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A fantastic read that captures you from the beginning and doesn't stop until the end. The pacing is excellent and the development of the characters helps to navigate perfectly in a well-balanced Grisham effort. Word the read.

The Confession is another Grisham stunning and consciousness-raising great read. If there is a fault in the writing it is the constant flow of details given. And yet without these details the reader would be left with an overwhelming list of questions. For those readers who have never had a family member or friend living on death row you now get to experience the entire ordeal and pain of it all. Thank you Mr. Grisham for enlightening us. It was a rocky ride but one that we (society) desperately needed!

Great storytelling from a great author.I don't feel like retelling the story that you can read from the back cover, but it is one of those page-turners that you just cannot put down. Some surprises along the way with a few disappointments, nothing is sugarcoated, definitely could happen in real life.

Born & raised in Texas & a supporter of the death penalty. I cried my heart out , this book gave me opportunity to rethink things & see it from another point of view. I still support the death penalty, but there are things in the system that must be changed. A person sits way too long on death row & in cases like this the defense should have the opportunity to introduce evidence until the last minute & this is where the process breaks down. I have no solutions but there has to be a better way, they are given more opportunities. than their victims. This is a conversation that must be had folks

I really enjoyed this book. Mr. Grisham writes a page turner and has the class to keep the language clean. During the time I was reading this book, it inspired me to research how many states still have the death penalty and I was quite surprised to learn that 31 states still have it in place. Only 19 states plus the District of Columbia have abolished the death penalty. I am opposed to the death penalty because two wrongs don't make a right and murder is still murder. Solitary confinement seems like a greater punishment to me. Also if one researches the statistics, the death penalty does not serve as any deterrent in those states.

Some reviewers have bashed this book because of the negative portrayal of FOX news and other media outlets. Politically, I am a dyed-in-the wool conservative, and I have long been a proponent of the death penalty. Who knew that I could question the beliefs that I have held for so long and so fervently! The negative portrayal of FOX news is called "point of view," and the purpose of a novel is not to present both sides of an issue. I have a sincere appreciation of what Grisham accomplished in this novel.John Grisham is one of my favorite authors. I am impressed by the diversity of his works; from his legal thrillers to A Painted House to Theodore Bone to Calico Joe to The Innocent Man, he shows he is not afraid to tackle new styles and new subject matter. While I am not normally greatly affected by emotional writing, I have to admit that the tears were flowing as I read parts of the book. Not since reading John Steinbeck have I found myself rereading passages just because the writing touched me deeply. I finished reading this book over a week ago, and I still find my thoughts returning. I can't say that my viewpoint has changed regarding the death penalty, but I can say that I am re-examining beliefs that I had previously thought were unyielding.I loved this book!

This is my favorite John Gresham book! After working in the judicial system for many years, I have always enjoyed his courtroom drama & it is fun to read his descriptions of the various aspects of courthouse business. The first book of his that I read mentioned the big red & gold docket books & I knew then that he was familiar with the system. This book doesn't have much of that & at first it took me a while to really get into it, although it was a good story. Then, it about half way through it got very good. The characters were development was excellent & the action was exciting. I read some of the negative reviews & suppose that those people were expecting the courtroom drama that Mr. Grisham is best known for. As the author said in his "Author's Note", he didn't need much research for this one because none of it is true. I think he probably had a lot of fun writing this book & it shows.

I loved the early Grishams, before he decided to become a liberal commentator. I was hesitant to buy this one after quitting Grey Mountain in the middle due to the liberal propaganda, but I am glad I did. It is a simple formula: Legal basis, someone has access to unlimited money from an unlikely source, the story begins in the middle and unfolds to reveal what has happened. These let the reader imagine with the protagonist. No one will accuse Grisham as writing a deep, meaningful novel, but I will read every one using this formula for success. Implausible, yes, but a really fun read that is hard to put down! Are you listening, John?

Another fabulous book by John Grisham. I have probably read just about all of Grisham's books; he's a marvelous story teller and it's hard to put this book down. The story was quite imaginative. I really didn't expect what happened next. Each time I thought the story could be over, it changed course and I was captivated by the imagination he has. As always, there's humor thrown into the dialogue, which I also get a kick out of. This is definitely a "must read" for Grisham fans and a good start for anyone who hasn't read his many novels.

The first time I started reading this book it was very hard for me to get into it. I heard others say it was a good book but Grisham had already lost my attention. When I quite literally had nothing else exciting to read I figured I would give this book another chance and start again from the beginning. I am SO glad I did because it really is a good book! Part of the reason why I enjoyed it the second time around was because I had more time devoted to sitting down, going through the pages and truly grasping the story. If you're an occasional reader who gets to books only when you have the time, you may not enjoy this book as much. There are details that get lost from infrequent reading.

Had not read Grisham in a couple of years - last book we read was just so-so and we got started on Tom Clancy and some others. Decided to give this one a try based on other reviews and it was a really good read. More humor than I remember in previous Grisham books! I love the sparse or very little vulgar language - we read while traveling - husband drives and I read. He loves books on tape, but I am very visual and need to see the words to follow the book. There are enough twists and turns to keep you guessing until the very end without becoming tedious! We've backed up to his 2011 book, The Litigators, and are reading that - about halfway done and it is totally different and yet very enjoyable and still lawyer based.

Usually, I have a few books on my kindle, read a chapter or two then on to the next book and rotate through them. Drawback is it takes longer to finish a book, but fun when you can cross off 3 or 4 in a week. However, there are some authors who tell a story so well that I stick with it until I am finished. Lee Child fits this category and so does John Grisham. Great story telling, interesting plot that kept me guessing in a book that moved right along. Some people found the central character less than sympathetic but think about how you would feel if you were railroaded into prison under those circumstances. An enjoyable bit of "mind candy" to offset all the political and non-fiction material I have been immersed in lately!

John Gisham continues to build on his reputation of writing a spell-bounding legal novel, touching on universal themes of justice, punishment and retribution. Most people have strong views about the death sentence, and this story has had me vacillating between the principle of punishment fitting the crime and the basic human law of Thou shalt not Kill. A tense and riveting read as you hope for a happy outcome.

If you are a Grisham fan, as with the vast majority of his books, you'll almost certainly enjoy this one. I admit, it's not one of his finest, and it starts off a bit slow. Nonetheless, as the story progressed, I grew more and more sucked in.It's also worth noting that the story is a truly brilliant commentary on not only capital punishment, but racial justice in general and how the American judicial system is frighteningly corrupted by biases and egos.

Here's the formula: minister trapped in a moral dilemma & psycho killer & unsolved murder & falsely accused perp on death row & sociopolitical commentary filler & hotshot attorney. If you like these quick-read escape novels, as I sometimes do, then it'll probably hold your attention till the unpredictable endings of the various plot threads. It's not Wallace Stegner, but then you don't crack the covers of these mysteries for that level of literature anyway, do you? Well, do ya, punk?

Grisham, in his Author's Notes, says that if you find inaccuracies, don't bother to write to him about them. I can see why. Now, I could be wrong, but an important point of the story is that Nicole's drivers license and other I.D. were found on a sand bar in the Red River, yet they end-up later having been buried with her. Huh? I enjoyed this Grisham novel as much as any before it...I kept turning (swiping) the pages constantly, even while I was getting a haircut, being irritated at every interruption that came along to tear me away. The only reason I did not rate it with five stars is because of this egregious error that had me thinking, throughout the book, that there was going to be some plot twist based on this incongruity. But that never happened.

To be honest, I sometimes find Grisham's books to have pretty predictable plots. Not this one though, and when he's good, he can be very good. It's the tragic story of a black teenage boy in a small Texas town, a high school football star and all-around good kid, who's wrongfully accused of murdering a white female classmate. Although the crime is actually committed by someone else, the local police and court system concoct an elaborate, fictional version of the crime in order to support their prosecution of the boy. Once having made up the story they stick to it tenaciously, out of a lazy, racist desire to obtain a conviction and look good to the voters. True evidence is concealed and false facts are invented, as the reader becomes enraged over the savagely unfair machinations of the State's legal system. Boy, did this make me angry. And sad. A suspenseful page turner with a great mystery-behind- the-mystery ending.

I have read all of John Grisham's books. I will give many an A, some a B, and some a C! I give this one a B-. It was a little slow at times, but still interesting. However, I almost put the book down at the beginning with intentions not to finish it due to credibility issues and lack of research on one point. Mr. Grisham spoke of a young woman using her cell phone to talk to her mom six times a day and texting four times a day in 1998. If one looks back to 1998, the time period this supposedly happened, there were not many teens with cell phones let alone texting in 1998 - especially in a small town like Slone, Texas. The year 1998 was when pagers were popular with high school students - NOT cells and texts. Now, if he would have put 2004 or so, at least that would have been a little more credible. But, I did enjoy the book and would recommend it.

My friend Zack lent me the book shortly after I got out of stir. It’s the latest from John Grisham, and it’s about a lawyer doing time for a crime he did not commit (imagine that). By "got out of stir" I mean "quit my job and retired." I never did hard time.Malcolm was a small town attorney who did some legal work for an anonymous client and was subsequently caught up in the net when his client was accused of racketeering. He is halfway through a 10-year sentence in a minimum security (no walls, no bars), when he hits upon an opportunity to get out with a clear record. A federal judge has been murdered, and Bannister knows who did it. He plans to exchange this information for his freedom.If you read much Grisham you know the plot is not going to be as simple as that. There are mechanizations with the federal attorney’s office, the FBI, the federal judiciary and the witness protection program. There are also plots and schemes, some detective work and masterful evasions. And in the end there is money. A lot of money. Of course there’s sex, but not hard core.A more comprehensive review is here:https://skeptic78240.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/the-racketeer/

John Grisham is the master of the southern legal thriller, with well-known and best-selling books and films such as “The Firm,” “The Pelican Brief,” “A Time to Kill,” “The Client,” “The Runaway Jury,” “The Chamber,” and many more. “The Racketeer” is one of the newer books in that fine line. It is told in the first person, through the eyes and actions of Malcolm Bannister, a black, small town Virginia lawyer. While Grisham is white, he practiced small town law in Mississippi and has a pretty good feel for the South. The opening lines of the novel are, “I am a lawyer, and I am in prison. It’s a long story.” All three are true, especially the long part. Bannister was caught up in a money-laundering scheme of which he had no part. None-the-less, he was convicted, disbarred, lost his wife and family, his ‘good’ name, and is serving 10 years in the Federal pen, frustrated and angry, until fortune finally smiles his way. The corrupt Federal Judge who convicted him is murdered and he learns from another prisoner who did it and why. Bannister contrives an intricate plot to get himself out of jail, get his hands on the millions the Judge has squirreled away, and get his revenge on the system that sent him away. However, if Bannister started out as an innocent man, he is anything but at the end. It is a fun read, but long and slow in parts; and in the end it leaves a lot to be desired. The ending itself almost seems rushed, as if Grisham looked at the clock, or his page count, or got one too many demands from his publisher and quickly wrapped it up — too quickly, with a lot of ‘he did this, and then he did that’, The End.’ The story deserved better.William F. Brown is the author of 5 suspense novels with over 300 Five-Star Reviews: The Undertaker, Amongst My Enemies, Thursday at Noon, Winner Take All, and now Aim True, My Brothers.

,Back in the day, we called ourselves "BUMPYs". Somewhat like being a 'hippie'; being a 'BUMPY' meant that we were Black, Urban, Mobile, Professional & Young. We cracked ceilings in the professional world--movers and shakers as doctors, writers, CEO's--and yes, LAWYERS.Decades later, along comes John Grisham's The Racketeer. The novel is a well conceived and fast paced story of a struggling black attorney named Malcolm Bannister.Through a trusted connection, Esquire Bannister lucks upon a dream client who puts him and his tiny collection of partners on Easy Street. From that moment on, their firm's previously pitiful coffer multiplies with the swiftness of 'range free' bunny rabbits. What grows as well is the partners' criminal liability due solely to the source of that swelling coffer. Unbeknown to them, their dream client is a smooth operator who is always on the hunt for a patsy to wash funds derived from a host of illegal activities.At a Bumpy-filled luncheon hosted by the mayor, in marches a storm of FBI agents.They handcuff and cart away Bannister. The court prosecutes him,and then sends him to a minimum-security federal prison.What is it like for a hardworking young black man to fail after finally getting his ticket to the top? Grisham develops this character and his story, sensitive to the loss this wrongfully prosecuted--undeserving of such an ill fate-- black attorney must have endured.Every Bumpy by definition, subscribes to the adage of 'where their is a will, there is a way'. Every attorney by profession, knows how to push 'will' to find that way.Engaging his usual good storytelling habit, John Grisham foreshadows with plumb, and then works all of his setups to characterize a Le Suit Women's 3 Button Notch Collar Pindot Jacket and Skirt Suit Setgood man and the criminal world into which he is callously tossed. The Racketeer thus becomes an explosive ever-unveiling plot that dramatizes the effectiveness of daring to keep on pushing whenone's back is against the wall.Through a first person viewpoint writing, Grisham remains authentic as he gets inside of Malcolm Bannister's head. He loves when Bannister loves. The instance Bannister becomes underhanded, he becomes underhanded. When bad things happens to good people, how are good people likely to reach for a solution?No spoiler here. For the answer. check out The Racketeer. Yes, this John Grisham novel is a truly worthy good read. Where's your cup of tea?

The first question that comes into our mind after reading through the initial part of this book is about the title. Who is the racketeer? Is it the main protagonist, Malcolm? He is languishing in a jail, hating every moment of it, because he was involved in racketeering. The truth be told, he was caught unawares in the middle of a racketeering scheme. But now, he is looking forward to walk free by helping with the Feds solve the murder of a judge. So is the book about a wrongly convicted man yearning and working towards freedom? Yes, it is.Because of the way John Grisham narrates the story, we also tend to suspect there is more to the story than freedom. Possibly, there is an angle of redemption in it. If there is how? This thought grips the reader after he/she has taken up this book. This is also what makes this book a compelling read. You may be already familiar with the genre which has made John Grisham famous. This book doesn't belong to the genre that made John Grisham famous. It actually starts where most of his books end. That is to say after dispensing justice.Although John Grisham tries to provide a social commentary on justice system, ambition of the officials, greed of men and the prison system, the emphasis is on telling a simple story. Hence the social commentary is mostly hollow but helps to build drama and also makes a naive reader to choose sides. It was exactly what I was looking forward when I picked up the book. I didn't want a lot of twists and turns. A straightforward narration was good for me. At the same time, I also wanted to be surprised once in a while. That is exactly what I got.This is a good diversion from anything that has been eating your mind.

Classic Grisham storytelling. But suspend your disbelief at the door. The plot, with all the twists, is absurd; the characters might as well be extraterrestrials. Nevertheless, I was sucked in and read the whole book in a day.There are two subplots that are compelling. First, the power of the federal prosecutor and his minions is frightening. If the fed searchlight beam fixes on you, you're going to the slam. Second, a theme that I have often fallen asleep contemplating, is how does one walk out of his digital footprints and live outside the purview of the authorities? These days, given the resources of government, even the CIA director's trysts are transparent.

In this novel, you sometimes are not sure who to root for. Some nasty pieces of work, and some nasty things done to people, but sometimes people deserve what they get. And there is that big payoff that does not seem to legally belong to anyone. Finders Keepers.Malcomb Bannister was a small town lawyer in Virginia, struggling to get by. Then a "friend" in DC gets him involved doing the legal paperwork for a real estate transaction. It looks like a nice fee for his firm until someone starts laundering money through the trust account. His mistake at that point was being too honest. He could have grabbed a few million from the account and ran - transfer the money to Panama? - he could have sent it to an account of his own in the Seychelles. Instead he gets involved in a RICO prosecution. He is a small fish but gets snared in the net and ends up with a 10 year sentence in a federal prison where he becomes a jailhouse lawyer. Now he has a plan.This is a twisted plot. The FBI is trying to solve a high profile murder. Malcolm offers them a deal- the name of the gunman and his motive in exchange for a commutation of his sentence and a new identity (he knows things that they have no hope of finding out). Nobody trusts anyone else. Malcomb knows all the legal angles - he was not a jailhouse lawyer for nothing. Everyone ends up with a little something (except that one poor sod who was the gunman). Malcomb and a few choice friends end up with a lot. The wheels of justice sometimes go off the track.I must say that the plot was different than most mysteries, or legal procedurals if you prefer to call it that. You do get an inside look at prisons and jails. Walk straight - you don't want to end up in one, especially in a third world country.

The last 35% of this book was nothing less than Grisham pushing his political ideologies on the reader. I too am against the death penalty, but Grisham received a great deal of profits from his loyal readers while gaining a bully pulpit to manufacture nothing less than a personal anti death penalty agenda for personal gain.I did enjoy the frantic pace to save Drumm and what occurred later in Missouri. After that, it is simply junk from one of my favorite authors and that is why he barely gets 3 stars from my self.

Never read a Grisham before but after finishing Unbroken I wanted to read something mindless. At about 50 percent the book isn't bad but it isn't great either. I have to force myself to read it on metro even though I have nothing else to do. The story is contrived and I agree with the other posts this book has no soul - it's written like a stereotypical TV movie about Texas. That said it's not terrible I just should've started with one of his earlier books.

The story starts out like many of John Grisham's best novels. A man comes to a minister saying that he is dying of a brain tumor and that a man on death row, scheduled to be executed within a week, is innocent. The body of the victim was never found, but not required for a guilty verdict. The man says he knows where the body is and implies that he was the actual killerThe story goes downhill from there, and becomes a fictional rewrite of Grisham's non-fiction work, "The Innocent Man".I admire Grisham's active participation in the innocence project, and do not disagree with his position on the death penalty. I also understand his frustration with the incompetence of the police and legal systems.However, I have always read his novels because I have enjoyed his development of characters, and the unpredictability of his plot endings. This one does not fit that description, but he is using it as a soapbox to expound his views. The fact that I agree with his position doesn't matter. That is not why I read mystery novels.

Mr. Grisham tells a compelling tale, but then he keeps going and going past the end--about 75 pages or so beyond what should have been the final page. It is as if he didn't trust the reader to get the point, so the writer had to hammer on it some more. Obviously the author is against capital punishment, because zealous policemen and prosecutors, wanting another scalp for their trophy wall, will twist or lie a little (or a lot) to get a death penalty. I see that. I even agree with those opposed to the death penalty, for obvious reasons.And this book does a very good job of making the point. I wish I could be more specific, but if I were to do so it would be to give away the plot to those naive enough not to see the denouement half way through. The cards are stacked, perhaps too obviously. All fiction writers stack the cards. That is the craft of the novelist. The art is in making it appear that the cards are not stacked, that any number of outcomes are possible. Not so here.

I almost didn't write this review because most of my thoughts have been captured by other reviewers, but I'll throw my 2 cents in just to give these common criticisms more credence. First, as my fellow 3-star and below reviewers have stated, anyone who says this is "one of Grisham's best" hasn't read enough of his novels, or is seriously misguided. Yes, it's a good story, well-written and paced fairly well, but it's highly formulaic with no real twists. By the end of the second chapter, I more or less knew where it was going.The main problem is that Grisham's political agenda (he's clearly a far left liberal who believes in socialist-like government) overshadows the plot. I have no problem with his beliefs, except when it overshadows the story, which it does here. My criticism would be the same if he were pushing a conservative agenda. I happen to agree with him that the death penalty is wrong. The second half of the book reads like a treatise on the death penalty rather than a novel. In The Street Lawyer, for example, he pushes the same liberal agenda, but not at the expense of the story. In short, you'll enjoy this but don't expect to be blown away.

The biggest criticism I find for this novel is that Grisham gets on his high-horse and rants about his hatred for the death penalty. I don't agree. He took an event, and the protagonists of this story all have that stance. Is Grisham being preachy? I don't think so.My own criticism is that this book is a little far fetched. To direct-quote the book, Drumm's conviction was based on "no physical evidence, no dead body, only a trumped-up confession, a jailhouse snitch, a bloodhound, and a lying witness named Joey Gamble." With all of the ways that the charge was trumped against Drumm, and continued through the system upholding the decision, I am baffled how the conviction wasn't overturned. I am also confused about some of Boyette's actions as the book progressed, but not dramatically so.This book was a great page turner. I was convinced the book would take one direction and had a major plot twist earlier than expected. It's become a great conversation piece amongst myself and others that have read this. And if a book becomes a water-cooler topic then it must have struck a chord somehow.

It is written in a very different way from most "courtroom thrillers." But it was compelling and interesting, even if I was lost for a chapter at a time about why the protagonist was doing what they were doing. I had to have trust that Grisham would bring us into the overall story sometime in the upcoming pages.

In the Author's Notes at the end I think the author pretty much sums it up. This is indeed a work of fiction, and more so than usual. Nothing is based on reality, research was hardly a priority and rarely called upon. Accuracy was not deemed crucial. Long paragraphs of fiction were used to avoid looking up facts. Inevitably, though, even the laziest of writers need some foundation for their creations, and Grisham was occasionally at a loss.It showed in this book. I have read almost everything done by Grisham and this was one of his lazier works. Entertaining enough but knowing what he wrote in the Author's Notes above I might have passed on this one.

I had very high hopes for this book, since it was John Grisham. It was also highly recommended by a friend. It had me wanting to keep reading, to see what the next chapter would bring. However, I feel like a lot of the plot was predictable and the ending left a lot to be desired. There was a lot of long drawn out parts, that probably would've been better if it was quicker to get to the point. This book is written well, just not very exciting in my opinion.

DC area lawyer unknowingly plays a minor role in a money laundering scheme. He gets busted under RICO and is sent to federal prison. During his incarceration, he volunteers as a jailhouse lawyer, giving legal advice to fellow inmates. Halfway through his jail term, he gets the opportunity to assist the FBI with a case involving the murder of a federal judge. If handled correctly, his “inside information” (obtained during a jailhouse lawyer session) could solve the case and earn him an early release from prison.The first half of this book is very interesting, as the main characters of the story are developed and the plot is laid out (at least what you THINK is the plot).At about halfway through the book, the story gets a little wordy and bogged down with the mechanics of the federal witness protection program. But from there, the plot picks up again and keeps you glued to the pages (right to the end), trying to figure out where it’s heading and what’s going to happen next. The ending ties all the loose ends neatly together.Overall a good lawyer mystery. 3 1/2 stars

I have enjoyed many of Grisham's books but this one just didn't live up to his past efforts. I felt the plot was a little thin albeit different. It just didn't have the same intrigue most of his books have. This book is an easy read but not riveting.

This latest Grisham novel seems to follow the formula of 'The Firm' very closely: A trusting and somewhat naive small-town lawyer is duped into serving as an unwitting conspirator in a money laundering scheme and sent to federal prison by an unscrupulous corrupt judge. This judge, recently slain at his cabin, had a safe stuffed with gold ingots. There, at a low security prison camp, Mal the protagonist, meets s kindred spirit and cooks up a plot for each of them to be released from prison under Rule 35, i.e., helping law enforcement solve a different crime. His new prison pal has a sister to whom Mal, takes a liking, and she in cahoots with the other two, becomes a major player in the scheme. They are successful in outwitting the FBI, getting the money, and lease a yacht and head off to the Caribbean to bask in the sun until the cows come home (or the money runs out, which will be never).The biggest problem I have had with Grisham's last several books and this one included is that it sounds like a newspaper article or a report, or a shopping list. the sentences are very static and matter-of-fact: I did that, she did this, then we went there, etc. Perhaps it's been his style since the beginning, but if so, I never noticed in the early novels, and I've read every single novel he's written, well, except the Christmas one.I'll give him a huge amount of brownie points for knowing that the past tense of 'sneak' is 'sneaked' and not 'snuck'. I got a ruler over the knuckles in school for making that mistake, a few times, and so I never forget it, even if 'snuck' once not even considered a word, is now making its way into dictionaries, mostly American, for now, but others are catching up, and I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes common usage. It's a pet peeve of mine and it was almost a relief to see it in print again - a small thing...but I noticed it. He also knows the difference in applying 'lie' 'lay' 'laid' and 'lain'- again refreshing to see - and it shouldn't be. Just had to get that said.Although the plot was heavily formulaic, I found the details of this version just interesting enough to hold my attention, and I enjoyed it, mostly, but with skills of his caliber, it would be wonderful if he would sit down and write from the heart, something he believed in and was deeply proud of, something that would grip and rivet the imagination, stir up and magnify the emotions and elevate the spirit and send it soaring. He can do it, I'm certain of it, but these last several books seem written as if he didn't care, written almost grudgingly and perhaps even defiantly -perhaps to get his publishers off his back and to keep the pot boiling.Well, it is what it is, and his style is his own. More of the same, but that's not such a bad thing. I've liked it well enough to keep buying his books.

This book ends in the middle. After a death the book becomes incredibly anti climactic. I would not recommend it. It's not worth the read.

A blatant political attack on Capital punishment from an emotional rather than rational view point.Drags the reader through multiple, lengthy, repetitive word drizzles [I was going to stay word storm, but too boring too qualify] of unnecessary verbiage. His treatment of themother of the victim was shameful at best. Should have researched the structure of the LCMS. Thechurch body has neither a bishop or nor a very hierarchical structure.I skipped through huge parts of this book - it could perhaps have been an acceptable short story or novella.I expected more from John Grisham.

Been a John Grisham fan for a long time and have read most of his books. This one I'm having trouble with. Usually I can't put the book down and read it in 24 hours. I've been struggling with this one, it is slow and boring. The story could have been told and half the pages. Very little mystery or substance. Disappointing

This book is by far the most boring Grisham novel I have ever read. There is no suspense. The story BARELY held my attention. There was no tension, no creshendo that you expect in his writings.The story line was so predictable and cliqued that I was continually surprised he even wrote this book!Sorry, hate to give a bad review but the characters are bland too just like the others said.Overworn subject of capital punishement debate. If you are interested in the ins and outs of this issue, you can find far better reads.

The Confession is not so much a legal thriller as it is an extended rant against capital punishment, especially how it is practiced by the State of Texas.I'm a fan of Mr. Grisham, but he commits too many literary sins here to overlook. His most egregious sin is that he has written a boring book. I read the book on my Kindle and noted the exact spot where the story began to get interesting--62 percent of the way through. By the 83 percent mark it was back to boring and remained that way until it petered out. That interesting 21 percent of the novel would have made a terrific short story. The rest of it, bleh.The weirdest thing about the book is didn't have a real protagonist. A preacher and an activist lawyer shared that hero role--sort of. The bad guy's motivations were muddled beyond explanation, and the final act of the tale defied logic or reason.

This book left a little on the pages somewhere. The story line is what Grisham has become with little left to the imagination as to how he believes concerning the death penalty. I found myself skimming instead of reading and kept hoping for something to break out and tell me to keep reading. I didn't find that. I finished the book wondering if I want to purchase a Grisham book again. The characters were not that "believable". It seems to bash the law enforcement and the prosecutorial side and defends the defense since they are the ones who really should win every case. Law enforcement personnel work hard to do right and I want to say most of the time they get it right. For every time the system doesn't work, there are hundreds of times that it does. I could go into the details of the book but if you have read one of the latest Grisham books and liked it, you will probably read this one and like it too. If you didn't like the latest Grisham offerings, don't bother with this one. For me, I believe I will call it quits for a while and let him go.

After having read several excellent John Gresham books, I was very surprised to read the Racketeer and find that it was confusing, poorly thought out, and far below what I had expected from such a wonderful author. Maybe the author was contractually obligated to complete a book by a certain time, and quickly slapped something together to meet publication deadlines.

I think John Grisholm severely let his legions of fans down with this book. It seems to have been very hastily written as a platform for his opinion of the U.S. Government, The FBI and various State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies. All of these organizations are presented as filled with bumbling, vindictive incompetents while the hero (who happens to be an imprisoned, unsuccessful attorney) manages to out-wit everyone with his get-out-of-jail and get-rich-quick scheme.A book that requires a suspension of belief or facts or reality can still be a highly entertaining, enjoyable experience for a reader. I felt this one failed on all counts. Instead it impressed me as a device for a very angry person to vent his negative opinions about U.S. Government and Law Enforcement to a large audience. John Grisham has legions of fans, many of whom probably order his newest book at the earliest opportunity. My guess is that many of them will be very disappointed with this one, as I was.

Clichéd, cold, contrived, convoluted but crisp. It had been a while since I’d read a Grisham tale, and I quickly realized how much I’d missed the efficient writing style that kept me turning pages. However, I don’t think “The Racketeer” is Grisham at the top of his game. The biggest problem for me was that I never warmed up to any of the characters. The characterization, including the dialogue, seems below normal Grisham standards. The writing style was crisp, but almost everything else was cold and stale. Maybe next time.

My fist Grisham and a bit of a disappointment.It started out great. I really enjoyed the book till about half way through and then it fell flat.I did not like any character and for me to like a book there has to be someone, any one, with some redeeming qualities. There has to be a hero. There has to be someone I can root for. I didn't find a single person, or in-fact institution, that I can support. That was my biggest problem with it.I was hoping the protagonist Mal/Max can be that be it really took a turn for the worst.The way that the actual killer was set up and framed, even though far fetched (I'm actually okay with things being far fetched), was just so cold that it left me thinking "yeah this guy has done it but he hasn't really done anything to deserve being treated like this by Max when he hasn't done anything wrong with Max". This just made me dislike everyone else even more.The appearance of the girlfriend from the middle of no where was just ridiculous. Mal didn't even think of her till about 50% of the book! She felt a little forced to me.I think the only thing that kept me reading this book till the end is the first half. It was intriguing till that point then just got tedious.I hope my next Grisham is better than this one.

Spoiler alert- this review may give away critical elements of the story.The story was interesting in the beginning, so I gave if two stars. After that, it was so unrealistic, yet predictable, that I just could not enjoy the book. I don't think anyone could make a fool out of governmental agencies and walk away unscathed, the way this book's characters manage to do. Another weakness in the plot is that yet another Grisham protagonist winds up in the islands. Overall, this story reads like a high school student's stickin'-it-to-the-man fantasy. I only finished it because I kept waiting for Grisham to surprise me by finishing well, but I was disappointed.

This is certainly not one of Grisham's best and he knows it as he tacitly admits to in the notes at the end. It starts off well enough to engage interest and sort of keeps just enough of it but just never gets there. You never get the feeling of involvement in the book, characters or the plot but just a feeling of hanging in there and hovering around merely out of respect of the author, Because it is Grisham you have faith something will come but nothing ever does and sadly but inevitably you have to read it all the way to the end to confirm this.There is hardly any suspense or thrill. It really is quite predictable.I got quite annoyed with the endless and totally pointless descriptions of the search for and initial interactions with Nathan Cooley. Those acres and acres of pages were utterly boring and painful to say the least. The only slightly interesting twist/sting is the alliance with the guy who he caused to be arrested. His name has slipped my mind because the characters are not that memorable.Most importantly is that the author gives a very implausible account of being a black man. He does not in the least come out convincilgy like a black man that I wonder why he even bothered. It could still have worked just as well if he had remained white. Grisham just does not know how to be a black man.In fact at no point at all can he ever be imagined and comprehended like a black man except when he reminds you as he constantly does that you are forced to rememebr that you are reading about a black guy. Really? Quite pathetic.We expect so much more from Mr Grisham.

gifted it.

I would never suspect that John Grisham wrote this book. T h e plot sucks. It starts off ok but never pulls together to form an interesting story. Most of this book is tedious, however, I went ahead and read the ending just to make sure my suspicions were correct...

Just shy of half way through Confession, I declared out loud "This book is so boring" and stopped reading it then and there. Tedious would be another apt word. The Painted House is my favorite Grisham, which isn't one of the lawyer ones, so take my feedback with a grain of salt if you love those.

Grisham's obvious and passionate opposition to the death penalty has colored his ability to write about it. This book has no nuance, no shades of gray, no subtle lingering doubts. It's just a sledgehammer rant about the death penalty and those who support it. If you want a shorthand guide to keeping the characters straight in this book, just use this: white people, (except those working in concert with the defense), = stupid bigots; black people = noble victims. Even the mother of the slain cheerleader is mocked as a shameless, weeping publicity hound. Prosecutors, police and Judges? Corrupt, vile and working towards the execution of an innocent man despite lingering doubts about his guilt. This could have been a great book. It could have addressed the real weakness of the death penalty, (i.e., even good people acting with the best of intentions can make fatal mistakes in imposing it). Instead Grisham chose to take the easy way out and use only two colors, (fittingly, black and white), in painting his picture. As a piece of propaganda, the story is a serviceable tool for those already opposed to the death penalty. As a piece of literature, however, it's amateurish.

After a while I thought Grisham was getting paid by the word. The story had fits and starts. Just when you were getting in to it, it slowed to a crawl...and seemed to just sit there. I got so frustrated I gave up and had my husband, who read it all the way through, tell me how it ends. I'm glad I didn't waste any more time on it than I did. I enjoyed hearing my husband's verbal abridged version. I think I'm done with Grisham for a while.

I have read nearly all of Mr. Grisham's works, but this is one I couldn't really get into. After I slogged through the first 50 pages or so, I speed read it as quickly as I could to get to the end, and the end was thudding rather than soaring. I can't recommend it, but I am sure he will find a way to get back into his groove with his next effort. The one good thing-it was only $9.99.

So far unbelievable. I don't know if I can continue to read this. I cannot believe that an attorney, even a small town attorney would not have any sense at all in receiving a wrong payment of several million dollars.First of all, the attorney says that after a gazillion changes in the name of the client (why doesn't that ring a bell? Why don't you know who you are representing?) the client was supposed to send him $450,000, $400,000 of which was supposed to pay the first 2 months rent. Now, first of all, why would the client pay rental for 2 months and then buy the property? Second, why send the rental to the attorney to pay the rental?Then he receives millions of dollars. And the book doesn't even say that these millions are put into an escrow account for the benefit of the client (but then of course, he doesn't know who the client is!). He doesn't contact the IRS, because I guess he never figures out that he could be liable for the taxes on several million dollars and that maybe, of course, the money is being laundered.Of course he is a small time lawyer and never heard of laundering money -- LOL!Then he finally instructs his banker to send the money back (although he still should have contacted the IRS), but the banker can't make up his mind what to do for 2 days..... HUH?THEN, he is offered a deal to plead guilty, but says he wouldn't accept it because he was innocent. He was NOT innocent. He accepted several hundred million dollars, put it into his attorney account (NOT an escrow account) and never contacted the IRS or any other governmental agency.Then, he writes to the FBI and says he knows who is the killer of the judge, and wants the FBI to release him (on his own recognizance) because he says he knows who the killer is. But, at the point in the story that I am, he gives no guarantees, gives no hints, gives no assurances that he would be returned to prison if he is wrong. BUT the FBI is interested.....? Why? Because the warden says he has been a good inmate.I am not an attorney (although was a real estate broker) and certainly know more than this dumb bum. I'll write more if the story gets any more believable. Otherwise I give up.

Sloppy, lazy, and totally lacking in plot creation or character development. Grisham was betting his name would sell this and pity the fool who took that bait,,,,me! For that he gets five stars. For the book, a negative zero!

What I recall from the book is the confusion of points of view. I may not be the best read person ever, but I had never encountered a plural point of view, when one character is narrating the events as if looking through the eyes of another and using "we" and "us" when the reader knows that these two characters are in different places, different countries even! Another thing is that these narrators kept knowledge from the readers... I felt manipulated and there was no joy for me in reading the story, no satisfaction in the outcome. Unless you are a diehard fan who will accept this kind of dismal effort in writing, this is not a worthwhile read.

There are a few things wrong with this novel.-- SPOILERS---1. The timeline is awkward in order to hold back vital information, but it simply doesn't work. It makes the narrator unreliable.2. The story is just simply unbelievable in every aspect. We are supposed to believe that Max did not actually launder money, that he is innocent, yet as soon as he is released from prison he knows exactly what to do and who to go to to launder the money and does. As an act of revenge, we are supposed to believe. That is only one unreal aspect of the novel. There are dozens like this. The first chapter he speaks about how he adores his son, is why he wants out, lives for him etc and then the son is only mentioned one more time in later chapters. His family relationships are like this as well. Dad is important in the 1st 1/3rd of the book but then only mentioned again one time.3. The money. Max initially gets 150k and talks about how he is now "rich" what? I didn't use a calculator, but it seems as if he goes through this money in about a week. When he hits the real jackpot, he seems just as impressed with it as the 150k.4. The relationship with Vanessa was just not well set up. We are told in the 1st half that he barely knows her, they share a few letters but that's it. When he gets out of jail however, the relationship goes from near strangers to intensely sexual and romantic and then she becomes a willing partner immediately. She leaves her job and does what he says and turns out that she was apparently in on the whole thing from the beginning, but that is never really made clear.5. It's boring. Mind-numbingly boring with no action, dozens and dozens of pages where nothing moves forward.6. None of the characters are really written so that you get to know them. Except maybe the one who gets the brunt of the punishment. The others, even Max, are 1 dimensional- unlikable and uninteresting.7. The biggest issue is that this is told in 1st person for most of the novel- Max is the narrator. Yet, Max tells us nothing. He is keeping the secrets from us, the reader, in order to add mystery but this does not work. This is a confessional style narration and he should be confessing everything, not playing us.It's just not a good book. I even bought the audio book AND the kindle and did the narration thing on the kindle HD because I could not stop falling asleep after 10 minutes of reading. It took days to get through this book- nearly 10. Gone Girl I finished in one setting, napping for a couple hours but then waking early because I.Could.Not.Stop.Thinking.About.It. Not my favorite book, but definitely a fast intense read. Hunger Games, I finished all three in a day.This took 10 days because I fell asleep so much. I would have just tossed it, but I am not the type that can leave a book unfinished. No matter how bad it is. And this one was bad.

Quite frankly, I was stunned at the 1,900+ five-star reviews, hailing this book as a "page-turner". I wondered if maybe I missed out on the "Page-Turner Special Edition" and instead accidentally picked up the "Slow, Plodding, Wish You Could Get Your Money Back Edition".But what exactly makes a page-turner?For me, I need someone to root for. I have to have some sort of emotional investment in the character and his or her fate. I have read nearly all of Grisham's novels, and I've always had this connection with his protagonists - even those who were terribly, deeply flawed.My relationship with Malcolm Bannister started off just fine. In the early pages, Malcolm is reminiscent of Stephen King's Andy Dufresne from "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption" - professional, unfairly convicted, plying his former trade in the jailhouse to pass the time.But Malcolm began to lose me when two murders set into motion a sequence of events that he has clearly been anticipating for some time.The second murder was particularly horrific. As I continued reading, I found it hard to stomach that Malcolm was willing to leverage this tragedy for his own personal gain. And the less interest that I had in Malcolm's well-being, the less interest I had in turning pages.Had Grisham left out the more gratuitous murder, I might have maintained a little more sympathy and respect for Malcolm. But as it turned out, I did finally find someone in this book to root for: The Feds.

And waste of time. The author explains at the end of the book that he did no research for the story andit certainly appears that he made it up as he was going along,I find it insulting that he would actually admit to that - and expect people to admire his workI actually went to the back of the book to find out if there was a purpose to this story which is told in endless long paragraphs.Perhaps it was supposed to be a surprise ending - but what a flop.Perhaps the problem is that from the beginning I didn't care about the character and lost interest pretty quickly.I can't believe John Grisham actually wrote this -I would have to imagine it was published on his established reputation - if I had written it I wouldn't even have submitted it never mind expect to have it published.Badly written and badly executed.