I first read this about 20 years ago and enjoyed it then. Re-reading this for a book club recently, I find that it still really holds up. It is a fantastically weird story that just keeps building and peeling back new layers of Savannah. It is all proper on the outside but then you get dirty dealings and scam artists, voodoo doctors, political infighting, and multiple bizarre murder trials, all in a city that seems determined to remain stuck deeply in the past.

I love the story of the wealthy woman who orders custom iron gates for her house, then refuses to buy them because she says they are ugly. When the manufacturer slashes the price to sell them off as scrap metal, she sends somebody over to buy them for her and puts them on her house. It is endless stories like that which make this book entertaining and intriguing. Maybe all towns have characters like this, but Berendt really knows how to find them.

With the overarching arc of the book centering on whether Jim Williams gets away with murder (or was he really guilty? or was it probably impossible for him to get a fair trial in Savannah?), you find yourself cheering for him to get away with it. That's quite an odd position to find yourself.

I imagine lots of criticism of this book (and of new journalism in general) is that the author becomes too close to the subjects to really be objective about the story. Whether it is good journalism is an open question, but it certainly makes for a good read.