YOU FIND OUT WHO DID IT ON THE VERY FIRST PAGE. ON THE LAST PAGE, YOU’LL FIND OUT WHY.
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?
This gripping psychological thriller will have you questioning, who – of Harry, Julie and JP – is really the guilty one? And is Carney’s surrender driven by a guilty conscience or is his confession a calculated move in a deadly game?
My Review: 5/5 – I need to find new words for GRIPPING because I don’t think “Gripping” does this book justice – The Confession by Jo Spain was not only gripping it was “riveting, thrilling, unputdownable and overall captivating throughout.” (Thank you Google for your help!).
We start the book with a vicious attack on a man in front of his wife by a complete stranger – or do we? We then begin the tense journey to find out who is this random attacker, why did he attack Harry and then turn himself in to the police and what does his wife Julia have to do with the attack? We are taken back to the beginning of each character’s life through alternating chapters and just when you think you’ve worked out why, when, who the author throws in a humdinger of a twist and you are left dumbstruck and bemused.
Julie – the wife tells us her story from the moment she first met and fell in love with the enigmatic and successful Harry to the moment she watched a random attack beat him senseless with a golf club. JP – the attacker tells us his life story – warts and all, full of heartbreak and determination and how he finds himself confessing to attempted murder, but my favourite character is Alice Moody the policewoman in charge of this investigation – she was absolutely WONDERFUL and deserves her own book.
A thoroughly brilliant, page turning, tense and exceptional psychological thriller that is definitely 100% GRIPPING.
About The Author: Jo Spain’s first novel, top ten bestseller With our Blessing, was one of seven finalists in the Richard and Judy Search for a Bestseller Competition 2015. It was named as an Irish Times crime fiction book of the year by Declan Burke. Her second novel, bestseller Beneath the Surface, was released in September 2016 to further critical acclaim. The 3rd book in the Tom Renolds series, Sleeping Beauties will be released in September 2017.
A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, Jo lives in Dublin with her husband and their four young children. Jo has worked as a political advisor on the economy in the Irish parliament and has been vice-chair of the business body InterTrade Ireland for the last five years.
Jo’s debut novel, the first in a crime fiction series, is set against a background of the infamous Irish Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby homes. The author’s own father was born in one such home in Dublin and the novel’s backdrop was constructed based on the in-depth research she undertook while attempting to trace her family roots.
Her favourite writers include Pierre LeMaitre, Fred Vargas, Louise Penny, Jo Nesbo, Ann Cleeves, Val McDermid, Karin Fossum and Agatha Christie.
Published by Quercus and available to buy 25th January 2018
