*moves to the door and suddenly the memory of Bill telling me about vampire protocol that you do not leave Eric's presence until dismissed fills my mind but I push it aside and open the door*

Grisham has gone downhill w/ his last few novels, but this one is pretty good.

This novel is very much a condemnation of the death penalty. The main character, a Lutheran pastor, is very well drawn. Injustice makes me angry; even though I don't agree with Grisham's conclusions, it is a well-told story.

I would have given this book 4 stars but my enjoyment of it was somewhat marred by someone’s review on here spoiling the entire book for me. I know that’s not the authors fault but as the rating system is based on how much you liked it and not on how much you wanted to like it, I guess that’s where we are. Seriously guys, it’s just as not cool to spoil a book as it is a tv show or a movie, especially when there’s a very obvious box to check to hide the whole thing because of spoilers. The whole point to this book is the drama of whether or not they can save the condemned man. If you don’t have that because someone says in their review that he dies then there was kind of no point reading it.

Having said that I did read it and so I’ll tell you what I thought: The people who are complaining that this book is just an advert for the anti-death penalty movement completely miss the point of this book. The death penalty is barbaric, no decent, civilised society should have it, and so the fact that this book highlighted that premise in this way was not a downside to the book at all. I like John Grisham’s work in general although I have found him a little bit hit and miss sometimes, however if this book doesn’t make you feel sick and shake your head in disbelief at America (yes I know it’s fiction but I have a television) then there’s something wrong with you.

I haven’t read John Grisham for a while but this book made me remember why I like him. Well written, riveting plot. It has some very emotional scenes which may or may not have made me cry.

Good, fast read. For the most part typical Grisham. I know some didn't like the ending, but I was happy that he went for the bittersweet instead of the last minute miracle.

Meh. If you’ve read one John Grisham you’ve read them all.

Could not put it down! Although it did drag in some spots, I often found myself saying, "just one more chapter!"

This is classic Grisham - the characters could have been lifted from any of his books. The crusading lawyer, the corrupt lawyer and cop. The deeply disturbing criminal. The plot that races along, eased by generalizations and only lightly sketched characters. The thing that wasn't classic Grisham for me was that it made me cry. Coming to close on the heels of reading Little Bee, a very different book, I again felt helpless at the end. Human beings lost in a system that because of fear has grown to regard itself as an end rather than a means.
I'm now in search of some happy reading.