Reviews

“VERDICT: Come for the Hitchcock, stay for the history. Fascinating.”
— Library Journal

“This well-researched and well-crafted book … tells the story of Manny Balestrero, a Jackson Heights musician who was wrongly arrested for robberies in 1953, and the making of The Wrong Man, Hitchcock’s 1956 gripping retelling of Balestrero’s ordeal.”
—Daniel Bubbeo, LI Arts, Theater and Books Editor, Newsday

“The Wrong Man is a profoundly important film, and Nothing to Fear is a profoundly vital text.’
— Christopher Schobert, The Film Stage.

“Arresting and important ... Lawyer Jason Isralowitz debuts with a painstaking account of the Balestrero case and the Hitchcock movie based on it, set within the revealing context of New York’s history of wrongful convictions.”
— New York Journal of Books

“Revealing and insightful. . . Isralowitz finds nifty details about the making of the movie.”
— Randy Dotinga, Noir City, the magazine of the Film Noir Foundation

“Thanks to Jason Isralowitz for finally writing a book about Hitchcock’s most under-appreciated movie. Isralowitz brilliantly contextualizes the movie and the true-life story of Manny Balestrero, preceded by an eye-opening prologue detailing the justice system’s long history of indicting ‘the wrong man’ (and, in a few cases, ‘the wrong woman’). A must for both cinephiles and true crime buffs.”
— Bruce Goldstein, Repertory Artistic Director, Film Forum, New York

“A corner in Queens, New York has been named ‘Manny ‘The Wrong Man’ Balestrero Way’. In telling his story and the movie about it, Jason Isralowitz combines true crime, legal history, and film — three topics I find endlessly interesting — and he is the right person for the job. . . It’s clear that he has spent a lot of time watching the director’s work and thinking about it, and he understands that to ‘read’ Hitchcock, you don’t just analyze his films thematically like you might with a book (and as some do when discussing movies). He appreciates film grammar and how Hitchcock, as visual a filmmaker who ever lived, uses the camera and shot selection and editing and his compositions within the frame, and everything else within his non-verbal arsenal, to convey meaning and emotion. He also happens to write well, with a straightforward and concise style.”
— Scott Adlerberg, author of five novels and host of the annual “Reel Talks” film commentary series in Bryant Park in Manhattan

“Alfred Hitchcock books are a genre unto themselves. This one takes a refreshing new slant by using the legendary filmmaker’s harrowing 1956 drama The Wrong Man to look at the broader context of historical social justice movements around wrongful prosecution.”
— Culture and Film Critic Nathalie Atkinson, Zoomer magazine

“Nothing to Fear is a fascinating history, not only for fans of Hitchcock but for anyone interested in how our justice system works (and sometimes doesn't). The story of ‘the wrong man’ continues to resonate well into the 21st Century, and will make you question your assumptions about innocence and guilt.”
— Dawn Raffel, author of The Strange Case of Dr. Couney, named by NPR as one of 2018’s Great Reads and winner of a 2019 Christopher Award

“Jason Isralowitz’s Nothing to Fear perfectly blends the making of the classic Alfred Hitchcock movie and the real life story upon which it is based. A terrific read for all those interested in the history of motion pictures and the history of Queens, NY, the home location of The Wrong Man.”
— Jason D. Antos, Executive Director of the Queens Historical Society and Queens Historian 

“A full account of the Manny Balestrero story and the making of the film. Well written and researched, the book is a welcome addition to the growing Hitchcock library.”
— Dan Auiler, author of Vertigo: The Making of a Hitchcock Classic