The Confession

A Novel

By: John Grisham

Narrated by: Scott Sowers

Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

An innocent man is about to be executed.

Only a guilty man can save him.

For every innocent man sent to prison, there is a guilty one left on the outside. He doesn’t understand how the police and prosecutors got the wrong man, and he certainly doesn’t care. He just can’t believe his good luck. Time passes and he realizes that the mistake will not be corrected: the authorities believe in their case and are determined to get a conviction. He may even watch the trial of the person wrongly accused of his crime. He is relieved when the verdict is guilty. He laughs when the police and prosecutors congratulate themselves. He is content to allow an innocent person to go to prison, to serve hard time, even to be executed.

Travis Boyette is such a man. In 1998, in the small East Texas city of Sloan, he abducted, raped, and strangled a popular high-school cheerleader. He buried her body so that it would never be found, then watched in amazement as police and prosecutors arrested and convicted Donté Drumm, a local football star, and marched him off to death row.

Now nine years have passed. Travis has just been paroled in Kansas for a different crime; Donté is four days away from his execution. Travis suffers from an inoperable brain tumor. For the first time in his miserable life, he decides to do what’s right and confess.

But how can a guilty man convince lawyers, judges, and politicians that they’re about to execute an innocent man?

"John Grisham is about as good a storyteller as we’ve got in the United States these days." ( The New York Times Book Review)

©2010 Belfry Holdings, Inc (P)2010 Random House Audio

Excellent as always

Would you listen to The Confession again? Why?

Yes, Grisham always has a good story line with twists and turns along the way.

Enjoyed story; sped up the narration

I enjoyed the story - Grisham really humanized the various people involved in a murder crime that seeks capital punishment as redemption - the accused, the guilty, the murdered victim, families of all, and the peripheral folks - families, lawyers, etc. I feel like the book provided great insight into complex issues.

The reading was a bit slow for me - I listened via an Android phone and I was very grateful that the Android audible app allowed me to increase the speed of the narrator's speech! That being said, I am generally a fast reader and speaker. The audio book is also ~15 hours so there's a lot to get through. The narrator's speed matches the tone of the book well and the setting - much of the story unfolds in Texas and the thought patterns of the characters are necessarily slow and reflective. I just wanted to get through the book faster.

Enjoy!

A Compelling, Poignant Story

The Confession: A Novel, seems more like a documentary than a novel. Its very serious subject(s) come alive in this thrilling and heartbreaking novel. Grisham has captured many points of view regarding the death penalty in a finely-woven and sensitive narrative. This was a compelling 'listen' from beginning to end, and I rushed out to purchase the book in print so that I could savor some of its most poignant vignettes at my leisure.

Cofession

I really enjoyed the audiobook. It kept my attention better than the actual book would have. I liked how the narrator used accents when reading the the charcters parts.

I was suckered in by the first chapter.

Grisham is a wonderful story teller. He reveals both sides of the experience very well.

Best Grisham Book in a While

Couldn't wait each day to get back to the book. Loved it. Great read .

Riveting and Well-Researched

I am so impressed with the telling of this story. The author has incredible understanding of the Texas Criminal Justice system, local and state government. Bravo, Mr. Grisham.

The Confession

If you like this author, you shouldn't miss this one for sure. He isn't my favorite, but it was still good.

Awesome!

This book was great. It kept me interested from start to finish. I couldn"t figure out how it was going to end. The narrater really did a wonderful job. He made the individual characters stand out from each other, which I haven"t experienced, as of yet.

Great book!!

I read several reviews before reading this book. There were many negative ones I recall. As i started i half expected to not be impressed but rather enjoyed from start to finish to my surprise. In hindsight I understand now that it is likely most reviewers of this books simply like or dislike based on their standing of capital punishment. So if you are one of those “kill em all and let God sort it out” people, well then this book will probably not be for you. However if you stand on the very realistic side of the possibility of innocent people being convicted and executed this is one for you!!! Killing is killing whether people, the State or Governments do it. Hopefully someday this country can stop this insanity.
I give this one two thumbs up.