The Confession by John Grisham

A young cheerleader in Texas goes missing. A high school football player gets arrested for her murder and convicted, all the while proclaiming his innocence. It's days before his scheduled execution when a man with a brain tumor and a long criminal history wanders into a church in Kansas and confesses to the minister that he committed the murder. So begins an epic battle between those who are frantically trying to stop the execution and those who will do anything to make sure it takes place. It's a good story and a good premise. And it's frightening to see how easily this innocent kid ended up on death row. But for some reason, it's not quite the page turner that some of Grisham's other works--such as The Firm or The Pelican Brief--are. Still, worth reading and it does make you stop and think about the death penalty, which was probably Grisham's goal.