Let me say up front that I have long been a fan of John Grisham.  Grisham has now written 25 books and I have read all of them except for Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, which was released in May 201o and was written for teen readers.  I have that book and it is on my personal “short list” of books to read.  John Grisham’s books have all been bestsellers, but he is best known I would say for the first few books he wrote.  The first two, A Time to Kill (1989) and The Firm (1991) were just sensational in my mind.  He has written other good books since then, but those two will always remain among my favorite books of all authors.  And, while Grisham has written a lot of bestsellers, they have not all measured up to the quality one would expect from such a popular author.  I thought Grisham hit a low point a few years ago with his book A Painted House  (2001).  Ford County: Stories  (2009), a collection of short stories published fairly recently was another low point.

But, I have stuck with John Grisham, and have always finished the books.  They have always been interesting stories, but they haven’t all had the blockbuster characteristics of his first few.  Now, Grisham has released The Confession and it seems that he is back on track with a book which grabs you and you don’t want to lay it down even though  you know you have got to get up early the next morning.  It is a page-turner (for most of the book).

The Confession is the dramatic story of a young black man, Donte Drumm, who is on Death Row in Texas for the murder of a white high school girl, Nicole Yarber.  The two were friends in their small Texas town, but Drumm claims complete innocence in the crime.  Drumm had been arrested for the crime and under very questionable circumstances and pressure, confessed to the murder.  Later, he recanted his confession, but too many circumstances and people stood in the way for his denial of the murder to bring any relief to his situation.  Even though no body had ever been found, Drumm was still presented as the unquestioned murderer by the legal authorities.

The book tells of the days leading up to Drumm’s scheduled death by lethal injection for the murder.  Having been on Death Row for nine years, all appeals have run out.  Drumm’s lawyers frantically work to find a way to get the execution stayed, fully believing that their man is innocent.   As time for the execution draws eerily near, out of nowhere comes a man claiming that he is the one who murdered Yarber and buried her miles away in another state.  This strange character, Travis Boyette, shows up mysteriously in Topeka, Kansas at the church office of a Lutheran minister, Keith Schroeder, on a Monday morning just a few days prior to the scheduled Thursday execution of Drumm. 

The minister had certainly never been involved in any kind of situtation like this one, but as he came to believe Boyette’s story, he knew he had to get involved.  Boyette said he wanted to go to Texas to confess the crime, show the authorities where the victims was buried, and prevent an innocent man from being executed.

The story takes off.  Drumm has an excellent legal team, headed up by an attorney named Robbie Flak, and they are working round the clock to stop the execution.  Meanwhile, government officials are doing everything they can to prevent any delay of the execution.  The story does become quite a page-turner and is quite sensational.  Race relations become very heated and actually get out of control in the small Texas city that is home to the supposed victim and the convicted murderer.  There is no doubt that the city will be one huge volcano of fire should Donte Drumm actually be executed.

To potential readers, you may want to know that it is very obvious that Grisham vividly paints a anti-death penalty picture as he tells this fast moving story.  He also doesn’t seem to hide that he feels the government in Texas is far too conservative, and he seems to take pride in making these right-wing governmental officials seem prejudiced and not very smart.  While I lean to the left in my own personal views, and I am personally against the death penalty, I can see how Grisham’s writing style in The Confession might not sit well with some people. 

As I have mentioned already, the book is a page-turner.  But I do believe that Grisham could have probably sliced off about 40 or so pages at the end.  He gets very lengthy in wrapping up the book.  There are way too many details in the book after the story’s true climax.

I did enjoy the book.  I feel like it is one of the better books that John Grisham has written in recent years.  If you are a strong advocate of the death penalty, and you watch Fox News, you are going to need to set aside some of your own opinions and read for entertainment.  John Grisham is a great storyteller and it will be worth your time to indulge yourself in his latest legal thriller.

On a scale of 1 to 5 (5 being great) columbiabookseller gives The Confession a 4.

The Confession  by John Grisham

Doubleday  2010

ISBN #9780385528047 

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