Rating: 
Summary: Where is the plot, Mr. Folsom ?
Review: If you like 667 pages ( paperback version ) of endless and senseless violence, this book is for you. If you are already past the sub-teen years and you are looking for a believable plot, recognizable characters, sensible people doing sensible things, you will search in vain through page after page of violence, violence and more violence. The central theme, that the Vatican plans to become the superpower of the twentyfirst century by first converting 1.3 billion Chinese to Catholicism and then enslaving these new converts to enrich a cadre of aging Italians, defies all sense ! And the story goes downhill from there.
Rating: 
Summary: a stunning page-turner
Review: Unlike most of Folsom's other fans, I read this, his second book, first and am currently devouring "the day after tomorrow". Most people liked the latter better, I disagree so far. "Day of confession" is an athmospherically dense and gripping thriller that will not let you put the book down until the last page is turned. Folsom is a gifted and well-informed writer who has no trouble creating believable scenarios on three continents at the same time. He carefully develops his charcters and puts together a complex, yet not too confusing and improbably plot that remains fast-paced until the end. Folsom's protagonist is a wealthy LA lawyer from the glitz world of movie moguls who flies to Italy in response to an emergency phone message by a brother he has not seen or heard from in years. Before he knows what hit him, he is engulfed in a major international crisis with the Vatican at the center. This book is up there in quality with Higgins' and Ludlum's finest. Don't plan anything else for the weekend once you start reading.
Rating: 
Summary: a unique and creative storyline
Review: Let me start off by saying that I found The Day After Tomorrow to be one the ten best neo-nazi, international intrique books I've ever read (and I've read many of them).As a follow up, I think the author has created a fresh and ingenious plot that is not as good as his first effort but unique and VERY good. I know, bad happenings at the Vatican are hardly a new subject, but this book mixes it with some far east intrigue and unique terrorist plot lines that makes this book very enjoyable reading. One of the book's faults, however, is that some of the characters are pretty shallow... it would have been nice if Folsom developed Elena Voso and Cardinal Marsciano's characters a little deeper (they are 2 very important characters in the book). Also, I think the reader could use some more explanation of the relationship between Thomas Kind and the other characters he deals with (like, how did they get hooked up? why? is he being paid?, and so on) This book is definitely worth a read and I look forward to Folsom's next project to see what new plot he can hatch.
Rating:
Summary: It was a dark and stormy night...
Review: Robin Cook's poor writing style with David Balducci's fantastical situations and characters. Two stars. One for effort and one for scope.
Rating: 
Summary: I Confess: This Book Should Have Been Better
Review: True, this book is not as engrossing as The Day After Tomorrow. The plot is more predictable and to a certain extent repetitive. That said, Day of Confession is still an enjoyable read. If it were not for the expectations following The Day After Tomorrow ("TDAT"), I'm sure the reader ratings for this book would be higher. Once again, as in TDAT, the reader should be ready to be shot out of the box from page one. Folsom paints on a broad canvas stretching three continents and multiple characters. He is obviously quite talented in both imagination and organization. Many seemingly irrelevant points become relevant on later pages. Many seemingly unrelated storylines are proven later to be one in the same. Despite the book's flaws, I found myself eager to pick up the book and continue reading. I would simply warn the reader not to expect the day after The Day After Tomorrow.
Rating:
Summary: Intrigue at the Vatican
Review: Fast-paced action that has very few lapses of momentum throughout. In many ways this type of story will be familiar to Robert Ludlum fans but without the often cumbersome plot twists that slows down Ludlum's weaker efforts. The characterization within Day of Confession could be a bit stronger but the plot allows it all to work. The idea of a successful, innocent man being pulled into a web of suspense and treachery is a tried and true formula. In this novel, however, it works better than in many others. I have read a great deal of this type of international intrigue fiction and find that this one is one of the best, rivaling The Materese Circle for overall satisfaction.
Rating:
Summary: Can anyone help?
Review: Parts of this book seem very familiar to me, but others do not. Does anyone out there remember a similar book about a Vatican plot that begins with a priest being killed by being shoved off a balcony in St. Peters? I think I have the two books tangled up but cannot remember the name of the other one.
Rating:
Summary: The Day After Tomorrow
Review: Superb, intrigue extraordinary - plot moves quickly - leads you up one avenue to another - ending is truly unique - keeps one thinking throughout. Also read Day of Confession - once again, superb writing - keeps one on the edge of your seat. Writer provides visualization of each scene (chapter) - book comes to life - emotionally drained at end of each of these books. Wish there were more books available by this writer.
Rating:
Summary: VIOLENT!
Review: The other reviewers have said enough regarding the book and its rather lame presentation. What I want to emphasize is the violence. The main killer just kills and kills and kills--something like twenty people. And the reader gets all the gory details. He mentions that the killer gets some sort of pleasure from the killing. I wonder if Folsom gets some sort of pleasure from it! Enough is enough.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but a dropoff from The Day After Tomorrow
Review: Allan Folsom's The Day After Tomorrow was probably the best action novel I've ever read. By focusing on almost nothing but plot, adding other details onyl when necessary, Folsom's work caught the essense of his genre, and put the works of Clancy, McLain, and many other novelists to shame. Unfortunately, Day of Confession represents a return by Folsom to the conventional. Long, irrelevant paragraphs that shouldn't be there. He explains the villain's scheme in detail near the beginning of the novel, rather than skillfully keeping the reader from knowing it in its entirety until the novel's final sentence, as he did in The Day After Tomorrow. The primary male and female protoganists, unlike Paul and Vera, have very little chemistry together, and appear to fall for each other only because their roles in the novel call for it. Unlike his previous work, Folsom's attempts to add a third dimension to the novel's international assasin are laughable at best. So is his depiction of the novel's primary antagonist, with his delusions on a past life, unliike Erwin Scholl, appears like something out of a children's cartoon. Sorry for the harsh review. This really isn't a horrible book. In fact, I've read much worse; but I just expected much more out of Folsom.
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