The Green Mile by Stephen King

 

Paul Edgecombe is the boss of the Green Mile which is the nickname at Cold Mountain Penitentiary for Death Row.  He has escorted more prisoners to the electric chair than anyone and while he doesn't enjoy it, a job is a job during the Depression.  Some prisoners on the Mile are quiet thinking of what is to come while others are trouble from the start.  Some laugh and joke, some spend their time praying and some try to attack the guards or the other prisoners.

Right now there are three prisoners waiting on their time.  Delacroix killed a young girl then burned down her apartment building, killing more.  Wild Bill has a string of robberies and murders and is always causing trouble.  John Coffey is a giant black man who was convicted of raping and killing two young girls.  He was found cradling them in his arms and crying. 

Edgecombe has a good staff except for Percy.  Percy got his job from being the governor's nephew and he doesn't let anyone forget it.  He has a mean streak and Edgecombe could see him on the other side of the bars if things had gone differently.  The others tolerate him until he uses his position to make an execution go wrong.  

Along the way, Edgecombe realizes two things about Coffey.  First he comes to believe that John Coffey never killed anyone and has been falsely convicted.  Secondly, he realizes that John can cure illness in others after he lays hands on Paul and cures his bladder infection in those days before penicillin when an infection had to be endured until it passed.  The warden's wife is slowly dying of a brain tumor and Paul and his staff find a way to bring her and Coffey together so she can also be healed.

I've seen the movie but had never gotten around to reading the book.  It is magnificent and one of my absolute favorites of King's works.  Coffey is an enigma who seems to be a pure soul put on earth to take on suffering and pain and to heal those he touches.  Paul is a good man who uses his morality to make a bad job as good as it could possible be but is still haunted by his work.  The thought that someone like Coffey exists will give the reader hope and this is the message of the book.  This book is recommended for horror and mystery readers.