Rating: 
Summary: An OK book.
Review: I agree with other reviews. There are too many untied ends in this book. Thw whol plot doesn't make any sense to me.
Rating: 
Summary: Entertaining
Review: I don't understand the reviewers who complain about loose ends. Do you normally expect the second book in a trilogy to wrap everything up? I'm guessing that those reviewers didn't realize that Zeck appears in three books (And Be a Villain, The Second Confession, and In the Best of Families, in that order). At any rate, any ends left loose in this book are tied up in the third.But even if you know and care nothing about Zeck, you should still be able to enjoy this books; he does not dominate it. Wolfe and Archie are both in top form, and the ploy Wolfe uses to expose the murder is both enjoyable and clever.
Rating: 
Summary: Saul vs Michael
Review: I have listened to several Nero Wolfe books now and enjoyed them immensely as read by Saul Rubinek but I purchased the unabridged version of Second Confession and it is read by Michael Pritchard who while he enunciates very clearly lacks emotion. He ruined Archie Goodwin for me and the funny lines that are usually Archie's were wasted. Just my humble opinion.
Rating:
Summary: Not my favorite, but still OK
Review: My main complaint with this book is that the villain's only trait is that he is a member of the Communist Party. I understand that this was written in 1949 and that was the mindset of the time, but in these more (hopefully) enlightened days, shouldn't a villain be a little more of a complete person than simply being an enemy of the US in the Cold War (now defunct)? I wouldn't mind if there were other traits, such as bad behavior of some sort (but a plot point is that you can't tell who the guy is because he acts just like everybody else; they only have a picture to go on), but there is none of that. A man just comes in at the beginning and says "I want you to find this man. He's a Communist," and off we go. That's the whole plot, and while Wolfe is his usual brilliant self in deducing the identity of the "Commie," I was just not carried along by the story until very near the end, when I simply let the momentum of it take me to the solution. Certainly, in my opinion, not one of the best of the series. But Wolfe is still Wolfe (even if he is spouting uncharacteristic patriotism), and Archie is still wisecracking and flirting, and I still enjoyed myself, most of the time. And getting Wolfe out of the brownstone is always good for a bit of fun. All of which leads me to the conclusion that even mediocre Rex Stout is better than no Rex Stout.
Rating:
Summary: Not my favorite, but still OK
Review: My main complaint with this book is that the villain's only trait is that he is a member of the Communist Party. I understand that this was written in 1949 and that was the mindset of the time, but in these more (hopefully) enlightened days, shouldn't a villain be a little more of a complete person than simply being an enemy of the US in the Cold War (now defunct)? I wouldn't mind if there were other traits, such as bad behavior of some sort (but a plot point is that you can't tell who the guy is because he acts just like everybody else; they only have a picture to go on), but there is none of that. A man just comes in at the beginning and says "I want you to find this man. He's a Communist," and off we go. That's the whole plot, and while Wolfe is his usual brilliant self in deducing the identity of the "Commie," I was just not carried along by the story until very near the end, when I simply let the momentum of it take me to the solution. Certainly, in my opinion, not one of the best of the series. But Wolfe is still Wolfe (even if he is spouting uncharacteristic patriotism), and Archie is still wisecracking and flirting, and I still enjoyed myself, most of the time. And getting Wolfe out of the brownstone is always good for a bit of fun. All of which leads me to the conclusion that even mediocre Rex Stout is better than no Rex Stout.
Rating:
Summary: Confusing and amusing at the same time
Review: Nero Wolfe and his young assistant, Archie (or is it Andrew?) Goodwin are challenged into identifying American communists, and the apparent murderer of one. Archie's snide comments about his lazy boss are the most amusing part of the story. The writing style is much more mature than most modern mysteries, but many details in the story (e.g., Mr X) were never addressed in the resolution. Be warned, you will be surprised. I enjoyed the technique of bringing all the suspects together for the final confrontation scene.
Rating:
Summary: Confusing and amusing at the same time
Review: Nero Wolfe and his young assistant, Archie (or is it Andrew?) Goodwin are challenged into identifying American communists, and the apparent murderer of one. Archie's snide comments about his lazy boss are the most amusing part of the story. The writing style is much more mature than most modern mysteries, but many details in the story (e.g., Mr X) were never addressed in the resolution. Be warned, you will be surprised. I enjoyed the technique of bringing all the suspects together for the final confrontation scene.
Rating: 
Summary: The Second Confrontation
Review: Nero Wolfe's favorite drink, beer, is not a beverage you can come to like on the first taste. You will find beer bitter and repugnant, but if you keep at it you will eventually begin to tolerate it, then to like it. So it is with Nero Wolfe. At first taste you will find him arrogant, eccentric, and thoroughly unlikeable. Keep at him. Because Rex Stout chose the novella as the format for most Wolfe stories you can read the stories at a sitting. After three novellas you will come to tolerate the corpulent crimefighter. After five, you will even come to have some affection for him. "The Second Confession" might better be named "The Second Confrontation," because Wolfe faces his archnemesis, Arnold Zeck, for the second time. ("And be a Villain" chronicled the first confrontation). When Sherlock Holmes discovered the existence of Professor Moriarty, he immediately undertook to destroy the professor's criminal empire. When Nero Wolfe discovered the existence of Arnold Zeck, he immediately began to avoid Zeck at all costs. Holmes' course of action led to the Reichenbach Falls. Wolfe's led -- you'll have to find out in the final novella of the trilogy, "In the Best Families." Suffice it to say that Wolfe undertakes to expose a communist, runs afoul of Arnold Zeck, gets his orchids machine-gunned, and winds up trying to solve a murder for Zeck. Along the way Archie gets in deep trouble with the local constabulary, Wolfe confounds the police, the two manage to outright break several laws, and they severely bend a few more.
Rating:
Summary: A fine audiobook production of a classic Nero Wolfe mystery.
Review: Rex Stout's Second Confession provides a fine Nero Wolfe mystery, with Michael Prichard's strong narrative skills bringing alive the detective story of Wolfe's encounter with a gangland boss. Murder and his investigation of a lawyer blend in this vivid story.
Rating:
Summary: Not up to my -- or Wolfe's -- usual standards
Review: This mystery has all the hallmarks of a hasty, poorly reasoned book. Red herrings are sprinkled throughout the book -- why were the Emersons so upset? why were mother and son searching Rony's apartment? why did they change their mind and welcome Rony to their home? Finally, the big resolution scene never satisfactorily explained how Wolfe figured out "who dun it?" Light on the usual atmosphere and definitely short on the key to a good mystery -- Stout has done much better.
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