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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The perfect psychological mystery, February 1, 2006
This review is from: The Confession (Hard Case Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
This is a truly outstanding noir mystery and completely deserves the Edgar. Layered, psychological, twisted, scary and perfect in every way. One of those rare and totally satisfying mysteries that also can be read on a whole new level once you know how it ends, so you will want to read again immediately after finishing it. I was amazed at how perfect it was in every way.
It's hard to review this book without giving away the twist that really makes it fantastic. If you have read some of the other reviews or are familiar with noir themes, you may have figured it out already, but boy, is it done well! This is a very psychological book, and I will just say that the twist comes into play a bit before the halfway point (or maybe earlier, if you are more perceptive than me) when the reader realizes that all is not as it seems. Then, what starts out as a pretty formulaic (but still very well-written!) detective novel becomes increasingly unique and interesting.
This novel, like a lot of good noir films (and books for that matter), starts out a little slow and builds to a fantastic, dramatic crescendo. Yes, it's dark, but it's also great. Intelligent, psychological, twisted, and a perfect ending. Extremely well-written and satisfying. My favorite Hard Case Crime book yet by far, The Confession is unique and not to be missed.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Terrific psychological suspenser, November 22, 2004
This review is from: The Confession (Hard Case Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
Jake Danser is in a hell of a fix. His wife Elizabeth has found out about his mistress Sara and wants a divorce. Sara wants a commitment but Jake want to save his marriage. In the meantime, Elizabeth has taken up with local prosecutor Minor Robinson during the separation. When Sara is found strangled with a tie very similar to Jake's own, he becomes the prime suspect and Robinson is determined to prove him guilty. Could he be guilty? Well, he does have this disorder where he blacks out for periods of time...
Author Domenic Stansberry successfully utilizes the "confessional" style made most famous by Edgar Allan Poe is such tales as "The Black Cat" and "The Tell-Tale Heart." Luckily, Danser does not deluge us with the same multiple protestations regarding his samity as Poe's protagonists did. Stansberry's skillful prose style also lends a level of credence to The Confession, which is essentially a "didhedoit" where the lead character seems often as clueless as the readers.
Danser tells his own story, ten years after, so at the very least, we know he's not dead, but we don't know where he's telling it from (I had assumed it was prison). The confessional style works well for this tale of a man who doesn't seem entirely sure of his own innocence, keeping the all-important doubt in the reader's mind all the way through this highly suspenseful novel. It's easy to see how Stansberry was nominated for two previous Edgar Allan Poe awards: he really knows his way around the psychological crime genre.
The cover, by artist Richard B. Farrell (using his own hands and his wife as models), again represents the inside contents well. The title of the book would seem to give away the ending, but any mention of the ending at all is bound to be a giveaway of some sort. I'll just say, in the sensationalistic style of publishing blurbs everywhere (it doesn't seem entirely inappropriate for this line): "I confess! I was astounded by The Confession."
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An Absolute, Unrelenting Total Joy, May 9, 2005
This review is from: The Confession (Hard Case Crime) (Mass Market Paperback)
One of the things I miss the most about the late 1950s and early 1960s is the way one shopped for paperback novels. Nothing --- well, almost nothing --- could top the excitement of walking into a drugstore or supermarket and checking out the revolving wire racks of paperbacks that were always present. Space was tight, and the harried clerks often would stick two or three different titles in one slot, so that you had to flip back through the books in each slot to see what was there. My favorites, even then, were the detective novels. There was a rough edge to the books; they had covers that more often than not were described as garish, which of course made them all the more appealing. And, contrary to the ancient adage, you most certainly could judge the book by its cover. Mickey Spillane was the king, but there were a bunch of other guys working in the genre as well --- authors like Carter Brown and Donald Hamilton, characters like Shell Scott and Matt Helm, and publishers like Gold Medal and Pyramid. They slowly disappeared, and the paperback market since has been relatively tame. Until now.
Hard Case Crime began publishing in late 2004, and, for those of us who like our murder mysteries served up spicy and hard-boiled, this mass market paperback imprint is an absolute, unrelenting total joy, a not-so-guilty pleasure to be devoured by the page --- and bookful. THE CONFESSION by Domenic Stansberry is a prime example of what Hard Case does, and does so well. Stansberry is a hard-hitting, uncompromising writer; those seeking happy, conventional endings where good and evil are clearly defined and the white hats triumph should look elsewhere. THE CONFESSION is an excellent example of this.
THE CONFESSION is told through the eyes and voice of Jake Danser, a forensic psychologist for Marin County. From the opening page of this dark, brooding novel, one immediately gets the impression that all is not right with Danser. He is caught between two women. Elizabeth is his beautiful, wealthy wife, a psychologist like himself and some years his senior. Danser genuinely seems to love Elizabeth, to the extent that he is capable of the same, yet he has sought solace in the arms of another. Sara Johnson is a criminal attorney some ten years his junior who also is romantically involved with another, and who is pressuring Danser to make a decision regarding his wife.
Danser also is besieged on a professional level, having been called as an expert witness in the Mori trial, a high-profile murder case involving a man accused in the strangulation death of his wife. The defense is being mishandled by the attorney, and Danser risks being held up to ridicule by the district attorney who, as it happens, used to have a relationship with Elizabeth. Matters come to a head when Elizabeth, who has been brooding for months, discovers Danser's infidelity and throws him out of the house. The crowning blow, however, occurs when Danser is accused of a brutal murder that he insists he did not commit. He contends that he is being set up and thinks he knows who is doing it. But knowing and proving are two different things, and Danser is forced to take matters into his own hands...with surprising and frightening results.
As I write these words, THE CONFESSION has just received the 2005 Edgar Award for Best Paperback Original. What more need be said? This is a masterful novel by a (heretofore) underappreciated master of the genre. Very highly recommended.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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