The Confession

Discuss the novel’s use of setting. How does John Grisham use real-life information about places—for instance, the fact that Texas leads the nation in executions—to ground the novel?

Consider the novel’s use of confession, comparing its legal and religious aspects. What parallels are drawn between Donté’s coerced confession after police torture to the crucifixion of Jesus in Christianity. How does Boyette’s confession to Schroeder in church compare to his taped testimony to Flak?

The novel never reveals much about Nicole Yarber. What is the effect of this omission? Why does Grisham ignore the murder victim?

Examine the role of social media, news media, and entertainment television in the novel. How do they stoke misinformation and division?

Contrast the novel’s two mothers, Reeva Pike and Roberta Drumm. How does faith affect their perceptions of crime and punishment? How do they cope with their grief over their children’s deaths?

Discuss the novel’s use of tone. How does Grisham provoke reader outrage? What rhetorical devices or other techniques does he use to maintain suspense and anxiety?

The Confession has been compared to earlier social realist novels such as Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle (1905) or John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath (1939). Research this genre of fiction. How does Grisham use its tropes in his novel?

How does the execution of Travis Boyette, the unrepentant sociopath who killed Nicole Yarber, complicate Grisham’s anti-capital punishment argument? Why does he include this plot detail in the novel?