The Confession by Robert Whitlow

Life is good for Holt Douglas. He’s with the woman of his dreams and his career as assistant DA is very successful. But then he stumbles across information regarding the death of a very wealthy, local man. While it was ruled a suicide, Holt believes it may have been murder, so he begins investigating on the side. He quickly faces opposition as he begins to search for clues. During the course of the investigation, a dark secret from his past haunts him, and Holt risks having this secret unravel his life before he can finish his investigation. Will Holt discover the truth before it’s too late?

I have a fondness for legal thrillers, and I’m surprised that it took me this long to pick up a novel by Robert Whitlow.

The story starts out strong. Holt is shown to be a strong lawyer and he has a great working relationship with a local police officer, Trish. Both are strongly written characters. Many of the supporting characters are a little two dimensional, but the leads help make up for this. The story starts out strong, and sets up a firm pace that continues throughout the novel. The ending is genuinely surprising, taking a few characters in some unexpected directions.

Unfortunately, the middle of the story isn’t quite as interesting as the beginning and the end. The spiritual element of the novel comes off very heavy handed and overly preachy. Additionally, there is a subplot involving Trish’s church that seems to be left unresolved. I couldn’t tell whether there will be a sequel or not, but this particular thread felt like there wasn’t much more left other than a conclusion. Another, completely random side story, involving Holt’s dog, seems completely unnecessary.

All in all it was a fine legal thriller that started and ended strong. Unfortunately, it was bogged down by a middle sections that went contained many unnecessary or over-used elements. I was also a little bit disappointed to find that most of the story didn’t center around an actual court case but instead involved an investigation, with only the occasional scene including any sort of court room action.

3/5 stars

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”