| Lutheran pastors must be considered cool, at least in popular fiction. There is the one in
Warrior Monk. Now bestselling author John Grisham features one in his latest blockbust of legal suspense, The Confession. From a review in the Washington Post: The novel opens with a classic noir situation in which an ordinary Joe finds himself suddenly thrust by fate into a nightmare. In this case, our flummoxed hero is the Rev. Keith Schroeder, pastor of a Lutheran church in Topeka, Kan. Sitting in his church office one cold morning, Keith is paid a visit by a monster. Travis Boyette is a convicted felon, out on parole, whose rap sheet for sexual assault is as long as a fresh roll of yellow "crime scene" tape. Boyette tells Keith that he's dying from a malignant brain tumor and that he (maybe) wants to confess to the abduction, rape and murder of Nicole Yarber, a high school cheerleader from the small town of Slone, Tex., who disappeared almost 10 years ago. After a couple of days of agonized dithering, Boyette shows Keith convincing proof of his guilt and the unlikely duo hatches a plan of action: If Keith drives Boyette to Slone — and, thus, becomes his accomplice in breaking parole — Boyette will confess to the authorities and take them to the spot where he buried Nicole's body. By the time the two men pile into Keith's clunker for the ultimate road trip from hell, speed is of the essence. In less than 24 hours, Donté Drumm, a former classmate of Nicole's, will be put to death for a murder he didn't commit. via John Grisham's "The Confession," reviewed by Maureen Corrigan. Buy the novel here. If any of you have read it, please report. 
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