addiction american-literature asianamericans award-winning best-selling bestseller bestselling bestselling-author betrayal blackmail book-club capital-punishment cat-and-mouse catholic-church catholicism character-driven chineseamericans compelling compelling-characters compelling. complex-characters confession confessions conscience consequences conspiracies conspiracy contemporary-fiction contemporary-setting corrupt corrupt-system corruption court-drama courtroom courtroom-drama courtroom-suspense courtroom-thriller cover-up crime crime-and-punishment crime-drama crime-fiction crime-investigation crime-novel crime-thriller criminal-justice criminal-justice-system dark-secrets daughters death death-penalty death-row death-row-inmate deceit deception detective determination drama drowning emotional escape ethical-dilemma ethical-dilemmas ethics faith false-confession family family-bonds family-drama family-dynamics family-relationships familyrelations fast-paced father father-son-relationship fic019000 fiction forgiveness friendship grief gripping gripping-narrative gripping-twists grisham guilt guilty guilty-conscience guilty-plea hidden-secrets hidden-truth high-stakes injustice inmate innocence innocent innocent-man intense interrogation intrigue intriguing investigation investigative investigative-journalism john john-grisham judgment judicial-system justice justice-system kidnapping law law-enforcement lawyer lawyer-protagonist lawyers legal legal-drama legal-ethics legal-fiction legal-injustice legal-manipulation legal-mystery legal-novel legal-profession legal-suspense legal-system legal-thriller legal-thriller-novel legal-thriller-suspense lies literary manipulation mistaken-identity moral-ambiguity moral-compass moral-dilemma moral-dilemmas morality morally-complex murder murder-mystery mystery page-turner past-mistakes personal-struggle plot-twist plot-twists political-corruption political-intrigue politics power powerful-storytelling prison psychological psychological-suspense psychological-thriller psychology punishment race-against-time redemption religion religious-faith religious-themes repentance revenge riveting secrecy secret secretive secrets secrets-and-lies sin sleek small-town small-town-setting society storytelling suspense suspenseful suspenseful-plot texas the-confession the-confession:-a-novel thought-provoking thrill-ride thriller thriller-novel thrilling trust truth twist-ending twists twists-and-turns unexpected-twists vengeance well-written whodunit wrongful-conviction wrongfully-accused