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.