Day of Confession

Rating:
Summary: Yawn
Review: After the good reviews that I read I was looking for a whole lot more. I struggled, more often than not, to get to the non-conclusion of this rather contrived piece. The sex espisodes seemed purely gratuitous, poorly drawn, and made little or no contribution to a story line that was haphazard at best.

Rating:
Summary: Vatican as generic corporate villain
Review: Day of Confession is a reasonably diverting pot boiler. The main characters are reasonably well drawn and the plot moves at a good pace. Where Fulsom fails to execute is in his use of the Catholic Church and its environs. In Fulsom's story, nearly any multinational corporation seeking to extend its influence could substitute for the Church. Other than the megolomaniacal delusions of the chief villain, which have nothing to do with the Faith, there are no Ecclesiastic motivations. This is a tremendous missed opportunity and would have made the novel much more interesting. As it is, Day of Confession will make a long flight pass a bit more quickly, but that's about it.

Rating:
Summary: My confession: It's not worth your time.
Review: Day of confession starts beautifully. The Cardinal Vicar of Rome is assassinated at a celebration with the Pope. However, from thereon the plot descends into banality.
Thomas Kind hardly measures up to the numero uno of assassins, Forsyth's Jackal. With his omnipotence, Cardinal Palestrina bears a closer resemblance to God than to the devil. Even the companionship between the nun and Harry is improbable.Simply put, the novel is malnourished, lacking the nutrients needed to keep it afloat.
By the end, the reader has the feeling that Allan Folsom kills his characters when their utility is exhausted, instead of when the plot demands.
The Day of Confession should be avoided unless necessary.


Rating:
Summary: Priests, midgets, global corruption - all here!
Review: I can't believe this book isn't "hot", or if it is, I certainly didn't know about it. I didn't even realize it was written by one of the authors of Day After Tomorrow.
It has all the classic elements, with fresh textures, of a solid action thriller. Kind of a Bourne Identity meets Man in the Iron Mask, it unappologetically makes the upper management at the Vatican the bad guys who are chasing around the unsuspecting estranged brother of a murdered priest.
The cat-and-mouse of the bad guys closing in on the good guys is what motivates the story, but there are enough peripheral characters that are well-developed enough to flesh out the protagonist's universe.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and fast-paced thriller
Review: I originally bought this book out of nostalgia, because the story took place in places that I had visited in Italy.

I really wasn't expecting much of a cohesive plot; just amusement. I was quite mistaken and got more than I bargained for.

The references to the cities and areas I am familiar with were accurate, but the story line was so engrossing that I lost sleep a couple of evenings when I stayed up too late in order to keep reading to see what happens next.

This is a "dark novel." Some aspects of the storyline strained believability. Some scenes were frightening. Some were disturbing.

But the author keeps the reader involved.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent and fast-paced thriller
Review: I originally bought this book out of nostalgia, because the story took place in places that I had visited in Italy.

I really wasn't expecting much of a cohesive plot; just amusement. I was quite mistaken and got more than I bargained for.

The references to the cities and areas I am familiar with were accurate, but the story line was so engrossing that I lost sleep a couple of evenings when I stayed up too late in order to keep reading to see what happens next.

This is a "dark novel." Some aspects of the storyline strained believability. Some scenes were frightening. Some were disturbing.

But the author keeps the reader involved.

Rating:
Summary: wait a minute...
Review: It started of good and went downhill, even after I finished it. Folsom's first book (DAT) was very entertaining and pretty muched wrapped all the plotlines together in the end. Tis is a similar story. Lone wolf american (with his team of justice do-ers) jumps about europe seeking the answers to a diabolical plan set in motion by a sect of power hungry evil folk. It is fun to read, a metric ton of adventure and action keeps you reading. But when it is finished you realize something is missing. Then you realize NOTHING WAS RESOLVED. Only two plotlines of this over layered novel comes to an end. Actually after finishing it you come to think that the bad guys won. Mr. Folsom kind of forgot to solve the complex plot that he created. for shame allen. for shame.

if you liked DAT read this but don't expect much. except a dissapointment at the end.

Rating:
Summary: Not nearly as good as the author's first book
Review: This feedback based on the abridged audiobook version...

1) Joe Mantegna does a fairly good job of acting the story out. Decent voice impersonations and emotional inflections. He did seem to lack a bit energy in the reading but then again his handling of the long Italian names left me impressed. ;)

2) This story of the Catholic Church kept me confused because I thought I was reading an Italian Mafia story instead. Maybe that was the author's intentions but it just didn't connect well with me.

3) I agree with the other reviews that Thomas Kind is the most interesting character in the book. Definitely someone to fear. Good bad guy creation.

4) The whole casual sex reporter woman, then not seeing her again for a long part of the story...then her being a key person in the resolution of the story was a bit too far fetched for me.

5) Overall if you want to read Allan Folsom definitely read The Day After Tomorrow...this story can be skipped unless you have nothing else to do with your time.

Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This was my second Allan Folsom novel and I couldn't put this one down too. The first I read, The Day after Tomorrow was fast paced and exciting throughout. This was just as fast and just as suspenceful. If you need to know what is going to happen on the next page, than this author is your man. He keeps you hanging each page and ultimately sums it all up neatly at the end.

I highly recommend Allan Folsom for a quick and exciting ride.