The Confession by Jo Spain – Review.

About the Book

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?

My Review

With thanks to the publisher for the copy received. The Confession is a standalone novel and is the first that I have read by Jo Spain. After reading this novel, and looking at the series of books that she has written I have plenty to keep me occupied.
I have seen some reviews of this book from readers who had picked up on the twists, but I missed them all. I knew that Harry wasn’t the nicest of men but couldn’t work out how to feel about Julia. As the novel progressed my levels of liking of her decreased slightly. Even though I did still have sympathy for her, I think she was a bit heartless to her family and friends. Did she have anything to do with the attack or was she a witness? Like many people who read this novel I had no liking at all for Harry. It was hard to see why she stayed with him.
Strangely, even though he had committed a crime, JP was a character I did like. He had managed to make a better life for himself and his sister and was obviously devoted to her. As the novel progressed my heart broke a little bit.
Even though this is a crime novel, there is less focus on the police than usual. There are a few chapters that feature Alice, who is sometimes not taken seriously by either her colleagues or Julia but she was proof that you shouldn’t judge my appearances.
A great novel, I’m looking forward to following this author in the future.