"From the very first page, Day of Confession defies the reader to look away for a moment and resonates with the confidence and effortless expertise of an author who knows we will not" The Express
"Grippingly conceived and recounted" Sunday Times
The book I am about to review is very dear to my heart as is its author. I read it a good few years ago, so my memory of it is not perfect, but I am writing about it because both this book and its author are very important to me; they form my introduction to the conspiracy/crime thriller genre and I still believe that Allan Folsom is one of the best authors in this field. It pains me that he is not more widely known amongst my bookish buddies, and for this reason I write the following review. As always, I begin with a synopsis:
In Italy the Cardinal Vicar of Rome is assassinated during a celebration of the Pope’s birthday.
In Los Angeles Harry Addison, a highly successful entertainment lawyer, finds a desperate message on his telephone answering machine from his long-estranged brother, Daniel, a priest in the Vatican.
Hours later a tourist bus on which Father Daniel is travelling explodes on the road to Assisi.
Arriving in Italy to claim his brother’s body, Harry is abruptly plunged into a Kafka-esque nightmare of deception and terror. Learning that Daniel is the prime suspect in the assassination of the Cardinal Vicar, he soon suspects that his brother may have survived the bus explosion and still be alive, but before he can confirm his suspicions he is himself framed for the murder of an Italian policeman.
On the run from the authorities and desperately searching for Father Daniel, Harry discovers someone else is looking for his brother as well – the infamous international terrorist and maniacal killer, Thomas Kind. Pursued and alone, Harry finds himself at the centre of a monstrous conspiracy spun from the very heart of the Vatican, where men of God are using the Devil’s hand to establish a new Holy Roman Empire...
Last year I took part in the Book Chick City Mystery and Suspense Reading Challenge, which involved reading 12 mystery and suspense novels during the year. I was far too smug about how achievable I thought this would be for me, given that I mostly read crime fiction at the time. However, I only read 9 books that I counted as falling under that category (I suppose if you include YA books like The 13 Trilogy by Michelle Harrison, then I actually did reach my target, but I think it is a good lesson for me to be harder on myself.)
