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The Confessions of Matthew Strong
A wildly original, incendiary story about race, redemption, the dangerous imbalances that continue to destabilize society, and speaking out for what's right.
One could argue the story begins the night Allegra Douglass is awarded Distinguished Chair in Philosophy at her top-tier university in New York--the same night her grandmother dies--or before that: the day Allie left Birmingham and never looked back. Or even before that: the day her mother disappeared. But for our purposes Allie's story begins at the end, when she is finally ready to tell her version of what happened with a white supremacist named Matthew Strong.
From the beginning, Allie had the clues: in a spate of possibly connected disappearances of other young Black women; in a series of recently restored plantation homes; in letters outlining an uprising; in maps of slave trade routes and old estates; in hidden caves and buried tunnels; and finally, in a confessional that should never have existed. They just have to make a case strong enough for the FBI and police to listen. This is when Allie herself disappears.
Allie is a survivor. She survived the newly post-Jim Crow south, she survived cancer, and she will survive being stalked and kidnapped by Matthew Strong, who seeks to ignite a revolution. The surprise in this doesn't lie in the question of will she be taken; it lies in how she and her community outsmart a tactical madman.
Runtime: 8. 65 hours, 7 audio CDs
One could argue the story begins the night Allegra Douglass is awarded Distinguished Chair in Philosophy at her top-tier university in New York--the same night her grandmother dies--or before that: the day Allie left Birmingham and never looked back. Or even before that: the day her mother disappeared. But for our purposes Allie's story begins at the end, when she is finally ready to tell her version of what happened with a white supremacist named Matthew Strong.
From the beginning, Allie had the clues: in a spate of possibly connected disappearances of other young Black women; in a series of recently restored plantation homes; in letters outlining an uprising; in maps of slave trade routes and old estates; in hidden caves and buried tunnels; and finally, in a confessional that should never have existed. They just have to make a case strong enough for the FBI and police to listen. This is when Allie herself disappears.
Allie is a survivor. She survived the newly post-Jim Crow south, she survived cancer, and she will survive being stalked and kidnapped by Matthew Strong, who seeks to ignite a revolution. The surprise in this doesn't lie in the question of will she be taken; it lies in how she and her community outsmart a tactical madman.
Runtime: 8. 65 hours, 7 audio CDs
9 pages, Audio CD
First published October 11, 2022
32 people are currently reading
821 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
October 22, 2022
Too many far-fetched scenes which required me to suspend belief; and untied, loose ends along with a very naive protagonist. She quickly tapped on that last nerve too many times and wore me out.
December 27, 2022
An interesting and potentially compelling theme, but it wasn't until about three-quarters of the way through the book that it began to engage me, and then, disappointedly, it drifted off again at the end. Frankly, I found most of the story fell flat.
February 21, 2024
This one was a struggle to get through. The premise drew me in and actually kept me sticking with the book but it was a tough one to hang with. Nothing much happened until near the end. Then just like a whirlwind in was in and out and over. Before I knew it, it was back to boring. Although an important topic, it really wasn't believable. There was so little on Matthew Strong until the end, that he didn't come across as a terrifying, evil villain but more of a reckless, ignoramus. Our main character, Allie, seems to be strong but at the same time a bit narcissistic. She was a hard character to like. I think this story could've been great but it really fell flat for me.
February 3, 2023
Allie Douglass is a critically acclaimed author for her groundbreaking writings on slave owner philosophy which leads her to become a target for a new white power group trying to return America back to the good old days.
2
This was a fascinating concept and was well researched but unfortunately the positives end there. The blurb spoils literally the entire book as Power-Greene uses the extremely lengthy word count to just add pages of exposition, semi-historical details, and repetitive dialogue. There are entire sections with zero plot relevance just so the main character can give a preachy speech about some timely social issue. Don't get me wrong, the content is definitely well intentioned, but the delivery is truly the most grating form of holier than thou lecturing. This also completely obliterates any semblance of pacing or suspense as Allie uses literally every event as an opportunity to insert a historical tie in. I literally only finished this because I desperately hoped that something interesting would happen only for the ending to be Allie solving the mystery on complete accident. By trying to write an analysis of post-Trump surge of white supremacy, a thriller about a writer being kidnapped, a critique of falsely inclusive academia, and a personal story of generational trauma Power-Greene aims for too many targets and misses them all.
2
This was a fascinating concept and was well researched but unfortunately the positives end there. The blurb spoils literally the entire book as Power-Greene uses the extremely lengthy word count to just add pages of exposition, semi-historical details, and repetitive dialogue. There are entire sections with zero plot relevance just so the main character can give a preachy speech about some timely social issue. Don't get me wrong, the content is definitely well intentioned, but the delivery is truly the most grating form of holier than thou lecturing. This also completely obliterates any semblance of pacing or suspense as Allie uses literally every event as an opportunity to insert a historical tie in. I literally only finished this because I desperately hoped that something interesting would happen only for the ending to be Allie solving the mystery on complete accident. By trying to write an analysis of post-Trump surge of white supremacy, a thriller about a writer being kidnapped, a critique of falsely inclusive academia, and a personal story of generational trauma Power-Greene aims for too many targets and misses them all.
November 16, 2022
A suspenseful thriller involving a beleaguered academic and the white supremacist who stalks and kidnaps her. Professor Allie Douglass seems to have reached the pinnacle of her career but personal and professional pressure does not let her enjoy the moment. Called home to Alabama, she finds no respite among family and old friends. In fact, the shadow that seems to be following her is growing darker and closer by the day.
Author Power-Greene creates a tense storyline that also examines contemporary issues of racism and extremism. Recommended.
Author Power-Greene creates a tense storyline that also examines contemporary issues of racism and extremism. Recommended.
February 20, 2025
I really don’t know how to feel about this one. I appreciated the honest story it told about the dark realities of the South’s reconciliation with its past but I also felt as though it didn’t go as in-depth as I’d have liked it to and the characters were paper-thin.
September 17, 2023
Intense
June 27, 2023
A cautionary tale of a white supremacist run amok in Alabama. Too close for comfort in these days but believable and generally well-written.
December 3, 2022
It was ok. Could’ve been 100 pages shorter.
Want to read
May 14, 2021A wildly original, incendiary story about race, redemption, the dangerous imbalances that continue
to destabilize society, and speaking out for what’s right.
One could argue the story begins the night Allegro Douglass is awarded Distinguished Chair in
Philosophy at her top-tier university in New York -- the same night her grandmother dies – or before that: the day Allie left Birmingham and never looked back; or before that: the day her mother disappeared; or before that: when Alabama finally desegregated. One could even argue the story begins 150 years before that. But for our purposes Allie’s story begins at the end, when she is ready to talk.
Allie is a survivor. She survived the newly post-Jim Crow south, she survived cancer, and she will
survive being stalked and kidnapped by a white supremacist named Matthew Strong seeking to ignite a revolution. The surprise in this doesn’t lie in the question of will she be taken; it lies in how she and her community will outsmart a tactical madman even after she’s gone missing. They have clues: in a spate of possibly-connected disappearances of other young Black women; in a series of recently-restored plantation homes; in letters outlining an uprising; in maps of slave trade routes and old estates; in hidden caves and buried tunnels; and finally, in a confessional that should never have existed. They just have to make a case strong enough for the FBI and police to listen. This is when Allie herself disappears. Matthew Strong wants her – a philosopher who’s spent her career studying the minds of slaveholders – to share his mission with the world. But her community won’t be ignored. Whether Allie has a choice in her fate or not, a glimpse of justice may be coming.
Weaving back and forth in time as Allie and her neighbors close in on Strong, and as he closes in on
Allie, THE CONFESSIONS OF MATTHEW STRONG explores how contemporary white supremacist
movements reinterpret American history in order to justify the negation of Black lives and how, if we stay silent in the face of such negation, we proliferate the injustices that pervade our society today.
to destabilize society, and speaking out for what’s right.
One could argue the story begins the night Allegro Douglass is awarded Distinguished Chair in
Philosophy at her top-tier university in New York -- the same night her grandmother dies – or before that: the day Allie left Birmingham and never looked back; or before that: the day her mother disappeared; or before that: when Alabama finally desegregated. One could even argue the story begins 150 years before that. But for our purposes Allie’s story begins at the end, when she is ready to talk.
Allie is a survivor. She survived the newly post-Jim Crow south, she survived cancer, and she will
survive being stalked and kidnapped by a white supremacist named Matthew Strong seeking to ignite a revolution. The surprise in this doesn’t lie in the question of will she be taken; it lies in how she and her community will outsmart a tactical madman even after she’s gone missing. They have clues: in a spate of possibly-connected disappearances of other young Black women; in a series of recently-restored plantation homes; in letters outlining an uprising; in maps of slave trade routes and old estates; in hidden caves and buried tunnels; and finally, in a confessional that should never have existed. They just have to make a case strong enough for the FBI and police to listen. This is when Allie herself disappears. Matthew Strong wants her – a philosopher who’s spent her career studying the minds of slaveholders – to share his mission with the world. But her community won’t be ignored. Whether Allie has a choice in her fate or not, a glimpse of justice may be coming.
Weaving back and forth in time as Allie and her neighbors close in on Strong, and as he closes in on
Allie, THE CONFESSIONS OF MATTHEW STRONG explores how contemporary white supremacist
movements reinterpret American history in order to justify the negation of Black lives and how, if we stay silent in the face of such negation, we proliferate the injustices that pervade our society today.
February 24, 2023
The author is able to weave the racist ideology occurring in our society today throughout the story line. The character Matthew Strong, is disturbingly familiar to many of the far right extremist seen on the nightly on the news. What is more frightening is the followers/worshippers of these Matthew Strong like characters.
January 8, 2023
I was hooked from the jump all the way through the end.
January 10, 2023
The Confessions of Matthew Strong takes on more than the thin story line can hold. Allegra “Allie” Douglass, philosophy professor at a prestigious university in New York, is awarded an endowed chair; her troubles begin because there are those opposed to a black woman receiving such an honor.
Her grandmother dies, so she returns to Alabama for the funeral. While there, she becomes involved in working with the mothers of several black girls who have disappeared. A graduate student of hers has also disappeared. Local law enforcement seems uninterested in the disappearances until the daughter of the mayor of Birmingham disappears and the FBI gets involved. In his “Author’s Note,” Power-Greene states “. . . the events in this novel testify to black people’s willingness to do all in their power to stop those who would shoot the first black president, burn a black church, or kidnap black children to gratify their base desires” (p. 382). The theme of their willingness to do all in their power to stop those whose racial bigotry endangers black people would have made a good tale, but Power-Greene tries to do more than tell that compelling story.
Allie is kidnapped by a white supremacist, Matthew Strong, who is responsible for the kidnappings in his effort to “save” white civilization from people of color. In his Author’s Notes, Power-Greene states “Fighting white supremacy has been a central feature of being black in America long before the appearance of the hash tag #blacklivesmatter“ (p. 385). This is another important theme. but Power-Greene doesn't meld the two story lines well.
Strong, believing in Allie's intellectual capabilities and reputation as a scholar (he fails to grasp the irony, of course) wants her to write a book defending the “lost cause” and his efforts to restore white dominance. Allie refuses to comply, then escapes. She wanders through the woods of Alabama until she stumbles into the house of a couple who reports her to the local sheriff. Predictably, the sheriff contacts Strong, and Allie is re-imprisoned. Since Allie has refused, Strong plans to force her to watch the execution of 11 black girls coordinated with a simultaneous ritual at several other sites in Alabama, then perhaps kill her.
The cavalry (the FBI) arrives at the last moment and saves the day.
The multiple themes – disinterest of local law enforcement to the disappearance of black girls and women and the white supremacist movement nationally and internationally – are important; however, the separate stories of the organization Allie helps develop to search for the missing girls and of Allie’s kidnapping, miraculous escape, and recapture don’t really come together, so the novel fails to achieve the primary goal of making the reader aware of the extreme threat of white supremacy. Allie is not a believable character. She is until her escape, then the story becomes too much an heroic adventure, realistically beyond the capabilities of most.
I don’t doubt that there are extremists with fantasies not unlike those of Matthew Strong, but Power-Greene has tried to do too much with the extremist views -- the simultaneous ritual murders of numerous black girls and women. Strong is no more a believable character than Allie. Because the two central characters are not believable, I think the book fails to provide the reader insights Power-Greene intends.
Her grandmother dies, so she returns to Alabama for the funeral. While there, she becomes involved in working with the mothers of several black girls who have disappeared. A graduate student of hers has also disappeared. Local law enforcement seems uninterested in the disappearances until the daughter of the mayor of Birmingham disappears and the FBI gets involved. In his “Author’s Note,” Power-Greene states “. . . the events in this novel testify to black people’s willingness to do all in their power to stop those who would shoot the first black president, burn a black church, or kidnap black children to gratify their base desires” (p. 382). The theme of their willingness to do all in their power to stop those whose racial bigotry endangers black people would have made a good tale, but Power-Greene tries to do more than tell that compelling story.
Allie is kidnapped by a white supremacist, Matthew Strong, who is responsible for the kidnappings in his effort to “save” white civilization from people of color. In his Author’s Notes, Power-Greene states “Fighting white supremacy has been a central feature of being black in America long before the appearance of the hash tag #blacklivesmatter“ (p. 385). This is another important theme. but Power-Greene doesn't meld the two story lines well.
Strong, believing in Allie's intellectual capabilities and reputation as a scholar (he fails to grasp the irony, of course) wants her to write a book defending the “lost cause” and his efforts to restore white dominance. Allie refuses to comply, then escapes. She wanders through the woods of Alabama until she stumbles into the house of a couple who reports her to the local sheriff. Predictably, the sheriff contacts Strong, and Allie is re-imprisoned. Since Allie has refused, Strong plans to force her to watch the execution of 11 black girls coordinated with a simultaneous ritual at several other sites in Alabama, then perhaps kill her.
The cavalry (the FBI) arrives at the last moment and saves the day.
The multiple themes – disinterest of local law enforcement to the disappearance of black girls and women and the white supremacist movement nationally and internationally – are important; however, the separate stories of the organization Allie helps develop to search for the missing girls and of Allie’s kidnapping, miraculous escape, and recapture don’t really come together, so the novel fails to achieve the primary goal of making the reader aware of the extreme threat of white supremacy. Allie is not a believable character. She is until her escape, then the story becomes too much an heroic adventure, realistically beyond the capabilities of most.
I don’t doubt that there are extremists with fantasies not unlike those of Matthew Strong, but Power-Greene has tried to do too much with the extremist views -- the simultaneous ritual murders of numerous black girls and women. Strong is no more a believable character than Allie. Because the two central characters are not believable, I think the book fails to provide the reader insights Power-Greene intends.
May 11, 2023
Wish This Was a Better Novel; Important Topic
Allie Douglass is a highly respected professor of philosophy specializing in the religious justifications used by Southern slave owners to support slavery. Matthew Strong, of the title, is a rough-hewed self-educated descendant of said slave owners looking to inspire an uprising of white supremacists with the objective of restoring the good old days; that is, when white men ruled the roost. However, Strong, apparently, needs somebody to translate the confessions of William Shields, who went on a murderous rampage after the Civil War ended. For some reason, the only copy of his confessions are in a German document. Allie reads and writes German; hence, Strong needs Allie, even though he regards her as less than him, though pretty bright for a Negro, as he put it, but, you know, not as good as white. He kidnaps her, imprisons her, and threatens her with both her own death and the death of other Black women his men have kidnapped.
Sound a bit farfetched? Unfortunately, while addressing the rise of white supremacy in the United States, and elsewhere, is important, this novel tries but falls short for a couple of reasons. It’s something of a suspense novel, but it takes what seems forever to get started. Not until Allie gets out of New York City and down home to Alabama are we introduced to Strong’s nefarious plan of mass murder. The villain, Strong, as Power-Greene caricatures him comes across more as a killer, less as the inspirational leader of a revolution he aspires to be. Murderers can be cunning and fascinating, like Hannibal Lector, but Strong seems like a malcontent surrounded by other malcontents with murder on their minds. That’s not to say these types aren’t dangerous, just not scary unless better tethered to reality. And then there’s all Allie’s handwringing over her feelings of guilt for leaving her family to pursue her career, her relationship with her partner, leaving her sister to carry the load in Alabama.
You might be thinking these seem like elements you’d find any suspense novel, and you’re right. However, in the hands of an experienced novelists these elements blend together in such a way that none overpower. Here, each step forward to take center stage for a while before giving way to another. In short, harmonious blending there is not.
And yet, having said all this, you should read the novel with the knowledge that it is far from perfect. That’s because the subject matter is so darn important. As recent history has made us aware, many Americans think like Strong and many are more than willing to commit violence to turn back the clock. Strong may be a caricature in his effort to intellectualize his white supremacy but his predilection to violence, that’s something we’ve already seen in real life.
Allie Douglass is a highly respected professor of philosophy specializing in the religious justifications used by Southern slave owners to support slavery. Matthew Strong, of the title, is a rough-hewed self-educated descendant of said slave owners looking to inspire an uprising of white supremacists with the objective of restoring the good old days; that is, when white men ruled the roost. However, Strong, apparently, needs somebody to translate the confessions of William Shields, who went on a murderous rampage after the Civil War ended. For some reason, the only copy of his confessions are in a German document. Allie reads and writes German; hence, Strong needs Allie, even though he regards her as less than him, though pretty bright for a Negro, as he put it, but, you know, not as good as white. He kidnaps her, imprisons her, and threatens her with both her own death and the death of other Black women his men have kidnapped.
Sound a bit farfetched? Unfortunately, while addressing the rise of white supremacy in the United States, and elsewhere, is important, this novel tries but falls short for a couple of reasons. It’s something of a suspense novel, but it takes what seems forever to get started. Not until Allie gets out of New York City and down home to Alabama are we introduced to Strong’s nefarious plan of mass murder. The villain, Strong, as Power-Greene caricatures him comes across more as a killer, less as the inspirational leader of a revolution he aspires to be. Murderers can be cunning and fascinating, like Hannibal Lector, but Strong seems like a malcontent surrounded by other malcontents with murder on their minds. That’s not to say these types aren’t dangerous, just not scary unless better tethered to reality. And then there’s all Allie’s handwringing over her feelings of guilt for leaving her family to pursue her career, her relationship with her partner, leaving her sister to carry the load in Alabama.
You might be thinking these seem like elements you’d find any suspense novel, and you’re right. However, in the hands of an experienced novelists these elements blend together in such a way that none overpower. Here, each step forward to take center stage for a while before giving way to another. In short, harmonious blending there is not.
And yet, having said all this, you should read the novel with the knowledge that it is far from perfect. That’s because the subject matter is so darn important. As recent history has made us aware, many Americans think like Strong and many are more than willing to commit violence to turn back the clock. Strong may be a caricature in his effort to intellectualize his white supremacy but his predilection to violence, that’s something we’ve already seen in real life.
July 21, 2022
This mystery challenges the reader while keeping them engaged. Told from the point of view of the kidnapped Black woman, a brilliant professor of Philosophy, she narrates the events that led up to her abduction by a white supremacist. Allie not only has to navigate academic politics, but hate mail from people who disagree with her position. This is juxtaposed by her Southern background and her family still there. But she gets drawn into the disappearances of numerous Black women and how law enforcement failed. Instead, the community comes together, to search for their own. The history of slavery and the effects of white supremacy permeates into today's world in how Black people are perceived and treated. For readers of Attica Locke, Wanda Morris and Brendan Slocumb, this book is thought provoking and riveting.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
I received an arc from the publisher but all opinions are my own.
January 26, 2023
There's a lot of potential here and an important story but I don't think the writing is quite there. This appears to be Power-Greene's first novel and it shows in the way the characters talk and interact, it's all slightly forced. There's nothing necessarily bad about it but it doesn't feel like a polished work. I see several reviews saying that this requires a lot of suspension of disbelief--I don't find (most) of it that hard to imagine and I suspect those who have a hard time imagining it haven't spent much time in the American South.
April 12, 2023
Suspense novel about an academic who uncovers a white supremacist plot in Alabama. It's a first author, by an academic historian, so has some of the weaknesses you'd expect there: sometimes telling instead of showing, and unpersuasive spots of historical or academic exposition at that. BUT. Those are the exception, not the rule, and the plotting and character building is strong. The final third of the plot was propulsive; I could not put it down. Well worth your time.
May 12, 2023
3.5/5
I definitely enjoyed this, but I ultimately was a bit disappointed at how some things were left or totally unmentioned (I'm looking at you Home Health Aide nurse). I do have to applaud Power-Greene because I was fully believing that the Shields family and the Son of Light group were real.
A palette cleanser in that the structure and writing lets you fly right through the novel, but with enough meat to chew that it didn't feel like a frivolous read.
I definitely enjoyed this, but I ultimately was a bit disappointed at how some things were left or totally unmentioned (I'm looking at you Home Health Aide nurse). I do have to applaud Power-Greene because I was fully believing that the Shields family and the Son of Light group were real.
A palette cleanser in that the structure and writing lets you fly right through the novel, but with enough meat to chew that it didn't feel like a frivolous read.
February 16, 2023
Disappointing. Not really even a good light read. Heavy handed characterizations. Writing flat and overly explanatory. I'm sad because the concept--black women and girls are disappearing in Alabama--was a pull for me. I finished the book and appreciated the author's comments at the end. But wow. Just didn't do it at all for me.
April 13, 2023
Great read and powerful story that kept me focused throughout. Ousmane’s note at the conclusion reminds us that there is truth to the violence and hate spewed by the white supremacist and racist groups in our society and that we must not remain silent and we must speak out against those extremist groups spouting hateful beliefs.
May 8, 2023
A thrilling story of black women abducted by a white supremacist cult and the communities that rescue them.
This was a solid five star read up until the end. The last few chapters sort of unwound and lost focus. Maybe after I've had some time to think I'll change my mind and think it was brilliant, but right now I think it needed more.
This was a solid five star read up until the end. The last few chapters sort of unwound and lost focus. Maybe after I've had some time to think I'll change my mind and think it was brilliant, but right now I think it needed more.
April 8, 2023
this book was super intersting and the premise kept me turning the page, but unfortunately the part of the book before the narrator is kidnapped was more engaging to me than the part where she was in captivity.
September 10, 2023
Excellent historical not-quite-fiction. The content made for a stressful read but that’s what makes it worthwhile- I like when books make me feel things. (Don’t you?) I recommend this if you’re into American history and mystery.
January 7, 2023
A frightening fictional novel that echoes what can and does happen when someone believes they are better than others.
February 14, 2023
This dragged a lot at the beginning. The scholarly aspects were a little over explained. The last 1/3 was terrifying. Interesting. Not sure I fully got it though.
April 1, 2023
Failed to draw me in
July 6, 2023
I couldn't put this down. Relevant and reminiscent of groups we hear and notice. It's scary how easily many would be swayed by a charismatic and entitled person that feels wronged by history.
June 16, 2024
Great book, short and unimpressive ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 1, 2024
This book started off strong, but about halfway through the writing really declined. Would not recommend.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews