Reviewed by: Jonathan Rayner
Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Century
ISBN: 978 1 8460 5715 1
Price: £18.99

We have all known the tear duct stinging injustice of punishment for something we did not do. ‘It’s not fair!’ we would protest as children. But imagine how indescribably worse it would feel to be wrongly accused of murder – and after due process of law, to your utter incomprehension, anger and despair, sentenced to death by lethal injection.

That is the premise of John Grisham’s 21st novel, The Confession, released 28 October 2010. It tells the story of a convicted sex offender who abducted, raped and strangled a high school cheerleader in Texas. The murderer buried the body and then watched the police arrest an innocent young man from the victim’s school.

The young man’s name was Donte Drumm and he was a football star. He was also black and the victim was white, which can be a fatal combination in smalltown Texas. He was duly convicted and sentenced to execution by lethal injection. Nine years later, he was still on death row. His lawyers had tried everything, the state governor had refused a last-minute reprieve and Drumm had only days to live.

And then the real murderer came forward and confessed. Except how does a convicted sex offender, who has been in and out of jail for most of his adult life, convince politicians, judges and lawyers that for once he is telling the truth – and they are about to execute an innocent man?

Grisham has had much insight into wrongful conviction for capital offences. He first wrote on the subject in The Innocent Man (2006), the true story of Ronald Williamson, who came within five days of being executed for a crime he did not commit. Grisham is also involved with The Innocence Project, an organisation that works to overturn miscarriages of justice and campaigns for reforms to the criminal justice system.

That is not to say that The Confession is a dry account of procedural blunders that can sometimes prove fatal. And nor is it a protracted rant about the barbarity of the death sentence. It is, however, a novel that is gripping and thought-provoking, and peopled by a cast of strongly drawn characters.

Central to the storyline are Travis Boyette, the murderer, and Lutheran minister the Reverend Keith Schroeder. Boyette confesses to the minister and the plot kicks off, the two men thrown together in a race against time. They make an unlikely duo and an uncomfortable one, too, particularly when Boyette observes that Schroeder’s wife is ‘cute’ – a skin crawling moment. But then Boyette is utterly creepy, an understated psychopath with no sense of guilt or responsibility. He is unrepentant, as well, but you will have to read the book to understand why.

Robbie Flak, another key player, is the maverick lawyer who has worked tirelessly to secure Drumm’s release and is facing imminent defeat. His character is a tad formulaic: a diet of junk food and alcohol, with two divorces behind him and an ongoing feud with the district attorney. He is a plain talker, his team includes a former gumshoe and he is as straight as a die.

He is the perfect foil to a supporting cast of corrupt politicians, self-serving lawyers and even the murder victim’s mother, who milks the tragedy for every drop of TV show celebrity that she can.

If you have never read anything by Grisham, then you are probably one of a minority. There are currently more than 250 million copies of his books in print worldwide, translated into 29 languages. The Confession is by a practised writer at the peak of his powers – read it.

Topics