Confession

by Gary Whitmore

It’s 2005 and Sam Woods had been retired from the FBI for ten years and lived a quiet life in Florida. Then a book called A Killer’s Tale was published by author Allan Stein and became a best seller. Sam went on the hunt again when he learned that this best seller contained clues to a serial killer. The same serial killer called the October Slayer that taunted Sam back in the 1960s when he was a FBI Agent. But there’s a problem, Allan died after the book got published. So Sam dusted off his detective skills and conducted his own investigation into the identity of that serial killer he failed to capture so many years ago. His final discovery of the true identity of the October Slayer also revealed another a shocking truth that went unknown since the 1960s.

346 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 17, 2011

Reviews

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I will begin this review by saying that I should probably give this book a lesser rating, but for some reason I feel I have to give some extra credit for effort.

Let me start with what I did enjoy: the premise of the story, in which the crimes of a serial killer are confessed in writing under the guise of a crime novel, and the mise en abîme of a crime novel within a crime novel (as in reading a crime novel in which another crime novel is also to be read). Although this is not a new concept in the cultural/creative arts, I did enjoy seeing it in this particular setting.

That being said, I have to say that although the idea or concept was intriguing, I'm afraid I found the execution to be lacking. A lot of it had to do with the language, repetition, missing words, mistakes, and the use of at least one erroneous expression in several places throughout the book that simply annoyed me. Either Mr. Whitmore had this novel proofread and edited, in which case he should really sue whoever did it, or he did not and he really, really should have.

Going back to my first sentence, I think my disappointment is lessened by the fact that the book was available for free on Amazon, meaning I don't feel like I've been cheated out of my money. My review might be a little harsher if I'd had to pay for the novel.

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't really know what to say about this book other than I would normally give it 0 stars but awarded one for the premise of the book which sounded promising.
The novel is horribly written with constant rehashing of phrases verbatim throughout the work. I swear if I heard the word "rushed" repeated one more time I was going to scream. The author desperately requires a thesaurus ..... please!
It failed to look edited or even proofread; words missing, added words that made no sense & typos abound. Seriously, it read like a High School student had written it ..... & a poor one at that.
Very disappointing.

[Aura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad at all. There was nothing exceptionally exciting about the story, no extreme revelations or brilliant ideas but the story rang true. It had a good pace, it was humourous and I had to carry on reading until it was finished.