The Confession - John Grisham

The wheels of justice grind so damn slow. And yet, if one were a condemned man living the nightmare of Death Row, all that time might just be the greatest gift given. THAT IS ... if the system weren't so darn slanted. In this particular look at the legal system and the society around hot issues, John Grisham takes on the death penalty and the state of Texas. The story revolves around a missing person case, an assumed murder, a railroaded young man (who happens to be black), a heavily coerced confession of rape and murder, a zealous defense lawyer with a real crazy streak, a forthright Luthern preacher, an ex-con with a strange onset of conscience, and the police, politicians, and legal system in which all of them are embroiled.

This was a hard book to put down, as there is so much going on in it - from the frenzied last minute appeal process to the wranglings and avoidance of the appellate judges and lawyers- from the emotional rollercoaster that the families of the presumed victim and the presumed killer ride before the death sentence date arrives to the tense and delicate discussions between preacher and confessor - from the circus of the media trucks to the smoky destruction of black and white churches in the town where the trial has been based. The pages fly by.

There have been books that I've read that have made me think deeply on my feelings about capital punishment. Dead Man Walking, In Cold Blood, and Helter Skelter come to mind immediately. Each time, I've had such strong reactions that it surprised me. This book also caused soul searching. The legal system is portrayed as broken, manipulated in the worst way, politicized for the sake of careers, and gawked at by media and public alike. Victims and accused become commodities to be exploited, played for digital bits and left aside when a bigger story comes along. Truth is a thing that is beside the point.

Somewhere in that muddled mess is the humanity behind the concept of justice and truth. It comes to the fore in the character of Rev. Keith Schroeder, a man placed in the position of knowing the truth and having the chance to right a wrong. Righting that wrong, though,takes him on a strange trip into the heart of the legal wranglings around the death sentence of a young man who has sat and watched the wheels of justice grind away and waited for too long.

Another good read from John Grisham ...

A Time to Kill - John Grisham

I'm not usually a lover of the legal/criminal thriller, but over the years, John Grisham has captured my attention. I've usually become familiar with his stories through the movie adaptations of his work, but I've also begun to pick up his books on occasion. It started, though, with his book called A Painted House, which was NOT a legal thriller. I found it refreshing that he would leave the proven moneymaker formula that he'd cornered and branch out a bit. I also liked his book called Skipping Christmas, a nice comment on leaving commercialism and the rushed and fake nature of one up man ship that Christmas becomes in certain circles of society. The first legal thriller that I read was The Firm. That was good enough that I saw the movie when it was released. And then ... I left well enough alone for a long time.

A while back, I heard that Grisham would be releasing a new novel that picks up after A Time to Kill leaves off. Back comes the lawyer that was embroiled in the legal case that A Time to Kill brought to readers. Back comes the locale and the courthouse, the tension, the groups within Mississippi society that use the criminal case as a springboard for their own agendas, and the dark undercurrent of  'backstory'. My curiosity was piqued, but I'd not read his first blockbuster of a novel ... until now.

Let me say that vigilante justice is a scary proposition for me to consider. On page one, the book places the reader right smack dab in the center of a heinous act. A child is abducted, beaten, raped, and left for dead only to survive and suffer great psychological pain and irreparable physical harm. Her father, while calm and strong for his family, is so deeply traumatized by what has happened to his little girl that he snaps. He gets a gun and sets about killing these two drunken criminal thugs in a very public way.

Thus begins the domino effect that a sensational murder case will cause in this small rural county in Mississippi. Black leaders will galvanize the black community, white supremacists will drag the specter of the KKK back to the public eye, prosecution and defense lawyers will grovel for publicity to enhance their careers, local friends will be challenged to remain friendly with each other as they confront their biases, and a small tight-knit family will be thrown into the limelight under the worst of conditions. It's a tight story with a lot of threads and Grisham tells it well.

I was still left with uneasy feelings and questions about the discrepancies within the legal system where race is concerned, the ethics of lawyers and society's prejudices and passions for vigilantism. Perhaps that is precisely what Grisham aimed to leave his reader with ... boy, what a read!

Addendum- Sycamore Row , Grisham's new book, is currently sitting pretty at #1 on the New York Times best seller list ... ca ching, John!