Book Review: The Confession

The Confession
by John Grisham

Synopsis: On the eve of the execution of Donté Drumm, an African-American high-school football star, for the 1998 murder of a white cheerleader whose body was never found, Travis Boyette, a creepy multiple sex offender, confesses that he's guilty of the crime to Kansas minister Keith Schroeder. With Drumm's legal options dwindling fast and with the threat of civil unrest in his Texas hometown if the execution proceeds, Schroeder battles to convince Boyette to go public with the truth--and to persuade the condemned man's attorney that Boyette's story needs to be taken seriously.

One of the things I like most about Grisham's writing is probably one of the things that most holds this book back. He's a very straight-forward storyteller. I love how he draws his characters and they're very realistic and behave so... but also that means there's never a lot of curve balls. In this book, there are none. It sets out on a course and just stays right on it. I love the story and find the subject of the death penalty to be very interesting, it's just he doesn't do a whole lot with it other than give the story of a wrongfully convicted death row inmate and the whirlwind surrounding his case and execution. He has very passionate views on the politics of the death penalty flaws in our justice system and he draws a fictional story slanted only in the 1 direction... his.

It is an interesting book though with a nice look into the legal system and the death penalty. It's very fast-paced and interesting and he's got some great characters in it. I've always thought he was a great storyteller, and this book is no different. But be prepared to be fed his political views as I felt it was a bit preachy at times. I also think he makes some racial issues strictly black and white, and never gray. The line between races in the book is just too pronounced for me to feel it's realistic.

On the death penalty aspect, he makes solid points and I found myself thinking about the West Memphis Three case here in Arkansas a lot throughout as there are many similarities. If you're interested in this sort of thing then this piece of fiction will please you I think. I'd also highly recommend his book The Innocent Man, which is nonfiction and on the same subject and I assume prompted him to write this novel.

8/10