Book Review: Confessions of a Murder Suspect

Title: Confessions of a Murder Suspect

Authors: James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Genre: YA Mystery/Suspense

Book Blurb:

On the night Malcolm and Maud Angel are murdered, Tandy Angel knows just three things: She was the last person to see her parents alive. The police have no suspects besides Tandy and her three siblings. She can't trust anyone -— maybe not even herself. 

Having grown up under Malcolm and Maud's intense perfectionist demands, no child comes away undamaged. Tandy decides that she will have to clear the family name, but digging deeper into her powerful parents' affairs is a dangerous -- and revealing -- game. Who knows what the Angels are truly capable of?

Review:

So remember how back in this post about my visit to a Taiwanese book store I mentioned that I bought two English books? Well, I finally finished reading Confessions of a Murder Suspect. It was what I expected and didn't expect at the same time. Knowing this to be a James Patterson book, I knew right off the bat that I was going to love the voice of the narrator. Who doesn't like a witty MC who directly addresses the reader? 

The first person POV Patterson uses with Tandy is interactive and fun. She's an unreliable narrator--hell, she even admits it herself in one of the "confession" chapters. And she's complicated (you know, being a super geniues and all that), but layer by layer, Patterson reveals that in many ways, she's also relatable. But I can't stress enough that perhaps the most engaging part of this novel was how interactive and direct the narrator's voice was in relationship to the reader. The fact that she has a sharp tongue doesn't hurt either ;) (I like MC's who can hold their own in the world of words).

And, as predicted, the biggest let down was perhaps the resolution/plot of the novel. (I mean seriously, check out the Maximum Ride series by Patterson and you'll understand what I mean; series started out pretty good but just got plain weird by book four-ish.) There was a lot of suspense and build up to the revealing of who the murderer of Malcolm and Maud that when the truth was revealed, it was a surprise but also a bit of a disappointment at the same time.

***SPOILER ALERT***

Okay, so they committed suicide. I didn't see that coming. But that's believable. Maud had cancer and the family was in debt . . . so much debt they were going to be imprisoned. So they decided to pass through the worlds on their own terms rather than in a cell. 

Here's the plot hole that bothers me: 

So their freaky film neighbor apparently installed cameras in the Angels' villa, which is why he had the footage of the parents committing suicide. Yeah, that's believable (ish). But would no one have seriously noticed the cameras (which are revealed to be EVERYWHERE in the mansion) for oh so many years?? How did the neighbor even get them into the house in the first place? And also, it was implied that the parents have been charting the progression of the Angel kids since birth . . . and that they used cameras to spy on them (ie. Tandy reading for 6 hours straight after some med alterations) . . . the same cameras installed by the neighbor (sorry, I can't remember his name so I'm just going to refer to him as "the neighbor" in this review)??? How does that work? 

There were a few other plot problems that didn't sit well with me, but this was definitely the biggest one.

***SPOILER FREE ZONE***

However, other than that, the pacing of this novel was spot on and the suspense was well distributed. You never really know who committed the crime and who is on whose side. Had me turning the pages pretty darn fast.  Overall, a solid 4 stars. Would've given it a 5 had it not been from the plot hole drama.

Rating: