Confessions - Kanae Minato

Confessions by Kanae Minato
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Her pupils killed her daughter. Now, she will have her revenge.
After an engagement that ended in tragedy, all Yuko Moriguchi had to live for was her four-year-old child, Manami. Now, after a heartbreaking accident on the grounds of the middle school where she teaches, Yuko has given up and tendered her resignation. 

But first, she has one last lecture to deliver. She tells a story that will upend everything her students ever thought they knew about two of their peers, and sets in motion a maniacal plot for revenge. 

Narrated in alternating voices, with twists you'll never see coming,Confessions probes the limits of punishment, despair, and tragic love, culminating in a harrowing confrontation between teacher and student that will place the occupants of an entire school in harm's way. You'll never look at a classroom the same way again.



When I spotted ‘Confessions’ I thought this sounded brilliant. I love a good thriller and being set in/around a school I thought it appealed to me as it sounded a little different. Being just over 200 pages I knew this was going to be a quick read; I didn’t anticipate just how quick of a read this was going to be. All I can say is wow! This book blew me away!

This is the first time I have ever read a Japanese translated book and I was unsure what to expect in relation to the translation; some books that have been translated that I have read; have not been that good. This was practically perfect and I would have struggled to realise it had been translated if it wasn’t mentioned.

A middle school teacher Yuko Moriguchi decides on the last day of term to announce she is retiring and tells her students one of the reasons she has decided to retire is down to the tragic ‘accident’ of the death of her four year old daughter at the school. Moriguchi, however knows it was not an accident and knows exactly who is responsible for the death; and it was a few students in her class.

This book is split into characters perspectives of what has happened during the time of the death and for the few months after. These form the chapters in the book; it makes the chapters rather long and not easy if you wish to stop reading, to visit the bathroom or make a cup of tea.

As I was reading the book I wondered how it was fitting into the ‘thriller’ genre as we knew right from the beginning exactly what had happened to the four year old. Going further through the book I began to understand and how the story was being to develop. It is a very clever story that stayed with me for some time after I had stopped reading. I also did not see the ending coming and I actually gasped out loud. This is the first time I have been completely surprised by a book and it really did shock me.

The story itself is truly horrific and shocking at times; which made the reader want to continue and although at points I didn’t want to continue reading I just could not put the book down. This is a very thought provoking book, it is addictive and will stay with you long after you have finished it.

It has made me want to shout from the streets what a brilliant book this is and encourage others to read it. This was a cracking read; I highly recommend it to anyone who loves psychological thrillers. This book was easily 5* from me and if I could have given it higher I would have, purely for the shock that I did not see coming!

I would like to thank the publisher for sending this in exchange for an honest review.