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duparker's review against another edition
3.0
Not as engaging as the first bunch of the hard case crime books I've read. Not saying it's bad, but not as much fun or as entertaining. The final chairs, day the final 30 pages were really good though.
dantastic's review against another edition
3.0
Jake Danser's a psychiatrist with a rich wife and enviable status. And a mistress. When the mistress turns up dead and all fingers point toward Jake, he struggles to clear his name. But did he do it?
First off, even though this book isn't the typical Hard Case noir thriller, I enjoyed it. It's creepy as hell not knowing who the real killer is and if Jake, the narrator, is telling the truth to the reader. That's about all I can say without giving away plot points. The writing is engaging and the characters are fairly reallistic. All in all, it's a satisfying read but not be for everyone. Like I said, it's not your typical Hard Case.
First off, even though this book isn't the typical Hard Case noir thriller, I enjoyed it. It's creepy as hell not knowing who the real killer is and if Jake, the narrator, is telling the truth to the reader. That's about all I can say without giving away plot points. The writing is engaging and the characters are fairly reallistic. All in all, it's a satisfying read but not be for everyone. Like I said, it's not your typical Hard Case.
jakewritesbooks's review against another edition
3.0
Some interesting moments but tries way too hard with the psycho-babble Am I the killer...or not? Jung!. A more polished version of this would've made for some rich reading.
twilliamson's review against another edition
4.0
Stansberry's The Confession feels every bit the throwback to pulpy noir film and gritty crime novel of ages past. He stacks the deck in genre trope: an unreliable narrator, spicy women, conspiracies and murder, and a lot of inappropriate sex. He keeps his plot moving toward its unsatisfying conclusion in style.
What makes the conclusion unsatisfying isn't that it's tonally wrong or inconsistent with the rest of the novel--on the contrary, Stansberry keeps the novel's ending believable to the tone of the book; what's unsatisfying is that Stansberry treats his sociopathic narrator to a fate considerably better than he deserves.
This is kind of the salacious point of Stansberry's novel: we're all taken in by the sympathetic consideration we give to narrators and protagonists, especially charming ones like Jake Danser, protagonist of this novel. Jake is the embodiment of all of our society's worst crimes; a narcissist, incapable of seeing wrong in himself in any meaningful capacity, always suspicious of what others have and jealous of what he has, constantly taken with the need to consume and perform his social identity--a fashionable personality taken straight from a magazine. If Jake is a sociopath, he's a sociopath of our own making, recognizable to all of us because we are all complicit in the same cycle of consumption and self-centeredness.
The Confession isn't a perfect novel by any means, but it's more transgressive than it appears, and it's as great a representation of noir fiction as any other. It's safe to say I really like it.
What makes the conclusion unsatisfying isn't that it's tonally wrong or inconsistent with the rest of the novel--on the contrary, Stansberry keeps the novel's ending believable to the tone of the book; what's unsatisfying is that Stansberry treats his sociopathic narrator to a fate considerably better than he deserves.
This is kind of the salacious point of Stansberry's novel: we're all taken in by the sympathetic consideration we give to narrators and protagonists, especially charming ones like Jake Danser, protagonist of this novel. Jake is the embodiment of all of our society's worst crimes; a narcissist, incapable of seeing wrong in himself in any meaningful capacity, always suspicious of what others have and jealous of what he has, constantly taken with the need to consume and perform his social identity--a fashionable personality taken straight from a magazine. If Jake is a sociopath, he's a sociopath of our own making, recognizable to all of us because we are all complicit in the same cycle of consumption and self-centeredness.
The Confession isn't a perfect novel by any means, but it's more transgressive than it appears, and it's as great a representation of noir fiction as any other. It's safe to say I really like it.
zzzrevel's review against another edition
4.0
This one is creepy. Well, it gets creepy I
mean. But it was entertaining, for a small
percentage of the novel the reader wonders
did he do it or not. I can't spoil that here.
Just read it.
mean. But it was entertaining, for a small
percentage of the novel the reader wonders
did he do it or not. I can't spoil that here.
Just read it.
jroberts3456's review against another edition
4.0
A twisted pulp nightmare that manages to, in its brief pages, muse on the nature of the soul, the self, our perceptions, and psychology. Stansberry plays a delicious game with his readers, engaging them fully and prodding them along towards his Shocking Finale. A fun throwback to the heydays of noir.
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