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This book chronicles the relationship that developed between disgraced NYT writer Michael Finkel and Christian Longo, who murdered his wife and 3 children. The two men become friends after Finkel has been fired from the NYT for falsifying information in a news story. In a bizarre turn of events, Finkel learns that a murderer while on the run had taken his name and identity as his own. Wanting to learn why him, he writes Christian Longo and thus begins their intimate friendship, one characterized by mutual sharing of their life stories and dreams. As condition of friendship, both pledge absolute honesty and yet neither man proves capable of delivering on that promise.

As an exploration of the thin line between truth, deception, and fiction, the book is a fascinating read. Christian Longo gives multiple versions of the events that led to the murder of his family: first declaring his complete innocence, then claiming that he only murdered two family members, and then finally stating that he murdered all family members. With each explanation, the reasons shift and it becomes clear that each version is aimed at pleasing his listener. While it is hardly surprising that a murderer would be prone to making excuses for his behavior, Finkel's explanation of his transgressions is more disturbing. It becomes evident to the reader and eventually Finkel himself, that the two men are not different in kind, but only in degree. Each casts the truth aside in order to please others, in order to present themselves in a better light, and in order to save face. And while by the end of the story, the author wants us to be convinced that he has realized the dangers of the path that he has been following and that he is repulsed by the bond that he formed with Christian Longo...this reader, at least, was not completely convinced. I could not overcome the sense that like the murderer, the author was still in denial, still lying to himself and the reader in order to save face. In other words, there is no real mea culpa, no redemption as the title would have one believe. And it is for this reason, I cannot give the book more than 3 stars.