I'm doing my presentation on the first book in the Confessions series, Confession of a Murder Suspect. I have read the second book too and am currently reading the third. I was surprised while reading the first one, when 2 days later I was already done with it, plus its not very small! I was so hooked throughout the whole book, I couldn't stop reading! It chose to write my presentation on the first book because it set everything in motion in the series. I also haven't got so "into" a book in a while, so when I read it so fast I knew it was only fitting to continue on with the rest of the series! I really loved reading every bit of the book, so I knew right away it would be perfect to write my presentation on it!
A couple years earlier a neighbor in the building, Nate Crosby, wanted to film a movie on Maud and Malcolm Angel, and their perfect and wealthy lives. But they said no. Ever since then he has held a grudge towards the Angel family. During Tandy's investigation he was the only one in the building that seemed like he was hiding something. Tandy didn't have many options left, so she decided to brake into Nate Crosby's apartment. Once Tandy and her brothers got into his apartment, through the window I should add, they found tons of videos... of their house. Nate had planted secret cameras in their house to use for his film, without the Angels consent of course. Tandy found a video of her parents bedroom the night they were murdered. She had to look. The tape revealed that the murderer of Malcolm and Maud Angel was...
Themselves. Maud had been hiding that she had pancreatic cancer that was terminal and Malcolm was filling for bankruptcy. Maud decided she needed to die on her terms. Once Malcolm found out about Maud's plan to drink poison, he decided drink it too, and die with her. The rest of the Angel family realized that Malcolm and Maud did love each other and had a very very small soft side to them. They followed their hearts and did what they thought was right... I guess in the end they weren't so perfect after all.
Tandy is one of four (alive) kids, with two very strict and wealthy parents. Throughout the book Tandy has dreams that seem as if she has lived them, but has no memory of. She always wonders "could they be more than just dreams?" Then, unexpectedly one night Tandy's parents were found murdered in their bedroom. With no one in the house but her and her brothers, the police automatically put them at the top of the list. With the police not telling her or her family anything, Tandy knew she would have to be the one to solve her controlling and (so she thought) perfect parents murders. During the book Tandy investigates clues, interrogates neighbors and puts together pieces of her lost memories. I won't get into the ending since you already read about it in the Reading Over Time section, but I would write it all over again just because I love the book so much!
If you haven't guessed from my summary, Tandy is the main character in the series. She's very confident and always puts on a strong and powerful front, even if she doesn't feel like that at all. From my perspective, I think Tandy is afraid of showing weakness. She isn't afraid to fight for what she thinks is right, or to be different than anyone else, even if she is completely out of place. I think all those things are what make Tandy's character so special. There's obviously more important characters in the book, but I really thought it was necessary to write about Tandy.
The biggest problem in the book is her and her brothers being accused for their parents murders. Since their parents were killed in the middle of the night and there was no sign of any brake in, the police went straight to Tandy and her brothers as the prime and only suspects. Tandy was the last person to see/talk to her parents alive and she doesn't know what to think, because of her missing memories. All she knows is that she needs to prove her and her brothers innocence... if they even are.
The lesson I think the author was trying to teach, was that as long as you surround yourself with people that you love, even if everything doesn't go how you want it, you need to appreciate what you have because one day it could be here and great but the next day it could be gone.
I think Sargent Caputo, (the head officer on Tandy's parents case)was a very important secondary character. Caputo and Tandy were always very sarcastic towards each other and almost competed on who was the better detective. I think he was very important because he gave Tandy another reason besides for her family to work harder to solve her parents murders. I really liked that Tandy and Caputo were almost "enemies" and I think that added some humor to the book.
This book has changed my view because I know that everyone has another side to what's happening in their life, so never judge anyone or the life that you think they have, because it could be the exact opposite.
A character I don't like is Peter Angel, who is brothers with Malcolm Angel (Tandy's dad). After Tandy's parents are murdered their Uncle Peter "comes to the rescue" and becomes Tandy and her brothers guardian. Peter is somewhat of the antagonist in the book. He doesn't care about the kids, or anything else for that matter... except for himself and money.
I really enjoyed reading this book and the rest of the series. I really recommend this to anyone that hasn't read it (and anyone that has) because I 99.99% guarantee you will love the book and won't want to set it down!