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What Amazon says

At Cold Mountain Penitentiary, along the lonely stretch of cells known as the Green Mile, killers such as «Billy the Kid» Wharton and the possessed Eduard Delacroix await death strapped in «Old Sparky». Guards as decent as Paul Edgecombe and as sadistic as Percy Wetmore watch over them.

But good or evil, innocent or guilty, none has ever seen the brutal likes of the new prisoner, John Coffey, sentenced to death for raping and murdering two young girls. Is Coffey a devil in human form? Or is he a far, far different kind of being?

There are more wonders in heaven and hell than anyone at Cold Mountain can imagine. In The Green Mile, Stephen King builds the tension page by page and then delivers a revelation that will truly blow your mind.

My review

The Green Mile is a fictional first-hand account by Paul Edgecomb, the supervisor of Death Row at Cold Mountain Penitentiary during 1932. The story is told on two timelines, one where Paul is a very old inhabitant of the institutional styled Georgia Pines old age home and is writing the story, and the other is set in 1932 when Paul is experiencing the events he is writing about.

In 1932, the death sentence was carried out using an electric chair. In the story, the corridor through the E Block to the area where the executions are undertaken is called the ‘green mile’ because of the green linoleum on the floor. The electric chair is referred to as ‘Old Sparky’.

Paul has been a prison warden for many years and has some good men and friends, who work with him on E Block. At the time of the story, he has also been saddled with an employee called Percy Whetmore, who is the nephew of the Governor of Louisiana’s wife. Percy is a sadistic and spoiled young man from the wealthy classes who takes pleasure in antagonising the prisoners. This is completely contrary to Paul and the other prison warden’s policy of keeping the prisoners calm and as comfortable during the periods running up to their executions.

During the period of Paul’s story, there are three residents in E Block.

Eduard «Del» Delacroix arrives first. He is a Cajun who has been convicted of raping and murdering a young girl and then setting her body on fire to destroy the evidence. The fire got out of control and six people, including two children, burned to death. Del is a small man and rather pathetic. He has repented his crime but a compelling factor to that is his fear of death. Percy bullies Del right from his arrival on Block E and enjoys tormenting him. Del acquires a pet mouse soon after his arrival which he calls Mr Jingles. The mouse is intelligent and Del trains him to perform various tricks. Despite his guilt and heinous crime, Paul and his colleagues become friendly with Del and are sympathetic to his fear of death.

Next to arrive is a huge black man called John Coffey. John is simple-minded and gentle man whose demeanour is a puzzle to Paul and the other wardens as he has been condemned to die for the rape and murder of two nine-year old twins. Paul sets out to discover the circumstances of John’s and cannot reconcile the empathetic man he’s met on E Block with the cruel killer described by the newspapers and the court. As time passes, Paul discovers that John has abilities that enable him to heal people, even those who are on the brink of death, and can feel the suffering of other people. Paul also learns something terrible about John Coffey’s conviction.

Although I knew when I read the scenes about John Coffey’s arrest that he wasn’t guilty of murder, the unravelling of John’s history and his incredible gift was completely fascinating.

The third prisoner to arrive is William Wharton who calls himself Billy the Kid. The wardens call him Wild Bill. Wharton is a convicted multiple murderer with no conscience and who takes great pleasure in acts of violence.

The interactions between Paul, the prisoners themselves, and the various wardens sets in motion a series of events that will change Paul’s life forever. This is a very compelling story that centres around the themes of death, prejudice and doing the right thing even in difficult circumstances. It really is heart breaking at the end, but it is an excellent story that exposes a lot of the social injustices of the time and certainly makes a case for doing away with the death penalty.

You can purchase The Green Mile from Amazon US here: https://www.amazon.com/The-Green-Mile-Stephen-King-audiobook/dp/B000HRMCFW