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zutsie's review against another edition
4.0
So the write up for this looked interesting when I skimmed it. I requested it, read some other books, then picked it on my reading list without remembering what it was about exactly, and man oh man, that was just so worth it. I was so hooked on this book and just wanted to know what was going on every step of the way. I wanted answers!
Spain sets up the story really well. We get this brutal crime, and from there we get three people reconstructing the story for us, from their own perspective. We read about JP from when he was a child and how his upbringing was, and it is quite something to read. Then there is Julie telling us about her marriage to her husband, the man so brutally and senselessly attacked by JP, and finally there is Alice, relentlessly pursuing the truth, desperately clawing at the crime to see how it all fits.
So the story is told in those three fragmented parts, each contributing to the story every step of the way. It is easy to pick up where you left off, as well as to see which character's section you are reading, which is dead helpful. I appreciated how you never really get a sense of who has done what, and who is innocent, and who is wrong. Each character has their own reasons, their own flaws, their own idiosyncrasies, and the book blends them and blurs them all so well that you are on the fence the whole time, commiserating with a character one moment and condemning them the next.
Something that did irritate me endlessly, however, was the constant referencing of Julie's tits. Not breasts, not ample chest, but tits, and this point was hammered in, as though this character was definitely purely by her tits. I don't know, it got old and annoying really quickly, and just felt out of place in this the whole time.
The Confession is written well and flows, you just breeze through it, and just want to know what is going on because the pacing, too, is spot on. Not too much information too quickly, not too little too slowly, so you get just the right amount of satisfaction to keep you going back for more and more. I could highly recommend this read, and have no regrets for checking it out. I had an absolute blast with it, and found it super entertaining.
Spain sets up the story really well. We get this brutal crime, and from there we get three people reconstructing the story for us, from their own perspective. We read about JP from when he was a child and how his upbringing was, and it is quite something to read. Then there is Julie telling us about her marriage to her husband, the man so brutally and senselessly attacked by JP, and finally there is Alice, relentlessly pursuing the truth, desperately clawing at the crime to see how it all fits.
So the story is told in those three fragmented parts, each contributing to the story every step of the way. It is easy to pick up where you left off, as well as to see which character's section you are reading, which is dead helpful. I appreciated how you never really get a sense of who has done what, and who is innocent, and who is wrong. Each character has their own reasons, their own flaws, their own idiosyncrasies, and the book blends them and blurs them all so well that you are on the fence the whole time, commiserating with a character one moment and condemning them the next.
Something that did irritate me endlessly, however, was the constant referencing of Julie's tits. Not breasts, not ample chest, but tits, and this point was hammered in, as though this character was definitely purely by her tits. I don't know, it got old and annoying really quickly, and just felt out of place in this the whole time.
The Confession is written well and flows, you just breeze through it, and just want to know what is going on because the pacing, too, is spot on. Not too much information too quickly, not too little too slowly, so you get just the right amount of satisfaction to keep you going back for more and more. I could highly recommend this read, and have no regrets for checking it out. I had an absolute blast with it, and found it super entertaining.
dominika81's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
youhavejess's review against another edition
4.0
JP walks into the McNamara's home, and brutally attacks Harry McNamara, a very well off bank owner, for no apparent reason...and then turns himself into the police...that's how we begin. Why did he do it? Was it really random? You'll have to read to find out!
This was a quick, caught your attention read. Right on par with my favorite genre. This was my first read from Jo Spain and I quite enjoyed their writing.
This was a quick, caught your attention read. Right on par with my favorite genre. This was my first read from Jo Spain and I quite enjoyed their writing.
emufranklin's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
honestly rare for a mystery to remain a mystery until the end but this was for me
bibliophilebookclub's review against another edition
3.0
I read The Confession fairly quickly. Its an Irish psychological thriller with a highly divisive set of characters. I found myself compelled to read the book at every opportunity, and its definitely an interesting read. It covers some of the financial history that we have lived through as well which you’ll appreciate (maybe wrong choice of word, but you know what I mean!) if you’re Irish like me!
kearnm's review
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
bgray98's review
3.0
Reading the blurb of this book got me super excited. You find out who did it in the first minute, in the last minute you find out why.
I was intrigued, but for such an exciting premise, it fell flat. Felt a bit drawn out and had me just wanting to skip to the end. The idea? Awesome. Execution, maybe 6/10.
I was intrigued, but for such an exciting premise, it fell flat. Felt a bit drawn out and had me just wanting to skip to the end. The idea? Awesome. Execution, maybe 6/10.
knit_and_purl's review against another edition
4.0
I quite enjoyed this title. You know exactly who's committed the crime at the beginning (I warn you that it's difficult to read), and the rest of the book is spent trying to understand why it happened. It's not a thriller, but more of a mystery, and not even that since you know who did it from the beginning. The characters are well-developed and sympathetic, but even then, there were times that I shook my head at their actions. I thought I had figured out the story partway through, but I was wrong. It isn't a shocking whodunnit, but I still found it compelling all the same. I would recommend this for readers of Clare Macintosh's "I Let You Go."
onnovdw's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5