The Confession

A Novel

By: John Grisham

Narrated by: Scott Sowers

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In this “grab-a-reader-by-the-shoulders suspense story” (The Washington Post) from “the master of the legal thriller” (USA Today), an innocent man is about to be executed—and only a guilty man can save him.

WINNER OF THE HARPER LEE PRIZE FOR LEGAL FICTION

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, 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 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?

Critic reviews

“Brilliant . . . The Confession is the kind of grab-a-reader-by-the-shoulders suspense story that demands to be inhaled as quickly as possible. But it’s also a superb work of social criticism in the literary troublemaker tradition of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle.”—The Washington Post

“[John Grisham] is a master at pacing. . . . The book starts fast and finishes faster.”—Los Angeles Times

“Packed with tension, legal roadblocks and shocking revelations . . . Readers who share his views as well as those sitting on the fence will find much to love and lament in the tragic story of Donté Drumm.”—USA Today

“Grisham is an adept ringmaster. . . . He channels his zeal and his legal expertise into a story that his fans will appreciate.”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch

This opened my eyes, made me sad too

So many truths in a fictional story has opened my eyes to the problems with the death penalty. I never knew a lot of the real facts behind investigations and investigators.

Used Headphones to Listen to at Work

This is one of the best books by Grisham and Scott Sowers does a fabulous job narrating the book. Highly recommend for anyone who enjoys legal thrillers or wants to contemplate morals and what they would do if a stranger's life is on the line.

Great story, irritating character voices!

Story was good, keeps you going. Sometimes though it becomes simply unbelievable that there are that many stupid people in the judicial system in Texas! So with that, Mr. Grisham's political views definitely come through in the book.

Scott Sowers is best with the narration portion, however, most of the characters voices he attempts to create are simply irritating to listen too! Overall, worth the credit.

Suspense and intrigue

This book is long but so suspenseful. We listened to it on a long trip, then had to spend two more nights at home to finish it because we couldn't wait to hear the rest. The reader was very good at telling the story.

OUTSTANDING GREAT BOOK GREAT NARRATOR!

This is on of those audiobooks that stops your world and you just have to listen to it all day every day!!!
A+