Review: The Confession

The Confession by John Grisham
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My god this stupid book did a number on me.

Brilliant, but goddamn what a rollercoaster of frustration.

The story begins with the titular Confession - a man named Travis rocks up to a church and confesses to a murder in another state. He's recently got out of prison and realised the man accused of his crime is about to be executed. So begins the race to save an innocent man.

The intensity of rage I felt at the legal process while reading this book is almost unparalleled. Everything was so drawn out, the loopholes and paperwork and arguing and technicalities and bad police work, corruption ... it was absolutely endless. You're given a murder, a man who was set up and imprisoned for the murder, and now a man coming forward to confess to the crime. So it should have been so goddamn SIMPLE but instead we have to read through 300-odd pages of this drawn out BEUROCRACY that sits like an impossible mountain between an innocent man and his freedom.

Hence the frustration.

The worst part of this 'thriller' is that this is the reality of the justice system. A little corruption goes a long way and all of the little details that impede justice being done are just a friggin JOKE when you look at it from a logical standpoint. People covering their own asses and considering that more important than saving an innocent man. It really sickened me.

I'll make my own confession - I nearly gave up on this book, because it was breaking my heart.

This is just not in any way a satisfying story, but it IS insanely captivating and highlights so many issues with the American justice system. It definitely kept me on the edge.

I can't recommend it genuinely because it honestly was a traumatising read, but if you're after a thriller that will fully immerse you then maybe you'll love it. It's a brilliantly written story, but GOD IT HURTS.

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