Book Review: The Confession

John Grisham's new book The Confession has taken some criticism for being overtly opposed to the death penalty.  This is true, it is -- and readers familiar with Grisham know that he has few qualms about using fiction to provoke thought on an issue, while ultimately advancing his own ideas.  Where he takes some valid criticism is that prosecutors, judges, and governors in this book who are pro-death penalty are all corrupt.  Those who are not opposed are the "good guys."  Readers have said, quite righly, that  this is unrealistic.  Plenty of agenda driven people-of-conscience support the death penalty.  But, Grisham's agenda does not undo the story, and readers who support capital punishment will not be alienated by Grisham's characterizations, mainly because the issue is solid, and the story is good.

This isn't the most original Grisham has been.  Much of the backbone of this story re-treads issues raised in his exemplary A Time to Kill.  But his story of a demonstratedly innocent man on Death Row in Texas, waiting for his turn while others race to save him is told with Grisham's usual sense of pacing and characterization.  There are not pro and anti death penalty characters in this book.  There are just people doing what they think is right, and the labels and judgments are left to the reader.  And that's the way it should be!

Particularly engrossing to me is his depiction of the effect being on Death Row has on the incarcerated.  Many of us might say "who cares?"  And, while I don't know if Grisham makes us care about the character, he refuses to adopt the mentality that human decency should be stripped away from those in prison.  More importantly, he's a subtle enough writer to not overtly preach his side, letting the reader fill in those blanks with labels of "fair" and "unfair."  Readers who choose to not care about those on Death Row will have to make a conscious choice not to care, and that's where Grisham's agenda shines through.  He tells a story of an innocent man convicted of a crime he did not commit, but to me, he invests too much in the assumption that one innocent man will create this flash of revelation, and the whole system will be re-examined.  Grisham does not want us to say, "So what, it's just one guy," but we could.  I wonder what his answer would be.

So, while Grisham has been better, this one works.  Grisham's depicted too often as "fluff reading."  The writing isn't hard, but the issues are.  He makes readers bring their own values to bear on the issue, and in so doing, we learn a little bit about ourselves.  Nothing wrong with that!

Hudson Public Library has plenty of Grisham, by the way, and there's so much Grisham circulating throughout the MORE Online Catalog that it's easy to find something good right away (or at least in a day or two). 

My Rating: *** of *****