This confession lecture reveals more and more, increasing tension to a fever pitch wherein we learn that two of the students to whom Moriguchi was lecturing, per Yuki, had killed Manami.

It is in the elder Moriguchi’s first confession, a last nonsequitur-filled lecture to her middle school class where we learn that Yuki has resigned, that a famous instructor at another school was sick with HIV, that having HIV forced Yuki to call-off that engagement, that 4-year-old Manami was killed. Upon returning as confessort much later in the novel, Yuki keeps Confessions in the realm of mystery, though I was tempted to think this was headed to thriller. It is Moriguchi as teacher, would-be wife, and mother of the 4-year-old Manami Moriguchi that introduces us to the mystery revealed through confession. Yuko Moriguchi is the given the role of first and last confessor. If you want to skip the spoilers and go directly to my opinion, proceed to the last two paragraphs. I should warn you now, much of what follows lands in the realm of spoiler. The translator from Japanese to English behind Confessions is Stephen Snyder. The language and presentation of the storytelling was very accessible. As you might have guessed, the story does function largely as a first person mystery through a series of six “confessions,” in the form of extended soliloquies or monologues, from the first-hand perspective of different characters in drama. Perhaps formulating my distinction between mystery and thriller is the fodder for a future post at Matt Lynn Digital, though my focus today is on Minato’s first novel, Confessions.

Kanae Minato is a Japanese fiction writer dealing in the subjects of crime, mystery, and/or thriller.

Confessions by kanae minato