Confessions of a Murder Suspect (Confessions #1)

This is a junior read, but it reads like a perfect adult James Patterson novel. It has its twists and turns and is seen through the eyes of Tandorey (named after some food dish). A high functioning family with four children who are dupped by their parents who have mapped their children’s physical body types with daily doses of designer drugs; the children were taught to believe they were vitamins. Their parents make their children “experiments” for these drugs. Each child excels at something. Hugo, the youngest is physically strong at the age of ten. Tandy is mentally set as a detective of sorts, her twin, Harrison, is a pianist of extrodinary talent and their older brother, Matty is a star professional football player. Hugo is designed after Matty, his hero.The title is deceptive, “suspect” is the key word. The children are suspected of murdering their very wealthy, deceptive, deceiving, conniving parents. Tandorey sets out to find out who killed her parents. This was an excellant and fun read even for an adult reader of James Patterson’s novels.

I just finished this book, and I have to say it was a lot of fun to read. Mystery is probably my favorite genre as far as genres go, but I didn’t necessarily expect a lot from this. I have never read James Patterson. For some reason I always thought he was more thriller than mystery. I thought most of the twists in the book were fairly unexpected, though I will admit that when I read this I was dead tired and mostly looking for something fun that I didn’t have to think a lot about. This is definitely that (in a good way). It keeps you guessing, and I didn’t guess the ending, but after finishing it, it did seem like I should have at least suspected that ending (though it’s by no means the expected or cliche ending). The characters (at least the Angel children characters) are all pretty likable. I agree with some others that detective Caputo was a jerk and almost too mean to be believable, but I think the authors did a good job of keeping him from becoming so obnoxious you want to quit reading, though I was disappointed he never really got what was coming to him (in my opinion). The book is kind of a modern-day Nancy Drew in some ways, but not so formulaic.

In any case, I’m really excited to read the next book, and I had a lot of fun with this one. It definitely leaves quite a bit open at the end. It resolves the main mystery, but there’s other stuff that won’t be resolved until the sequel, so if that’s something you don’t like, then you might want to keep that in mind before reading this.

In this young adult thriller, we see a new side of James Patterson. As an avid Patterson fan and a YA writer, I just had to check this out. I was not disappointed, as his take on wealthy children and murdered parents was new and fresh. Four siblings find their parents murdered, but they are the only ones who had access to the house. As this mystery unfolds there are multiple twists and turns. The oldest living female child, Tandy, is determined to solve this mystery, even if she turns out to be the killer (Tandy both narrates the story and speaks to the readers in second person at certain points). Of course, when you are a wealthy, high intelligent, somewhat famous family, nothing is as it seems. The deeper Tandy digs into the murder, the more she learns about herself and her family. A dramatic end, which I didn’t see coming!
Final thought: I will definitely check out more of Patterson’s YA books!

I read this book in a couple days, I could not put it down! I love the way the main character Tandy talked to the reader, not as a diary in most cases, but as someone talking to a friend. That’s what made the book so enticing for me. She is so misunderstood by everyone else in her life, and as the reader, you are privy to her private thoughts. As the story went on, she opened up more and more about her life and her past, questioning herself along the way if there is a possibility that she killed her parents.
I will say that the ending didn’t really answer all of my questions I had, so I’m not sure if there is going to be a sequel to this or if I’m just supposed to stay in wonder. In fact, to me, the ending seemed a little rushed. Everything came together so quickly, and sealed all the events into one little package with maybe a tear or two for the questions I feel weren’t answered.
All in all, it was a very good book and I will be reading it again so see if I can catch things I missed the first time around.

This undoubtedly the worst James Patterson book I have ever read, made doubly so because it was written with, arguably, his best writing partner, Maxine Paetro. I almost gave up on more than one occasion and it was only my long term loyalty to everything James Patterson writes that kept me going…a determination not to quit. But, oh boy, I came perilously close!
The narrative is over long, terribly wordy and, dare I say it, totally tedious and utterly boring. Quite how Patterson and Paetro came up with this rubbish is beyond me.
I see there are more in the ‘Confessions’ series. Not for me there aren’t!

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member