"The Confession" by John Grisham

432 pages

In 1998, a popular white high school cheerleader named Nicole disappeared from Slone, Texas. One of her black classmates, Dante, confessed to raping and murdering her, though he and his lawyer maintain that he is innocent and was forced into confessing after hours of interrogation and threats from the police. Even though Nicole's body was never found and there was no evidence linking Dante to the crime except for his disputed confession and an uncertain witness, Dante was convicted and sentenced to death.

Fast forward nine years. Only a week remains between Dante and execution. In Kansas, young Lutheran minister Keith Schroeder receives a visitor who claims to be the actual killer of Nicole. His name is Travis Boyette, and he's just finished serving time for a different rape. He has a brain tumor that is expected to kill him within a year, so when he saw the news about Dante's upcoming execution, he decided to do something right at the end of his life by confessing to the murder and saving Dante from lethal injection. Keith vows to help Travis take responsibility and stop the execution, but he soon discovers that it won't be as simple as he initially thought. Travis keeps changing his mind about coming clean, and officials would rather believe that Travis is a nutcase than admit their mistakes. As the execution time gets closer, the fight to clear Dante's name comes down to the wire.

This book is INTENSE. My nerves were going crazy as I read. I cared deeply for the characters and what happened to them, though I think this was due more to emotions about the situation than connections with the characters themselves. Grisham is obviously very much against the death penalty, and even I, who agree with him, think he beats readers over the head with his message. Although in my opinion he went a little overboard and oversimplified the issue, he makes some good points that will stick with me. The situation he presents is outrageous and overdramatic, but it demonstrates things that have actually gone wrong in capital punishment cases in the past. "The Confession" is bound to create plenty of thought and discussion.