems.”Jesse avoids a trial by being found mentally incompetent to stand trial, and he is sent to Chattahoochee, the Florida insane asylum where he spends fourteen years, lumped in with violent criminals since he was charged with rape. Jesse's mother and just about everybody else he knows insists he wouldn't even know how to commit rape, nor would he hurt a fly.Pearl Daniels finds a confidant in Newspaperwoman, Mabel Norris Reese who spends the next fourteen years trying to get Jesse out of Chattahoochee. She has evidence he didn't do it, but McCall and his henchman, county attorney, Gordon G. Odom Jr. won't even let Blanche see her son.So . . . will Jesse ever get out? Will Willis McCall ever pay for his murderous behavior. I have to say I wanted to see him skinned alive, boiled in oil, and drawn and quartered. This is not a novel; this stuff actually happened. Willis McCall made Bull Conner look like Mary Poppins.Oh, yeah, there's one more ingredient in this mud hole. Joe Knowles was a known ladies man. How does that enter into the picture and why did Blanche insist a white man raped her when she knew that wasn't true? These questions will keep you turning pages.

If this book does not make you angry, nothing will. One really needs to go back and read the first book about this lawless lawman and the havoc he brought on anyone that got in his way. Murder In The Grove is the first book and I am still loaning it out to friends that have not read it yet. Beneath A Ruthless Sun picks up the story of how one corrupt sheriff ran an entire county and literally got away with murder. This book and the one before it provides an interesting look at what can happen when good people do nothing.

Fascinating book that kept me turning the pages. And the astonishing thing is that the story is true! The outrageous behavior of above-the-law Sheriff Willis McCall kept reminding me of the notorious (and recently pardoned) Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio doesn't seem to have been a multiple murderer, like McCall, but he was another example of the public official who thinks he isn't governed by the law. And (also like McCall) who keeps getting re-elected by racist voters. The twists and turns of the narrative will keep you up past your bedtime. And may give you nightmares.

Beneath a Ruthless Sun is incredibly well-written. King expertly exposes another dark secret about race driven corruption in Lake County, Florida, and our hearts reach out to those victimized by McCall and Oldham, among others.If happy endings are lacking in this story, we can take comfort in the knowledge that history is more accurately told, and so those who may have “gotten away with it” will now be remembered for their cruelty and wrong doings versus the hero’s they claimed to be thanks to King’s effort.I highly recommend this book to readers of both fiction and nonfiction of justice, race, Florida’s history, heroic journalism, history of mental institutions, and anyone seeking the truth about Florida’s corruption, and those who fought against it.

Great