Confessions by Kanae Minato

Description:

When Yuko Moriguchi's four-year-old daughter died in the middle school where she teaches, everyone thought it was a tragic accident. 

It's the last day of term, and Yuko's last day at work. She tells her students that she has resigned because of what happened - but not for the reasons they think. 

Her daughter didn't die in an accident. Her daughter was killed by two people in the class. And before she leaves, she has a lesson to teach...

But revenge has a way of spinning out of control, and Yuko's last lecture is only the start of the story. In this bestselling Japanese thriller of love, despair and murder, everyone has a confession to make, and no one will escape unharmed.


My Thoughts:

As soon as this book arrived I was totally intrigued. The cover and the synopsis were so disturbing. I started reading it straight away. I can honestly say that I was not disappointed.

I found the story to be dark and disturbing with no respite from the bleakness of the situation. Having said that I feel that the author has weaved an intricate story surrounding an atrocious event, with characters I actually despised. I personally enjoy reading a story with flawed characters, I find them much more interesting. 

I like the way that the background behind the death reveals itself over the course of the pages, in a series of confessions and told from the perspectives of different characters only adds tension to build up. 

I thought I had it all figured out and was shocked at the end, by the final event. Every action has a reaction. 

Quite short at 234 pages this story packs a punch and portrays the lives of a group of people that is thoroughly well written and beautifully translated by Stephen Snyder.

I wasn't surprised to learn that a film has was made in 2011. I think it would lend itself very well to that, as the writing is very cinematic in places.



About the Author:

Kanae Minato was a housewife before her debut novel CONFESSIONS sky-rocketed to the top of the Japanese charts and turned her into the year's bestselling novelist. A recipient of the Radio Drama Award, the Detective Novel Prize for New Writers, and the National Booksellers' Award, Minato lives in Japan.

This book will be published by Mulholland Books on 14th August 2014. My thanks to them and Book Bridgr for sending me a copy to review.