12 Sept 2014

THE CONFESSOR.

THE CONFESSOR by MARK ALLEN SMITH.

SOURCE: A giveaway win courtesy of I Want A Free Book Every Month (May 2014). THE BOOK {According to the back cover}: The hunt is on to locate Geiger. But is anyone prepared for what will happen if they find him?


Known for his innate ability to recognise lies, and his persuasive methods of making people talk, Geiger was the best of the best in the field of Information Retrieval. Until he was asked to break his only rule. Something cracked in Geiger's neatly controlled mind, opening a flood of terrible memories long kept at bay. And now Geiger is missing, presumed dead.


But with no body ever found, there are a number of people invested in finding out the truth. One of those is Harry Boddicker, Geiger's old handler and friend. Another is his bitter rival, Dalton, who is determined to extract a final confession before carrying out his deadly revenge. But no one has reckoned on Zanni Soames - a woman more dangerous than any of them, and hell-bent on getting to Zeiger first.

FIRST SENTENCE {Prologue}: He could see his indistinct reflection in the laptop's screen - a diaphanous face imprisoned behind the dense thicket of words.

MEMORABLE MOMENT {Page 24}: He'd fallen asleep in the folding chair on the fire escape outside his fourth-floor walkup on Henry Street in Chinatown - the perch where he now observed life on Planet Earth. He could have been a gargoyle on a ledge peering down at the shifting, joyful madness.

MY THOUGHTS: Though I couldn't put my finger on quite what it was for the first hundred or so pages I felt there was something I just wasn't entirely getting about this book. However it wasn't until having written my draft review and read some other reviews that I discovered that The Confessor was in fact part two in a series - the first being The Inquisitor. Something that could have explained my feeling that something was amiss? Who knows?

Anyway, call me old fashioned but I kind of like my heroes to be heroes (even if they are slightly flawed) and my villains to, likewise, be villains, none of this anti-hero business.

Every inch what I'd describe as an anti-hero, Geiger is an Information Retrieval specialist (a politically correct term for a torturer who excels in getting information out of people) who despite the author exploring his tormented past remained an unbelievably mundane character to read.

Not that it was only Geiger I found to be tedious, equally mundane was the writing. Painfully slow and plodding, I'm afraid that I constantly found my mind wondering.


 

11 comments:

Melliane said...

Sometimes it's difficult when you start with a second book to know if something is missing if it's the reason. Maybe it's the book, maybe not. Delicate thing.

Suko said...

I am sorry that you didn't enjoy this. Thanks for sharing your true thoughts, Tracy. I hope the next book you read makes up for it.

Melissa (Books and Things) said...

I might like this one more than you. I do enjoy a "good" anti-hero. :) Might have to check it out.

Stephanie@Fairday's Blog said...

Sorry you didn't enjoy this one more. It can be hard reading the second book without reading the first, but it sounds like it was more than that keeping you from liking this one more. Thanks for sharing!

Shooting Stars Mag said...

Sorry you didn't enjoy this one much. I actually really liked the first, so I'm curious about this installment.

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Hi Tracy,

This series obviously doesn't work very well if not read in order, although even then I am not sure that this storyline would be one for me.

I enjoy a good gutsy thriller, but having a protagonist who specialises in torture isn't really for me. I would seriously doubt that there is much of story going on! although the first lines on their own, seem to hold a lot of promise!

I can't believe how many sites there are out there now, offering free books. To be honest, if you selectively trawled them all, you need never have to buy a book again!

Thanks once again for your honesty and candidness when reviewing and I hope that your next book fares a little better.

Have a good weekend,

Yvonne

Barbara said...

No, not one for me. I love how your reviews are always so honest; it's nice to be able to trust them.
I’m going to go and look at the hedgehog petition before reading some more of your reviews.
Have a lovely weekend, Barbara x

Kelly said...

The blurb on this didn't really appeal to me, and your review clinched it. It won't be going on my wish list.

I'm sorry it was a disappointment for you. At least it was a give-away.

The Bookworm said...

Yes, maybe reading The Inquisitor first would help.
I do like anti-heroes though, I always have.

Brian Joseph said...

I do like to read about very flawed characters and anti heros.

I do not like to read series out of order and when I begin a book that I realize is not the first, as happened to you, it drives me crazy :)

Literary Feline said...

Hopefully it was just a case of not having read the first book . . . But somehow, based on your observations, that's not likely the case. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy this one, Tracy.