THE CONFESSION (John Grisham) - August 21/12

This entertaining yet absurdly overlong novel certainly held my interest, but the book just contains too many stretches that feel needless/extraneous. The stuff involving the real killer and the minister he confesses to is great, as is everything involving the convicted guy's tenacious lawyer. But then there's stuff involving the town's reaction, the dead girl's mother's reaction, the reaction of a periphery judge, etc, etc. It also doesn't help that Grisham is CLEARLY anti death penalty and he drowns the book in facts and statistics designed to further his agenda. Still, it's basically a compelling read; I just wish it had been half the length. **1/2 out of ****