An innocent man is days from execution. Only a guilty man can save him. That man is Travis Boyette a murderer.

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 and waited as police and prosecutors arrested Donte Drumm, a local football star with no connection to the crime. Tried, convicted and sentenced, Drumm was sent to death row: his fate had been decided.

Nine years later, Donte Drumm is four days from execution. Over 400 miles away in Kansas, Travis faces a fate of his own: an inoperable brain tumour will soon deliver the end. Reflecting on his miserable life, he decides to do what’s right.

After years of silence he is ready to confess. But will he be in time?

The whole novel is to do with time, and for that reason is certainly a page-turner. And I am really really glad that Grisham does not see the need to tie up all the loose ends and give us a happy ending….so much more realistic. And it is written pacily, and obviously with good understanding of how the legal system operates. That said I did not find it entirely satisfactory. Characterisation was a little too thin for me, the plot a bit clunking, and there were a few editorial errors. Airport reading……..