Sadly, my little run of five star reviews is over and its all thanks to one book – the hugely over-hyped “The Confession” by Jo Spain. Not only is this book not really about a confession (the police seem to have worked out what has happened before anyone confesses anything – unless this refers to the character who turns himself in initially, which isn’t a confession from reader’s perspective because we literally see him commit the crime) it’s also nowhere near as good as the blurb makes it out to be.

On first glance, the novel sounds incredibly intriguing. The premise states: “You find out who did it on the very first page. On the last page you’ll find out why”. Oooh, I thought. This will keep me in suspense! Except, this wasn’t a truthful description either. You find out exactly what happened towards the end of the novel (you can work it out for yourself before the characters confirm everything) but it’s definitely not a last page cliff hanger.

At first, you do see a crime being committed (at least this part lives up to the snappy premise) which is unusual but the novel quickly descend towards the formulaic police investigation with a timeslip back so the reader can see how events unfolded from the p.o.v of the victim’s wife and the perpetrator. Folded into this story are the events of the financial crash in Ireland (oooh, exciting) and one of my major bugbears was that the situation wasn’t explained in nearly enough detail. The whole event was discussed through the eyes of Julie, the victim’s wife, who “didn’t understand” banking – despite her husband owning a bloody bank and I felt like this was a bit of a cop out by the author. I was a business student during the early 2000’s so I could vaguely remember the “Celtic Tiger” but for younger readers or those who are non-UK/Irish then the whole boom and bust situation really needed more depth. I also felt that the term “Celtic Tiger” was waaaay overused by the author and by the end of the book had really started to grate on me.

As far as characters go, this book features some of the most unlikeable people ever. There’s Harry, the stereotypical super rich banker – all flash cars, prostitutes and drugs; J.P., the somewhat derranged poor-person-perpetrator and Julie, the totally wet “I’m so in love with my twat of a husband” wife. Of all of them, I found Julie the most frustrating. She was all “I think my husband is cheating! I can’t confront him though!” and “If I leave I’ll have no money and nowhere to go!” despite the fact her husband was so rich she could have easily squirrelled some cash away, she had a full time job and was from a big family who were all on her side. Even when certain allegations about Harry come to light -serious, criminal allegations that potentially put her in danger – she still goes back to him. The explanation given is that “she loves him” and she believes marriage is for life. There’s no suggestion that she’s abused or has any kind of mental health issues (at first) so, personally, I found this pretty hard to stomach.

I was surprised to learn that the author, Jo Spain, was a woman as she just doesn’t write realistic, relatable female characters. For instance, when Julie has a period (pertinent because, of course, Julie wants a baby despite all of the problems in her marriage) she refers to it as “a telltale splash of blood in the toilet each month”. Now, without getting graphic, that’s just not what happens. I genuinely found the way that she depicts women incredibly old fashioned and sexist – the book literally reads like something by Stephen King in the 80’s. All of the women were described by their personal attributes (i.e. size of their boobs), they all threw themselves at Harry and the only female character with any agency was one of the police officers, who was described as obese, with thin flat hair. I’m not saying that you can’t be super hot as an overweight woman with fine hair (because you can) but just to clarify that this woman is not the same as the others (who all have large breasts, pretty faces, skimpy dresses and are slender – because that’s what all men everywhere like) one of the other officers makes some kind of sexual innuendo towards her and she acknowledges that he’s clearly throwing her a bone.

So – pretty girls are sexual playthings of the big strong cocky men, clever girls are fat and ugly. Got it? Then I’ll continue…

I could have forgiven *some* of the above points if the story was actually shocking or exciting – but it kind of wasn’t. Once you work out how everyone relates to everyone else, you expect some kind of super salacious twist – but it just wasn’t there. The ending is actually pretty humdrum. Yawn.

Overall, I really didn’t enjoy this book. I’m not a fan of a crime thriller in general, so perhaps if you really enjoy this genre you may get more from this book than I did. It really wasn’t for me though.

This is a really pacey and clever psychological thriller.
The storyline packs a good punch, it had me hooked from the start. The characters are well crafted and intruiging.
A seemingly random and senseless attack on disgraced wealthy banker Harry McNamara, in his own home, is witnessed by his terrified wife Julie who does nothing to help. The culprit JP Carney immediately hands himself in swearing he didn’t know the victim.
The plot unfolds with each character narrating a chapter. Alice, a police sergeant, is absolutely sure that there is more to the attack than meets the eye and is determined to find the connection.
The plot progresses quickly and I found it compulsive reading.

Harry and Julie McNamara are a seemingly perfect couple. Married for almost twenty years, he is the owner of one of the most important banks in Ireland and they are very rich. Lately the couple has been on the pages of newspapers and magazines while Harry’s bank was facing trial for fraud but he’s been acquitted and they are leading a quiet life. One night, Harry and Julie are watching TV in their home when a man enters their house and beats Harry to death. A little later, the man, JP Carney, consigns himself to the police and confesses to having killed someone. He claims to not know the person he attacked or why he did it. JP is a middle-class worker with a few problems of drugs but doesn’t seem to have any connection to the McNamaras. So why did he attack Harry? As the police investigates, the reader is taken back to the events that led to this terrible night.

This novel is completely gripping. I love books that start with a shocking event and then go back in time to explain the reason behind it. That’s how THE CONFESSION starts. Harry and his wife Julie are comfortably watching TV, a thriller movie, Julie tells the reader, when a man they’ve never seen in their life comes in, attacks Harry, and leaves Julie unharmed before running away. Because he confessed to the crime, because there is no reason behind it, and for his history of depression, seems like JP is going to spend a few years in a mental hospital before walking out as a free man. While the police seems happy to let it go as the work of a madman, there is a policewoman, Alice, who believes that there is a deeper and more troubled truth behind the attack. Like Alice, I wanted to find out the truth and as the author explores the characters’ past, the truth is slowly unraveled, a bit at the time, until the final shocking truth is revealed.

I have to admit that I didn’t like any of the main characters, they are deeply flawed – Harry is selfish and self-centered, Julie wallows too much is self-pity and she is too focused on loving her husband, and JP was too obsessed (although, I felt sorry for him) – but they are also complex and very well-drawn.

This is an addictive thriller, full of twists and turns that kept me glued to the page.

"We stayed in, picked at dinner, watched television and moved around each other like we were the wrong ends of two magnets"

The Confession is well-plotted, original and absorbing. Grabbing me with that shocking prologue ( :o omg!) and continuing through the back and forth of JP and Julie's stories and DS Alice Moody's investigation, I was hooked as the plot unfolded.

I'm a huge fan of stories that use multiple viewpoints and/or timescales to build up the narrative and it is done really well here. The book is well-structured across the three narrators and four parts, each one ending on a bit of a twist, leaving you wanting more.

"Thoughts skid around my head like marbles on a plate"

At various points I managed to feel both sympathy and revulsion for the lead characters and that is a true testament to Jo Spain's writing! These are complex, three-dimensional characters in whom you can invest - there is nothing simply black and white about them or their actions.

I did love Alice! I found her refreshing and realistic: bright but self-deprecating, easy-going but gauche, driven and determined. I enjoyed the police banter throughout and some amusing lines were a balance to the dark story-line.

"DS Moody coming up the stairs is like the arrival of the T-Rex in Jurassic Park"

At times the book made for uncomfortable reading because of the violence, the grief and the suffering - they were always well written but vividly and harrowingly brought to life.

I did foresee some of where the story was headed, but there was a nice final twist of the knife at the end and I will be thinking about this story for some time to come.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for the ARC of The Confession.

Very clever, interesting and makes you think!
None of the characters are particularly endearing but Jo Spain (a new author for me, possibly her debut) makes you want to find out more. She crafts insights into their childhoods and relationships which give context to the situation they find themselves in...

Great great book - a different angle on the psychological thriller/police procedural. I absolutely loved Alice, the policewoman leading the investigation.

I will be looking out for more from this author!
4.5* a great read

Opens with a vicious attack on a husband, the wife watches on in fear. A man hands himself in at the police station and confesses to the attack. We know who did it, but now we need to know why.
The story is told from three different voices, the wife, the attacker, and the police and we are shown glimpses of their life before and after the attack. This unfolds the story slowly, and builds up to a great final act. Really well told and kept me guessing the motive, and the twist at the end was very clever.

This story hits the ground running, pulling you in with a horrifically shocking and savage attack on Harry McNamara, a disgraced banker, whilst his wife Julie looks on, frozen to the spot. Only an hour has passed and the attacker, JP Carney, has already handed himself in to the police, confessing to his crime. He insists it was merely a random attack, that he did not know the identity of his infamous victim. Investigating officer, DS Alice Moody is not convinced of his story. Was this merely a random attack or is it linked to Harry McNamara's unsavoury past?


This is where The Confession really begins as we discover that this is not so much of a 'whodunit' story but more of a 'why did he do it' story.

Narrated by Julie, JP and DS Moody, the author cleverly allows us to gradually unravel the circumstances, secrets and lies leading up to that fateful night. Slowly but surely the pieces of this jigsaw are put together, establishing connections and uncovering the hidden truths of these complex characters. None of which are very likeable.

As mentioned, this read starts off with a bang, but it sadly lost steam as the story progressed. My interest began to waver as the story became bogged down with too many unnecessary details, especially when it came to the narration of DS Moody. I didn't feel her contribution to the story added much value to the plot as a whole. Fortunately, my interest did pick up again towards the finale, only to be left with a conclusion that was a little hard to believe.

Overall this was a good story, covering the topics of dysfunctional families; alcoholism; mental health and depression; murder; greed, power and control and it's morally bankrupt consequences in the backdrop of the economic boom in Ireland until it all came crashing down. But unfortunately it was not as gripping or as surprising as I had wanted it to be... I was expecting more.

3.5⭐️ from me.

Many thanks to Netgalley, the author and Quercus books for the opportunity of reading an ARC of this book in exchange for my honest, unbiased opinion.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for advance sight of this book in return for an honest review. This is my first encounter with Jo Spain’s writing and what a refreshing surprise it offered. Although the basic plot covers ground well-covered by authors over the centuries - love, betrayal, murder and revenge, together with unexpected plot twists and turns etc - the fluency of the writing and the careful use of three different first person narrators provided the freshness that maintained interest and enjoyment throughout. Key criteria for me when deciding how much to recommend a book are the reluctance I have to stop reading before I put down the book for the evening and the eagerness with which I return to see where the plot takes me in the next phase of reading. On both tests this book scores highly. My only slight reservation would be that the final denouement fell a little short of the very high standard of the rest of the plot, but this needs to be seen in the context of a very good read. Highly recommended!

JP Carney enters the house of Harry and Julie McNamara while they are watching a horror film little did they know the horror ahead of them was far worse than what they were watching?
JP has a golf club in his hand and as Harry gets up to confront him he swings the club down on him and beats him to a pulp all the while Julie sits there not moving.
Like all families they have their secrets some small some big but why is JP a man unknown to them there and why is he beating Harry. After the attack JP goes straight to police station and hands himself in still covered in blood he appears to be unable to say why he had beat Harry leaving him for dead.
I really enjoyed this book wasn't sure to start with but as I go into it I didn't want to put it down until last night I could hardly keep my eyes open but knew I would enjoy the final 5% if I read it fresh so thats what I did and it was worth the wait. Definitely recommend this book.

The answer to this whodunnit came first. Then the author led us round the wrekin and up and down blind alleys before we find out why.
Ireland in the boom years was paradise to many and pestilence to many more. A beautiful country that had known mostly deprivation in its history was like a family of peasants winning the lottery. It soaked up all it could like a sponge but no one warned them that when the sponge was squeezed it all drains away again.
Jo Spain shows us all of life...from the mentally ill mammy with the drunk bully of a husband forcing the children to drag themselves up to the new, wealth gathering couples living the high life on Krug and cocaine. It is all so true this book is half biographical.
A good read. New, believable characters. Thank you netgalley for this advance copy to review.

An interesting book which made one want to find out what happens next. One ended up identifying with each of the characters and their own individual faws.

This book has a few twists and turns and the author has an incredible way of making you feel sympathy for the characters in this book who you really wouldn't want to get to know out in the real world.

I particularly liked Julie and JP in this book, their characters are both intriguing and hard to work out completely. I also really liked the detectives in charge of the investigations and their banter.

I would definitely read more by this author. I enjoyed this book very much indeed.

The plot lines in The Confession are so intricately woven, I hardly knew what had happened before it all came together and smacked me in the face at the end.

This book has a lot of back story that slowly builds the tension as each plot point becomes relevant to the current events and each character's part in the murder the book starts with, is masterfully explained, little by little.

The characters really impacted me in their own ways. Each of them were guilty of something heinous but were so human and vulnerable at the same time. The author did a brilliant job of turning black and white into grey. I felt connected to every one of the four protagonists. I felt a LOT of compassion for everyone involved, even the absolute bastard Harry.

The comic relief provided by the deliciously un-PC police had me rolling. I'm sad that this book is a stand alone so I won't see Alice Moody or Dean Gallagher again. Even though they were hysterical, they didn't change the dark tone of the book or ruin any of the tension.

My favourite thing about the whole book is there was NO filler. Everything played an important part in the story and led smoothly up to the twisted climax. The protagonists didn't make me suffer through pointless asides or lecture me with their irrelevant opinions and that seems to be depressingly rare in thrillers now.

I find it much harder to write good reviews than bad ones because flaws are much easier to pick out and describe than just good writing. When a book is brilliant, I feel like there's a kind of magic to it that I can't quantify or put a name to, so therefore, my reviews are short and don't do the book justice.

The Confession has the kind of magic that makes it one of my favourite thrillers ever read. I will be so happy to read anything else from Jo Spain in future. Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review.

5*

The Confession is a very clever novel and is set to be a big hitter in 2018.

JP Carney walks into Harry McNamara's house and brutally attacks him one night. He hands himself in to the Police immediately and swears it was just a random act of violence, that he wasn't attempting murder, and that he has no idea who Harry McNamara is.

The Police find this difficult to believe, Harry McNamara is a disgraced former banker worth millions. Famous for being filthy rich at a young age, Harry's fame only increased when his bank was bought into question then investigated as part of a major financial Fraud scandal.

Harry bailed out of the bank leaving others in charge, and has recently been cleared of any wrong doing, but he's spent months in the public eye as the case has been dragged through the the courts, so it seems impossible that JP has no idea who Harry is.

JP himself couldn't be any more different to Harry, and at first the Police believe that Harry's significant wealth is the reason behind the attack. JP knows exactly who Harry is, but his motive isn't monetary.

The Confession is told in alternate chapters from JP, Harry, Julie (Harry's wife) and Alice's (lead Detective) point of view. We learn of past mistakes and Marraige woes and the differences in the life's of the very privileged and the not so...

5 well deserved stars

Late one night a man walks into the luxurious home of disgraced banker Harry McNamara and his wife Julie. The man launches an unspeakably brutal attack on Harry as a horror-struck Julie watches, frozen by fear. It looks like Harry's many sins - corruption, greed, betrayal - have finally caught up with him.
An hour later the intruder, JP Carney, hands himself in, confessing to the assault. The police have a victim, a suspect in custody and an eye-witness account, but Julie remains troubled.
Has Carney's surrender really been driven by a guilty conscience or is this confession the first calculated move in a deadly game?

The story is told from three points of view, that of Julie, the victim’s wife; JP, the victim’s killer; and Alice, the investigating officer.

You’ll find out who did it on the very first page, on the last page you’ll find out why.

This novel has it all revenge, betrayal, loyalty, honour with a toxic marriage at its core, I was absolutely hooked.

I have one major gripe, the ending for me is a bit of an unsatisfying anti-climax. Maybe you will think different.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Quercus books for providing me with a copy this book in return for a fair and honest review

I quite enjoyed this book, it had a lot of twists and turns, many of which I did not see coming.
The plot follows the dramas of a husband and wife, one of whom gets severely beaten up by an assailant whilst watching tv one night.
What comes next is a twisty back story that explains everyone’s actions right up until that point and then beyond.
It was easy to read and flowed along at a decent pace though slow in some parts, but held the interest.
The main characters were ever so annoying though, I didn’t warm to either Julie or Harry, Julie seemed like a complete doormat.
All in all a decent read.

If you really want to read this book, then do it. I'm in the minority when it comes to my opinion of this book. Personally, I had a hard time getting into the book and I grew more and more frustrated with both the story and the characters. I skimmed half the book just to get to the twist in the story, but they left me cold. I think that one of the reasons for me to not liking the book is that I just didn't give a damn about the characters and reading about their past, JP (the attacker) tragic upbringing and Julie (the wife) naive marriage. I was not enjoying this pity party and I grew more and more annoyed with them. Then, we have the police POV (Alice) to add to the drama, which instead just added one more character that I didn't find interesting to the story.

So, why did I finish the book? I just wanted to know what the BIG thing was. Why he did it. So, I skimmed the book, which worked quite well actually, I got the gist, was not impressed and can now move on.

As I said before this book this book is well liked with a LOT of 5-star reviews, it's just me negative Nancy that couldn't stand the book!

A refreshingly original idea... almost turns the usual who done it style on its head! You really do not get many clues along the way and you are just engrossing yourself in one characters views when you are switched to another’s perspective in the next character. Some good funny dialogue too and a clear understanding of both policing and banking if anything this perhaps went into a bit too much detail.
I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a good thriller but is looking for something just a bit different. You will not be disappointed.

This book was gripping, gritty and good. Couldn't put it down. The story was told through the characters, who told their own stories and the effect the events that unfolded had on them. The end surprised me, and shock revelations.

I can't remember a book that hooked me as quickly as this one did as far as getting right to it from the start. What's even better is the story never lets up. I loved this book and thought the pacing and structure was great. Fun characters, great plot, I really enjoyed it!!