The Confessor's Club by Jack Fredrickson

First Sentence:  The gold Rolex Day-Date on his wrist had cost eleven thousand dollars.

     
Dek’s ex-wife, Amanda, is the daughter of one of the most wealthy and powerful men, who control the city of Chicago.  And they are dying; being murdered very quietly.  Amanda, who wants Dek to investigate, is someone he cannot refuse. Her father is less than agreeable.  It quickly becomes clear he’s knows more than he’s saying.  Can Dek keep him alive, or is he behind the murders?

     
It’s nice to see an author’s writing mature, and Fredrickson’s definitely has since his first book.  In Dek, he has created a very interesting character with sardonic humor balanced by introspection and hope, as wonderfully exemplified by an ash tree.

     
The focus on sartorial details is always an interesting way of establishing social and economic class.  Fredrickson employs that device in the conventional way, but also turns it on it's head with Dex' best friend.  The same is done with food. One can appreciate the way in which Dex evaluates fast food restaurants.  Some authors offer mouth-watering description of superb meals.  Frederickson provides guilt-pleasure descriptions of artery-closing food... “His masterpiece was four over-easy eggs piled atop two English muffins, slathered with sausage, melted cheddar and mushroom gravy the thickness of porridge.”  It's some of these nuances that make Fredrickson such an enjoyable author to read.

Dex is an interesting character whose career, relationships and life has seen highs and lows, yet he maintained his ethical core.  The pacing of the story is nicely done with good flow.  This is certainly not a book one puts down with thoughts of coming back to; rather, it is a good, compelling read.  You want to know what is going to happen next. 

     
Two minor criticisms; The prologue was completely unnecessary and would have been better left only within the context of the story and, my personnel irritant, there was an unfortunate, and completely unnecessary, semi-portent.

“The Confessor’s Club,” is a very good book with nice tension, suspense and plot twists.  

THE CONFESSOR’S CLUB (PI-Dek Elstrom-Illinois-Contemp) - VG

Fredrickson, Jack – 5th in series

Severn House / First World Publication – July 2015