The Confession (novel)
Encyclopedia
The Confession is a 2010 legal thriller novel by John Grisham, his second novel to be published in 2010 (the previous was Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer
). The Confession is about the murder of a high school cheerleader and how an innocent man is arrested for it. This was Grisham's first novel to be released simultaneously in digital and hardcopy format.
Meanwhile, Boyette had fled to Kansas and had lived there ever since. He had been suffering with brain tumor for the past nine years and his health had deteriorated. In 2007, with Drumm's execution only a week away, reflecting on his miserable life, he decides to do what is right; confess. He meets a priest Reverend Keith Schroeder who takes him to Slone. Despite his confession to the public, the execution proceeds on and Drumm is executed by lethal injection. Boyette then reveals the resting place of Nikki and DNA samples show signs of rape and assault on her body.
looks at the novel in a favorable light, commenting on Grisham's deft ability at pacing in his novels.
Writing in the Religious Left Law blog, David Nickol criticizes the novel for not doing what it set out, presumably, to achieve; i.e. to present a firm case against the death-penalty through the medium of fiction. Its failings come down to the fact that the events and facts of the Donté case "are so egregious that...[o]ne does not need to be a death-penalty opponent to find repugnant the blatant railroading of someone so clearly innocent".
Maureen Corrigan
in the Washington Post has reviewed how Grisham is getting across a message to the reader about his own views on the death penalty deriving from his work on the Innocence Project
. This and the race issue which divides the community in Texas between Blacks and Whites is described by Corrigan as Grisham's "superb work of social criticism".
Corrigan does not consider this easy reading "don't read this book if you just want to kick back in your recliner and relax", because "Grisham doesn't spare his readers or himself from gruesome experiences or hard questions".
On Amazon readers report mixed critics . One of the major negative points is the stereotypism of the various characters. One user writes "... I also found it so stereotypical of the entertainment industry today: Just about every black or liberal-leaning person was slanted as a hero or sympathetic, and every white more conservative leaning person was portrayed as either evil or stupid. That made the book even more boring and predictable". Another reader criticizes "... that Grisham doesn't attack the death penalty. He attacks the legal system, the misfits in the system, particularly overly-zealous, corrupt prosecutors, and then makes it sound as though it's the death penalty at fault..."
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer
Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, known as Theodore Boone: Young Lawyer in the UK, is a 2010 legal thriller and the first novel by John Grisham for 8-12-year-olds, although not the first story to involve a minor protagonist. It is projected as being the first in a series about Theodore Boone...
). The Confession is about the murder of a high school cheerleader and how an innocent man is arrested for it. This was Grisham's first novel to be released simultaneously in digital and hardcopy format.
Plot summary
In 1998, Travis Boyette abducted and raped Nicole "Nikki" Yarber, a teenage girl and high school student in Slone, Texas and buried her body in the outskirts of the city. He watches unfazed as the police arrest and convict Donté Drumm, a black American who is the high school football player and has no connection with the crime. Despite his innocence, he is sent to the death row with a nine-year prison sentence. While Drumm serves his prison sentence, lawyer Robbert "Robbie" Flak fights his case while Black Americans protest his false conviction, creating a law and order situation.Meanwhile, Boyette had fled to Kansas and had lived there ever since. He had been suffering with brain tumor for the past nine years and his health had deteriorated. In 2007, with Drumm's execution only a week away, reflecting on his miserable life, he decides to do what is right; confess. He meets a priest Reverend Keith Schroeder who takes him to Slone. Despite his confession to the public, the execution proceeds on and Drumm is executed by lethal injection. Boyette then reveals the resting place of Nikki and DNA samples show signs of rape and assault on her body.
Donté Drumm
Donté's ordeal begins as an 18-year-old with everything going for him. He has only had mild altercations with law enforecement, for possession of cannabis when he was a little younger. Now he is a star on the high school football team and loved by the girls. His potential and ambition are the source of jealousy inspired in Joey Gamble who when rejected by Nicole takes this out on Donté. Joey tips off the police with an anonymous phone-call, later proven to be his using voice-analysis. When the police take Donté in for questioning this is not formally an arrest and Donté naĩvely but in good faith, to expediate matters, signs away his Miranda rights. This is the catalyst which sees him detained for the next 9 years and ultimately his execution. In the intervening charges, custody, trials, appeal and death roRoberta Drumm
The long-suffering mother of Donté who is convinced her son is innocent and prays constantly for a reprieve. She is part of a large family. Her husband, Donté's father Riley Drumm, died of heart disease whilst Donté was on death-row.Nicole "Nikki" Yarber
The girl whose brutal rape and suspected killing led to capital murder charges, a crime upon conviction, can lead to a death sentence in the State of Texas. Nicole had everything going for her and was a cheerleader and sang in church.Reeva Yarber
The girl's mother. Reeva is loud-mouthed and theatrical in her behaviour as well as irrational. She has been known to drive more than a hundred miles downriver to where it was speculated her daughter's body may have been dumped. She is adamant that the death penalty is right and is happy to say this to anyone who will listen. Reeva lives with her partner who is not Nicole's father and seems exasperated with Reeva's nine years of agony.Travis Boyette
The real killer who had actually been in police custody in Slone at the same time Donté was detained. He is a serial rapist and had been abused himself from the age of eight by a sick uncle who told his parent or guardian that they were going "fishing". He claims to be suffering from terminal brain cancer and carries a cane because of an apparent limp. It turns out the tumor is not malignant and the cane is there for protection in his half-way house. His seizures however, and intense headaches, are real. He has spent more than half of his 44 years in prisons. He remains a creep throughout and on a number of occasions intimates to Reverend Schroeder how he thinks his wife Dana is "cute".Robbie Flak
The heir to the family Flak Law Firm. This advocate works tirelessly for his clients. He makes a promise to Donté minutes before his execution that he would find the real killer and exonerate his name for the sake of his family and mother- and throw a party to celebrate at his graveside. Robbie leaves no stone left unturned for clients on death-row and goes the extra mile. He files every possible motion in his appeals and he does not consider his job finished for Donté until he has sued everyone responsible for his wrongful execution, even those parties for whom immunity from prosecution applies. Outside of law Robbie does not seem to have much social life and both he and his romantic partner are happy to keep their work lives separate. Robbie is not particularly religious and yet gets invited by the Black community of Slone to speak at Donté's funeral.Reverend Keith Schroeder
The Kansas based Lutheran pastor, who aids and abets in the transportation of a convicted felon across State lines. The Reverend Schroeder strives to see the best in all people and emphasizes forgiveness. He has strong scruples and battles with himself to discern in complex situations what is the right thing. He is seen towards the end of the book trying to bring out in Donté his past belief in God, when all hope for a last-minute reprieve from the Governor has been abandoned. Keith is married to Dana who is substituting for his regular secretary at the Mission on the day that Boyette first meets Keith.Judge Elias Henry
This judge is the only one who gets on well with Robbie. He is well respected although in the past he had lost out to politics and suffered a nervous breakdown. He wrote numerous articles during the civil rights movement of the 60s and was considered to be a little radical amongst the Whites of Texas during that period. Judge Henry had always considered the Donté case to be thoroughly flawed and he would have thrown it out at opening trial had he been sitting at the time. Judge Henry lives with his wife.Joey Gamble
Gamble's false testimony was crucial in the prosecution's case against Donté. He was jealous of Donté and wanted the death of the girl he fancied to be blamed on Donté and pathetically assumed the cops would wind up dismissing it all. At the last minute he agreed to sign an affidavit recanting his testimony and admitting he committed perjury but it was too late.Detective Drew Kerber
The detective who arrested and questioned Donté during the case. He is a cruel, evil and selfish character who, despite countless innocent protests from Donté, persists in shouting and angrily accusing him. He eventually obtains a false confession from Donté through shouting and trickery, although it is implied that he may have beaten Donté for good measure, given that he is found lying on the floor weeping by the end of Kerber's questioning. During Robbie Flak's conference, it is mentioned that he has a "history of false confessions", implying that many other innocent lives may have been wrongly convicted as well by him.Prosecutor Paul Koffee
The prosecutor presiding over the Nicole Yarber case. Both he, and Kerber can be seen as the main villains of the story, as they are both unrelenting, evil characters who manage to convict Donté with false evidence, and false testimony. The possibility of Donté being innocent never seems to occur to Paul, as he only cares about his reputation, which takes a nosedive when his scandal with Judge Vivian Grale is revealed to the world. He even has the nerve to suggest that Donté may have had an "accomplice" once Nicole's body was found, all in an effort to save his reputation which he craves more than the life of an innocent man.Gill Newton
The Governor of Texas. An extreme supporter of capital punishment who refuses to prolong the execution even after seeing Travis' televised confession. Once he learns of Donté's innocence, he childishly feigns ignorance of seeing Travis' confession, and desperately attempts to settle matters in the Middle East, just to leave his country. Like Koffee, Kerber and Judge Vivian Grale, he too only cares about his reputation, and doesn't acknowledge Donté as an innocent man despite the riots which tear the streets apart.Critical reception
Chris Erskine writing in the Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
looks at the novel in a favorable light, commenting on Grisham's deft ability at pacing in his novels.
Writing in the Religious Left Law blog, David Nickol criticizes the novel for not doing what it set out, presumably, to achieve; i.e. to present a firm case against the death-penalty through the medium of fiction. Its failings come down to the fact that the events and facts of the Donté case "are so egregious that...[o]ne does not need to be a death-penalty opponent to find repugnant the blatant railroading of someone so clearly innocent".
Maureen Corrigan
Maureen Corrigan
Maureen Corrigan is an American journalist, author and literary critic. She writes for the "Book World" section of The Washington Post, and is a book critic on the NPR radio program Fresh Air. In 2005, she published a literary memoir, Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Finding and Losing Myself in...
in the Washington Post has reviewed how Grisham is getting across a message to the reader about his own views on the death penalty deriving from his work on the Innocence Project
Innocence Project
An Innocence Project is one of a number of non-profit legal organizations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand dedicated to proving the innocence of wrongly convicted people through the use of DNA testing, and to reforming the criminal justice systems to...
. This and the race issue which divides the community in Texas between Blacks and Whites is described by Corrigan as Grisham's "superb work of social criticism".
Corrigan does not consider this easy reading "don't read this book if you just want to kick back in your recliner and relax", because "Grisham doesn't spare his readers or himself from gruesome experiences or hard questions".
On Amazon readers report mixed critics . One of the major negative points is the stereotypism of the various characters. One user writes "... I also found it so stereotypical of the entertainment industry today: Just about every black or liberal-leaning person was slanted as a hero or sympathetic, and every white more conservative leaning person was portrayed as either evil or stupid. That made the book even more boring and predictable". Another reader criticizes "... that Grisham doesn't attack the death penalty. He attacks the legal system, the misfits in the system, particularly overly-zealous, corrupt prosecutors, and then makes it sound as though it's the death penalty at fault..."