I really wanted to love this book. The plot was intriguing and first, I was pulled into the story. However, about halfway through, the story started to drag. The characters weren't developed enough for me, I didn't really connect with any of them, and the storyline fell apart. By the end I was confused, several plotlines had just dropped off or weren't resolved.

Like I said, strong concept, but the execution fell flat for me.

It was ok and different! A very slow burn at first. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review!

On top of mirroring our world, Carr infuses the story with a fast-pace that keeps your interest at maximum levels with one big twist after another. It’s thoroughly thrilling, superbly thought-provoking, and overall an absolutely engaging experience that will have you finishing it in two sittings if not just one prolonged session. The impact however is a long-lasting one as you find yourself pondering over the well-crafted ideas that Carr conveys through his taut writing.

Hard to believe The Confessions is Carr’s debut in the thrillerverse because it feels like the work of a veteran who balances gritty and grounded human emotions, actions, and the grand stakes so adroitly without the slightest hiccup.

This was a good book, it takes place in the near future where a "super" type of application - LLIAM - provides information to people for most aspects of their daily life, it is also the only application like it in the world and is used world wide by millions. Letters begin arriving to people these letters contain information to the reader about someone the reader knows, that reveals secrets that person has been hiding from them, an affair, a murder, embezzlement etc. At the same time LLIAM shuts down, and users cannot ask it for day to day assistance, like banking, traffic, weather, recipes, etc, this also affects government who also rely on it to make top secret military decisions. Kaitlan Goss is the CEO of the company that runs LLIAM, and she's the one tasked with trying to figure out why it has gone off line. Kaitlan has also received a letter, hers is about something she had done many years ago to ensure she would become CEO of the company and she doesn't want that to become public knowledge. Kaitlan goes on a journey to hunt down Maude one of the developers of LLIAM and who has a chip that would restore LLIAM, with the world at a literal shut down, retrieving the chip and installing it is her top priority. A good portion of the middle of the book is about her travel to find Maude, the people that are tracking her every move and her, in some cases, making things right with people she had wronged on her way to the top. Overall a good book, I would recommend. Thanks to #Netgalley and #Atria for the ARC.

This was such a suspenseful novel and had that element that I was looking for and enjoyed from this type of book. The characters had that element that I was looking for and was hooked from the first page. It had that thriller element that I was hoping for and really enjoyed this concept. Paul Bradley Carr wrote this well and can't wait for more.

At its heart, this may be a touch more a morality play than a thriller, but it’s still a very good read!

While we’ve read thousands upon thousands of stories that address AI, computers, and what it really means to be human, in The Confessions, the author takes that concept in a devastating new direction. Our computer learns something unexpected and brings us to the brink of something both horrifying and incredibly sad.

There were times in the book where our characters were more focused on ethics – and their own slightly (and sometimes not-so-slightly) skewed sense of morality and when it’s okay to do bad things for the greater good. And, I’ll be honest, there were times I wished the book was a little more thriller-based. But if you want a book that makes you think along with the thrills, this one works.

I also found that I wanted to book to be a little more global in scope. While there were a few examples of things that were happening world-wide, they were few and the book felt a bit narrowly focused for something that was supposed to impact most of the world.

I am uncertain how I feel about the ending. It’s…soft and I think I wanted concrete.

All in all, a very good read that will stay with me.

• ARC via Publisher