Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Confession

  • By: John Grisham
  • Narrated by: Scott Sowers
  • Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (482 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Confession

By: John Grisham
Narrated by: Scott Sowers
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

An innocent man is about to be executed. Only a guilty man can save him.

For every innocent man sent to prison, there is a guilty one left on the outside. He doesn't understand how the police and prosecutors got the wrong man, and he certainly doesn't care. He just can't believe his good luck. Time passes and he realizes that the mistake will not be corrected: the authorities believe in their case and are determined to get a conviction. He may even watch the trial of the person wrongly accused of his crime. He is relieved when the verdict is guilty. He laughs when the police and prosecutors congratulate themselves. He is content to allow an innocent person to go to prison, to serve hard time, even to be executed.

Travis Boyette is such a man. In 1998, in the small East Texas city of Sloan, he abducted, raped, and strangled a popular high school cheerleader. He buried her body so that it would never be found, then watched in amazement as police and prosecutors arrested and convicted Donté Drumm, a local football star, and marched him off to death row.

Now nine years have passed. Travis has just been paroled in Kansas for a different crime; Donté is four days away from his execution. Travis suffers from an inoperable brain tumor. For the first time in his miserable life, he decides to do what's right and confess.

But how can a guilty man convince lawyers, judges, and politicians that they're about to execute an innocent man?

©2010 John Grisham (P)2010 Random House, LLC
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
activate_samplebutton_t1

Listeners also enjoyed...

Cash Landing cover art
The Last Plea Bargain cover art
The Key to Justice cover art
Fatal Convictions cover art
The Joe Dillard Series Box Set, Part 1: Books 1-4 cover art
A Criminal Defense cover art
The Lincoln Lawyer: Booktrack Edition cover art
Justice Redeemed cover art
Restless Souls cover art
The Neon Lawyer cover art
A Test of Wills cover art
A Conflict of Interest cover art
Six Days of the Condor cover art

What listeners say about The Confession

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    306
  • 4 Stars
    124
  • 3 Stars
    39
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    302
  • 4 Stars
    104
  • 3 Stars
    28
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    277
  • 4 Stars
    111
  • 3 Stars
    39
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    5

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping.

The story was so compelling. The language set the scene so well and the narrator used the right place and tone. Another evocative, thought-provoking tale from Grisham - superb.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great

Great book, one of Grisham's finest. From start to finish a gripping read, and one hard to put down!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Always worth reading JG's legal thrillers

This was a a more depressing story than other John Grishams that I have read. It shows how the legal system works (in some places) and it is not a pretty picture. Well read and well written though may not be the best choice for a holiday read...

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

a real tear jerker

loved this story, as a mother of an 18 year old this really hit hard and it was brilliantly written, you could so feel the pain for both young Dante and husband Mother. Great story telling. loved it and would highly recommend this book!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fantastic as usual

Great book. Very eye opening ,how the death penalty works. Harrowing In parts. Has wonderful believable characters .love this writers books.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

“Edge-of the-seat” legal drama

I enjoy Grisham’s novels and his cynicism over the justice available in US legal system, particularly for the disadvantaged in society. This novel epitomises this as a young black man, Donte Drumm, is accused of a brutal murder on little evidence other than a confession, later retracted, got out of him by dubious police tactics. He is convicted by an all white jury and sentenced to death. After four years on death row and numerous appeals his execution day is imminent. At the 11th hour a confession to a clergyman by a serial sex offender just released from prison leads to a hectic race to try and stop the execution. It’s gripping stuff: depressing too as politicians motivated by a desire to be re-elected, in a Texas with majority-opinion in favour of the death penalty, are hell-bent on ignoring any evidence that exonerates the prisoner. Although this is fiction it exemplifies what can happen to those without the funds to get professional legal representation.

It’s a gripping and thought-provoking novel that made me feel angry at times but nevertheless a great listen that is admirably narrated.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful morality tale

Any additional comments?

At times quite upsetting, but I suppose that is what a book like this is supposed to be like.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Wow, such a thought provoking book!

Excellent read & says it all in relation to the terror that is the death penalty, the end is bitter sweet - and leaves a hollow and depressing sense of the awfulness that is the American bigot!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Riveting could not put it down

Expected a normal story of good V evil with a happy ever after saving of a black man being wronged

Most memorable moment was realisation that dante would not be saved and there was still loads of chapters to be listens to so the story was not over

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A gripping page-turner

Well narrated and as ever, a compelling story.
Tragic view of abuse of power and a failure in the legal system.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!