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

In 1998, in the small East Texas city of Sloan, Travis Boyette abducted, raped, and strangled a popular high school cheerleader. He buried her body so that it would never be found, then watched in amazement... read more

Summary edit see section history

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... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

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 Donte 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; Donte 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?

Characters edit see section history

  • Robbie Flak: Lawyer in Slone interested in civil-rights cases, and is Donte Drumm's lawyer.
  • Keith Schroeder: The 35 year-old Lutheran pastor working in St. Mark's. Married to Dana.
  • Dana Schroeder: Pastor Schroeder's wife.
  • Travis Boyette: He's a registered sex offender who tells Dana and Keith (the pastor) he is suffering from terminal brain cancer.
  • Donte Drumm: The 18 year-old local football star who was accused of killing Nicole Yarber.He was said to have an affair with Nicole and later charged with her abduction and murder.
  • Roberta Drumm: Donte Drumm's mother
  • Nicole Yarber: The 17 year-old senior at Slone High and the captain of the cheerleading squad, who vanished and was never seen again.
  • Joey Gamble: Nicole's boyfriend in high school and now working as an assistant manager at an auto parts discount warehouse.
  • Drew Kerber: Detective investigating Nicole Yarber's disappearance.
  • Paul Koffee: The district attorney who prosecuted in Nicole Yarber's case
  • Reeva Pike: Nicole Yarber's mother.
  • Martha Handler: A freelance investigative journalist interested in Drumm case and writing a book on it.
  • Dr. Kristina Hinze: The clinical psychiatrist hired by Robbie Flak to evaluate Drumm.
  • Fred Pryor: Private investigator working for Robbie Flak
  • Sean Fordyce: A talk-show host from New York who is in Slone to interview Reeva Pike
  • Matthew Burns: Pastor Keith's friend who is an assistant prosecutor in Topeka.
  • Vivian Grale: The judge at Donte Drumm's trial.
  • Elias Henry: A judge in East Texas who was a friend of Robbie Flak's father.
  • Gill Newton: The governor of Texas
  • Carlos: one of Robbie Flak's assistants
  • Brother Ronnie: Reeva Pike's church pastor
Show all 21 characters
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Quotes edit see section history

  • “Innocent people are much likelier to waive their rights during an interrogation. They know they are innocent, and they want to cooperate with the police to prove their innocence.”
  • “I'm a criminal defense lawyer, Judge. Optimism is not in my DNA.”
    Robbie Flak
  • “...there are no rich people on death row.”
    Robbie Flak to Martha Chandler
  • Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
  • He’s a two-faced, cutthroat, dirt-dumb, chickenshit, slimy little bastard with a bright future in politics.”
    Highlighted by 426 Kindle customers
  • Martha Handler. She was an investigative journalist, a freelancer who worked for no one but was paid occasionally by the big magazines.
    Highlighted by 323 Kindle customers
  • Reeva Pike was Nicole’s mother, a stout, boisterous woman who had embraced victimhood with an enthusiasm that often bordered on the ridiculous.
    Highlighted by 305 Kindle customers
  • Sean Fordyce was a New York–based talk-show host who’d found a niche on cable sensationalizing murder cases.
    Highlighted by 287 Kindle customers
  • Robbie Flak’s father purchased the old train station in downtown Slone in 1972,
    Highlighted by 272 Kindle customers
  • Aaron Rey, a former gang member who’d served time for drug distribution and was now gainfully employed by the Flak Law Firm as a bodyguard, runner, driver, investigator, and anything else Robbie might need.
    Highlighted by 245 Kindle customers
  • “Travis Boyette.” He instinctively spelled his last name for her. “Date of birth, October 10, 1963. Place, Joplin, Missouri. Age, forty-four. Single, divorced, no children. No address. No place of employment. No prospects.”
    Highlighted by 217 Kindle customers
  • The district attorney was a man named Paul Koffee, a tough career prosecutor
    Highlighted by 199 Kindle customers
  • Donté Drumm?” he asked as he handed the paper to Keith. “No.” “Black kid, small town in East Texas, convicted of murder in 1999. Said he killed a high school cheerleader, white girl, body’s never been found.”
    Highlighted by 153 Kindle customers
  • eviscerated on cross-examination by Robbie Flak, who at one point demanded to have the dog brought to the courtroom, sworn in, and put in the witness chair.
    Highlighted by 27 Kindle customers
Show all 13 quotes from this book

Setting & Locations edit see section history

Show all 20 settings

Organizations edit see section history

First Sentence edit see section history

The custodian at St. Mark's had just scraped three inches of snow off the sidewalks when the man with the cane appeared.

Table of Contents edit see section history

Cover

Other Books by This Author

Title Page

Copyright

Part One - The Crime
Chapter 1 - 15

Part Two - The Punishment
Chapter 16 - 29

Part Three - The Exoneration
Chapter 30 - 43

Epilogue

Author's Note

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 2 of 10 in Publishers Weekly Bestselling Novels in 2010. (authoritative list)

Preceded by The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, and followed by The Help.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. John Grisham (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: Doubleday
Country: USA
Publication Date: October 26, 2010
ISBN: 9780385528047
Page Count: 432

Classification edit see section history

  • Library of Congress: PS3557.R5355 C66 2010
  • Dewey: 813.54

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Reading Level: Adults

Violence and language.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

More Books Like This edit see section history

   
  • Ford County
  • The Innocent Man
  • The Associate
  • The Appeal

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