The Confession.

• Author: Mandell, David

The Confession By John Grisham

It's a routine day for Keith Schroeder, a Lutheran minister in Kansas. Planning his weekly sermon and visiting sick congregants are his main activities. His life changes forever when a drifter barges into his office, insisting on speaking with him. One look at him and Schroeder knows that he isn't the typical person asking to confide in the clergy.

His unlikely visitor, Travis Boyette, makes crude references to Schroeder's wife, but soon gets to the point. An execution is about to take place in Texas and an innocent man, Donte Drumm, will be killed for the murder of a young woman in the small town of Slone. Boyette says that he is the real murderer and wants to confess and stop the execution. He claims to be terminally ill with nothing to lose. Schroeder is skeptical, but his Internet search checks out. Boyette is a career criminal and was arrested for another crime in Slone at the time of the murder nine years earlier. No body was ever found. Boyette claims to have buried it near his hometown of Joplin, Missouri. He wants Pastor Schroeder to take Boyette to Texas, a violation of his parole, so that he can confess and save Drumm's life.

Schroeder has a decision to make. Should he get involved and break the law by taking Boyette out of state or return to his routine? Unwilling to let an innocent man die, he brings him to Texas and tries to save a life.

Once in Texas, the race is on. Drumm's controversial lawyer, Robbie Flak, must find a court or governor willing to listen to Boyette before the clock...