The Confession by Jo Spain

The Confession by Jo Spain
My rating: 5 of 5 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?
Dark, compelling psychological/crime thriller set in Ireland opens with the brutal beating in front of his wife of wealthy disgraced banker Harry McNamara. Julie, Harry's wife watches the senseless attack completely unable to move and as his attacker leaves Julie, in a state of shock, remains motionless watching Harry die in front of her. What an opener and this novel just gets better as it goes along. We know who the killer is right at the start, what we don't know is why and the rest of the book takes us tantalisingly along until the end and the reveal. What is unusual about this story is that the attacker (JP Carney) hands himself in at the police station and confesses to his crime but declaring he has no idea why he attacked Harry McNamara in fact he maintains he does not know his name until the police tell him.

Now begins the journey; we are taken through the narrative of the perspective of three people, Julie McNamara, JP Carney and DS Alice Moody who is handling the case. What possible connection could there be between Harry McNamara the wealthy, unscrupulous banker and JP Carney a man from the other side of the track, financially and socially his inferior? With short sharp chapters and lots of twists and turns were learn the connection and the reasons why, just ahead of the relentless digging of DS Alice Moody, we can feel the tension building.

A great plot, really clever writing and just the right amount of pace and tension. Given that we already know who did it, it still managed to be gripping until the end. Excellent, 5 stars. Can't wait to read more of her work.

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