My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Goodreads rating: 4.03 with 1,571 ratings (as of 1/23/19)

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.

Just an hour later the attacker, JP Carney, has handed himself in to the police. He confesses to beating Harry to death, but JP claims that the assault was not premeditated and that he didn’t know the identity of his victim. With a man as notorious as Harry McNamara, the detectives cannot help wondering, was this really a random act of violence or is it linked to one of Harry’s many sins: corruption, greed, betrayal?

200 Word Review

Immediately in Jo Spain’s The Confession, a brutal attack happens. You know who did it. You know how he did it. There is a witness, McNamara’s wife, Julie, who was not attacked and not injured. A hour after the assault, JP Carney, the attacker, walks into a police station and confesses the who and the how. It is not until the end of the book that you find out the why.

DS Alice Mood is assigned the case of the assault of the notorious and disgraced banker Harry McNamara. McNamara had recently been acquitted of financial fraud. Mood needs to figure out if the attack was a random act of violence or was it planned.

The story is told from the perspective of Moody, Julie, and JP. DS Mood does not believe Carney just happened to find an open door and attacked randomly. She keeps digging into the lives of Harry, Julie and Carney desperate to find out how they intercept.

Spain teases you right away and leaves you guessing. She takes us back to when the McNamaras met and shows their marriage’s evolution. Who can Mood believe? It is not until the very end that you understand the why.

Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime
Print Length: 400 pages
ASIN: B074MBR8KL
Publisher: Quercus
Publication Date: January 11, 2018

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