Confessions

Confessions took the Japanese thriller market by storm when it was published in 2009. It was Kanae Minato’s first thriller novel although her short stories had already won her much praise, as have the Japanese film and TV series based on them.

Yoko Moriguchi has decided to resign her post as a schoolteacher, but first she has one more lesson to give to her class of 13 year old adolescents, and gives it in the first person. A single mother, she had recently lost her four year old daughter in an accident – or so it was thought – in the school grounds. The lesson she gives is a horrific one and forever changes the lives of those that are listening. She addresses two of them in particular, the two who killed her daughter. Yoko is seeking revenge, and it is a terrible one.

Each chapter takes a different character’s viewpoint, each contributing his or her own version of the events, turning the story into a complex, dark and psychologically chilling tale. It is not an enjoyable tale to read, but it is a gripping and memorable one.

Confessions began as a short story, which  now forms the first chapter of the novel. Five more complete this extraordinary book. It has won awards in Japan and judging by the US reception is likely to achieve the same in the UK. It is undoubtedly a mesmerising novel, taking the psychological thriller market into a new field.