The Confession, by John Grisham

Synopsis

The premise of The Confession by John Grisham is a good one for sure  - an innocent man, Donté Drumm, is about to be executed, and the one who is guilty, Travis Boyette, has decided that it's time to confess that he is the one who actually committed the crime (he has an incurable brain tumor and has essentially been in jail since the murder for other crimes). He manages to convince a pastor to drive from Kansas to Texas the night before the execution so that he can try to stop it.

The first part of the book was very exciting as we watch them racing to TX to try to get there in time, as well as following the legal team of the man on death row as they try to get his execution stayed. We read in more detail about the horrific crime committed by Travis, and this is juxtaposed against the violent seizures caused by his tumor and the stories he tells from his childhood.

**SPOILERS**

Unfortunately, the second part of the book slows down quite a bit. In fact, hardly anything seems to happen. Donté is executed and Travis leads a team of people to where he buried the body, leaving no doubt that he is the one who committed the crime. Most of this part of the book seemed to deal with how people reacted to the fact that a proven innocent man was just executed - the cops who got an illegal confession, the governor who should have stayed the execution when Travis came forward, the family of the murdered girl, etc. Of course, this whole time, we're thinking, if only Travis had come forward one day earlier, he would have had time to show people the body and prove Donté's innocence.

Easily, the best part about the book was the twist that occurred shortly before the end. We realize that Travis, although he has a brain tumor, it is not nearly as serious as the readers, and other characters, were led to believe. His limp, headaches and seizures were all faked. It seems as though he deliberately waited until it was too late to come clean. Then, since everyone believed him to be an invalid, he was easily able to escape. I had figured there would be a twist, though I thought that it would be that Donté was actually involved in the crime.

One thing I did not like about the book was that there was all this foreshadowing that Travis was going to try to come after the pastor's wife, but ultimately he is captured when he tries to kidnap a random woman in a parking lot. Makes me wonder what the point was of having him repeatedly talk to the pastor about how cute his wife is, etc. Given how little happened in the second part of the book, it could have led to a nice action sequence.

Final Thought

All in all, it was a classic Grisham novel, dealing not only with a misapplication of justice, but also the racial issues in a small Texas town. But, not his best novel. Easily could have been shorter and faster-paced.

The Unit, by Ninni Holmqvist

Synopsis


The Unit, by Ninni Holmqvist, is quite possibly one of the creepiest books I've read in a long time. You spend the whole book with a serious case of the heebie-jeebies and at the end, you are really thankful that it is only a dystopia, and not the way things actually are.

The premise of the novel is a world in which those who are childless (women at the age of 50, men at 60) are required to go live in the Unit, where they must participate in medical experiments and donate organs as needed, until it slowly kills them. Dorrit, the main character, sees her friends there donate kidneys, parts of their livers, as well as participate in experiments that have serious repercussions, like brain tumors. Ultimately, every person there must make the "final donation," in which every part of them donated. This can be done when the person is getting too sick to participate in experiments, or just if those in charge decide it's time. It is incredibly haunting to listen to Dorrit describe so matter-of-factly what is happening to her and to those around her.

Despite the creepiness, and in fact probably because of it, I absolutely loved this book. I loved how even though these people are basically living in a body farm, everyone around them is wonderful - beautiful gardens, huge library, gourmet restaurants, state-of-the-art sports complex, etc. I enjoyed how qualities like loyalty are considered a detriment, and therefore something to avoid at all costs. There were a couple of decent plot twists that I found truly surprising, which made the end of the book truly unexpected.

**SPOILERS**

It was interesting to see how Dorrit's relationship with Johannes developed - it was a very typical courtship, which in that society is essentially outlawed. When Dorrit discovers she's pregnant, it is really unexpected. After all, she is 51 and her lover is in his 60s. As for his reaction, it is clear that he is not just happy about her pregnancy - there is something else going on - and when the reader (and Dorrit) realizes that he has gone for his final donation the next day, it is so tragic. As Dorrit points out, if she had gotten together with him in "the community" (ie. life outside the Unit) and gotten pregnant, then neither of them would have ended up there, and they could have had a very happy life together.

When Dorrit is able to escape from the Unit, it is virtually unbelievable that she would choose to go back, but that is what she does. She chooses to give her baby up for adoption (the other alternative would have been to have the entire fetus transplanted to someone else early on in the pregnancy), and then presumably does her final donation not too long after that. Despite the fact that she appears to recognize the heinousness of the Unit, the values have been so ingrained in her that she cannot stay away, under the guise of giving her baby a better life.

At the end of the book we realize that it is in fact something that Dorrit herself has written (the character is a novelist), which is not an altogether original or surprising ending. The only problem I had with it is that the sex scenes in the book are relatively explicit, and I found it hard to believe that she would write that about her own body and experiences, but maybe that is part of the new mentality of that world?

Final Thought

All in all, a great book! I highly recommend it. After having read this and the Millenium series, both of which take place in Sweden, I definitely do not have a strong desire to go there. I am sure similar issues are present in North America as well and I would love to read a book with a comparable dystopic view that takes place closer to home.

Welcome...

I have decided that it was time to do something about all the novels I read. Thanks to my wonderful hubby, I am pretty well-supplied with all different kinds of books, which I pretty much devour. I don't necessarily have a favourite genre, though my favorite series is Harry Potter (such a cliché!).

I am going to use this blog to give my reviews of all these different books. You may ask what my credentials are - I did study English Lit, though that was ages ago. I guess what makes me the most qualified is just the sheer number of novels that I've read - ranging from young adult novels, dystopic novels, police procedurals, etc... Some of these reviews will be pretty well-known novels (ex. The Help) while others will be not as well known (ex. Christopher Pike's Thirst series).

Oh, I should mention that I am starting this just after having a baby - Baby N is less than 2 weeks old - so it may be sporadic, but hopefully I'll be able to maintain it relatively regularly.

Enjoy, and feel free to comment your own thoughts on these books. I take no offense. :)