Palmyra Atoll was featured in a recent issue of The Nature Conservancy's magazine. The article also mentioned this book, which is how I learned of its existence.

If your experience with criminal trial consists of Law & Order, you will find the very detailed trial retelling hard to slog through. The trial is the meat of the book. After the initial sunshine and excitement on Palmyra, the courtroom in rainy San Francisco isn't quite as scintillating, especially since it takes place 11 years later. I did read it though, because it's interesting to learn the strategy of a defense lawyer and mostly because I was hoping to find out WHAT HAPPENED. I confess that I skipped the 20 or so pages of the summation to get to the verdict.