The Confession – By John Grisham

About the Author – John Grisham is an American author, who published his first novel “A Time to Kill” in 1989. Since then he has written more than 20 novels, 1 non fiction novel and 1 book of short stories. He is best known for his legal thrillers.

The Storyline – Donté Drumm is days from his execution for a crime he did not commit. Only the guilty man can save him.

A small town in Texas is shaken with the disappearance of 17 year old cheerleader Nicole Yarber, after weeks of search and night vigils police is unable to find any clue or her whereabouts. With the pressure increasing on the case and no clues, police arrest Donté Drumm on the basis of a phone call from an unknown called. During the unfair trial he is declared guilty and sentenced to death. After 9 years in the jail, his time has come and he is only 4 days from the execution. Now the read killer has come forward. But will anyone listen to a career criminal?

My Verdict – After a long time, I have read a book where I was able to connect with the characters and empathize with them. This is a book where you will feel sorry for the Drumm family and feel angry at the judicial system; you will laugh with these characters and cry with them and for them. There are very authors who can truly take you to their world of fiction and John Grisham has done that successfully with this book.

Though, the first part of the book reminded me of John’s non-fiction book – “The innocent man”, the similarity ends there. This book takes you for a hard hitting journey of death penalty and democracy at its worst. A Must Read.

Sidney Sheldon's Mistress of the Game – By Tilly Bagshawe

About the Author – Tilly Bragshawe is a British freelance journalist and an author. Her first book Adored was published in the year 2005 and this is her fifth book.

The Storyline – The book is a sequel to Sidney Sheldon’s acclaimed 1982 novel “Master of the Game”. Mistress of the game starts where Master of the Game left and tells us the story of the next generation of the Blackwell family; Eve and Alexandra’s kids. The story revolves around the rivalry between Max and Lexi, both of them trying to take over as chairman of Kruger-Brent.

Verdict – Before I say anything about this novel, let me tell you that I have been a big fan of Sidney Sheldon’s work and have read all his novels at least twice if not more. Therefore, my expectations were very high from the sequel of one of my favorite novels.

Tilly Bragshawe tells us the story in true Sidney Sheldon fashion where there are no black and white but only grey characters. These are the real life characters which you can relate with and you know exist in today’s world. The character profile has been done beautifully and you will be empathizing with them before you know it. I liked the way she has shown the transformation of Gary McGregor and you really grow with these characters in the story.

The only problem I faced was that I had read the prologue of the story, which is kind of a giveaway and I would recommend anybody reading the book to skip the same. The prologue gave away one of the most important suspense in the book.

But on the whole I think it was a story well told, though not better than “Master of the Game”.

Only Time Will Tell – By Jeffrey Archer

About the Author –

If you haven’t heard about Jeffrey Archer, then you have never touched a book in your life. He is a writer & was a politician before the latter career ended in imprisonment.

The Storyline –

The book is set in the timeline of 1919 – 1940 around two families – The Barringtons and the Cliftons and the protagonist - Harry Clifton. It tells you the story of Harry’s life from the time he was born to the time he goes to college. The foundation of the story is an incedent that occurs before Harry's birth and how this incident will change change his life forever.

My Verdict –

The book starts with Maisie’s (Harry’s mother) side of story and it grips you towards the story of suspense & lies. However, as the story progresses you tend to come across characters which you have already met in many past stories. For e.g. Giles Barrington (Harry’s possible half brother) & Deakins (the nerd kid). The good part is that the auhor has very intelligently given us different perspectives of the same story through the different characters in the story (Old Jack, Giles Barrington, Hugo Barrington etc.). This definitely keeps you from putting the book down especially until you find out how Harry’s dad actually died. After that the story fails to grip you again until the last page.

Though it’s not one of my favourite books from the Author of Kane & Able. But, the only thing I want after reading this book is a sequel (You will know why, after reading this book).