Better Confess, a novel written by Alan Gorevan, is a thriller. Like Agatha Christie, the master of crime and thriller, Gorevan too is an expert at writing detective stories.
Gorevan is an award-winning writer and intellectual property attorney, who lives in Dublin.
The plot of the story revolves around three characters, Florence, Simon, and Thomas.
Florence is a high-maintenance woman who is being cheated upon by her boyfriend, Simon. Hazel and Florence are childhood friends.
Simon, tired of Florence’s short temper and tantrums, takes to Hazel.
Did Hazel do something in the past to Florence? Did she betray her trust? To find out read the novel.
Florence joins an online forum, where she pens her deepest darkest secrets. As other people join the forum too, it comes full circle between Simon, Florence, and Jill, leading them to Kim and Thomas, the perpetrators of the crime.
The storyline centers on the IT business. Facebook, hackers, laptop data, and GPS are all devices to track people down.
Thomas Ogden is a vigilante. He works for an online forum, Compenso.
Who are vigilantes?
“They’re not assassins. They are extremist vigilantes. They entice people into hiring them to kill someone.”
“They kill the person who hired them, not the supposed target. They want to rid the world of evil. They’re not assassins. They’re taking out the trash.”
Who are they after? Simon or Florence?
Thomas killed Reynold and wiped out all traces. Yet, despite clearing out all evidence, his wallet is found next to the dead body, giving his secret away.
Thomas’s wife Wendy knows nothing about his crime.
Together Florence and Jill locate Kim and Thomas, the culprits behind the mystery. Kim pretends to be Ronan’s aunt but is actually a vigilante. With her phone in Florence’s custody she thinks to herself:
‘Imperator was not going to be happy. Not with a death sentence already hanging over her head.’
How Florence demystifies the riddle of why and who wants to kill Simon, is a question I leave for the reader to find out.
Florence makes use of her Chanel perfume to blind Kim and gets access to her bag which holds a gun. In the meanwhile, it is revealed that Florence had hired Thomas to kill Simon because she was heartbroken. To cancel her first act she had to hire a second vigilante to make sure Simon was protected. Thomas on the other hand is hired by Archie and works for the Metropolitan Police. He orders Thomas to kill Reynold, who was cheating on his wife.
Does Thomas perform a good deed by killing Reynold?
Whilst Archie is at a fund-raiser he receives a call that his ‘man’ has been ‘compromised’.
Kim in a sly manner hits Jill on the nose and escapes.
The Imperator wants her to keep an eye on Thomas to make sure he hadn’t ‘lost sight of the big picture. To ensure justice was done, to punish those who sought to harm others.’
As Florence pushes Simon inside and shuts the door behind her, Thomas purposefully walks on. Florence stung by Simon and Hazel’s romance cries when suddenly Thomas kicks open the door and Florence in frenzy puts her hand into Kim’s bag and instead of the ring, a grenade is attached to her body.
Who is the mastermind behind the Compenso? Is Thomas guilty or did he save a life? Who is the real victim? Archie, Thomas or Kim? The suspense is too much! It sends a chill down the spine.
A fast-paced thriller that though seeming like an easy read, actually has a convoluted plot.
The title is apt – Better Confess. Who has what to confess? Is it a wise choice?
