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Dead Lovely #2

My Last Confession

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My Last Confession by Helen FitzGerald is a compelling psychological thriller that traces a young parole officer and her growing obsession with a convicted murderer.When she starts her new job as a parole officer, Krissie is happy and in love. Then she meets convicted murderer Jeremy, and begins to believe he may be innocent. Her growing obsession with his case threatens to jeopardise everything - her job, her relationship and her life.Perfect for fans of Julia Crouch, Sophie Hannah and Laura Lippman, My Last Confession is a dark and compelling psychological thriller that traces a young parole officer and her dangerous obsession with a convicted murderer. Helen FitzGerald is also the acclaimed author of The Cry , which was longlisted for the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year award.'Thinking woman's noir.' Sunday Telegraph'Cool, classy and sexy.' Daily Mirror'A story that adeptly escalates to a satisfyingly shocking climax.' Big Issue

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

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About the author

Helen Fitzgerald

20 books345 followers
Helen FitzGerald is the second youngest of thirteen children. She grew up in the small town of Kilmore, Victoria, Australia, and studied English and History at the University of Melbourne. Via India and London, Helen came to Glasgow University where she completed a Diploma and Masters in Social Work. She works part time as a criminal justice social worker in Glasgow. She's married to screenwriter Sergio Casci, and they have two children.

Follow her on twitter @fitzhelen

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5 stars
71 (17%)
4 stars
137 (33%)
3 stars
140 (34%)
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47 (11%)
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16 (3%)
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
Profile Image for Cleopatra  Pullen.
1,549 reviews323 followers
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September 24, 2017
I love the way Helen FitzGerald tackles widely different subjects within her writing of psychological thrillers and in My Last Confession, we have a newly appointed Probation Officer and one of her ‘clients’, a murderer.

Krissie is a single mum and she’s moved in with Robbie – I believe these two characters appeared in the author’s debut novel Dead Lovely, which I haven’t read but may explain why some of the details about how they came to be together seemed a little illusive. She uses her previous skills working with child protection and move into supervising adult offenders.

Jeremy is one of Krissie’s cases, in prison for murder, although a conviction which Krissie begins to doubt whether he has been wrongly convicted and so she turns detective. Of course Jeremy is only one prisoner who makes up Krissie’s workload and so we have a number of characters to get to know while Krissie battles with her job and her son who steals the show more than once.

Krissie is a mass of contradictions, on the one hard a caring woman, one who is trying to build a family but she also does some incredibly stupid things over the course of the book. There were times when I just wanted to shake some sense into her, after all this is supposed to be an educated woman but obviously one whose heart rules her head. At times, despite playing detective with gusto, I had to despair at Krissie’s inability to read the clues given to her – maybe she needs to read a few more crime fiction novels to give her some pointers.

The book really does beg you to sit up and take notice with some attention grabbing scenes. For those of a nervous disposition, there are some racy scenes too. Having read four other books by this author I think perhaps the more subtle look at modern life worked slightly better for me. Those themes are ever-present in this book, particularly the Glasgow setting which is terrifically well created. Although I’ve not worked in a prison or in any type of related position, the work-place scenes are easily transposed to anyone who has colleagues and they had me chuckling away frequently.

There were some bizarre scenes though which I didn’t really quite work for me but it really was worth persevering because the second half of the book is exceptionally gripping with an ending which was perfectly fitting.

This is an ideal book if you want to read something a little bit different, a bit of crime, a little bit of women’s fiction, a few racy scenes and a whole dollop of fun. This is the ideal lighter type of reading, one that should be approached with a sense of irony which would iron out the earlier scenes that had me slightly confused.
Profile Image for Val Penny.
Author 23 books109 followers
February 22, 2014
Helen Fitzgerald was born in 1966 in Melbourne, Australia. FitzGerald was the twelfth of thirteen children and is now is a novelist and screenwriter. She was brought up in the country town of Kilmore in Victoria but moved to the UK in 1991. She started writing while working as a criminal justice social worker and she latterly worked with serious sex offenders in the notorious Barlinnie Prison in Glasgow, Scotland. She now lives in Glasgow with her husband and two children.

"My Last Confession", is the third novel by Fitzgerald but it was the first of her books I had read. I think I picked it up from the library by accident! Apparently the main characters, Krissie and Chas, are from her first novel, "Dead Lovely" but this book can be read as a stand alone very acceptably, should you want to read it at all! It is not for the mushy amongst us, it has to be said.

I am not Roman Catholic, however, I understand that traditionally trained Roman Catholics will recognise the allusion in the title to the sacrament of Penance ("It has been thus and so many weeks since my last confession"). Here it turns out the "penitent" is actually a serial killer who includes a request for absolution for a murder he is planning to commit.

The plot has a great pace but I really disliked all the characters and did not care what happened to any of them, except for the little boy. I thought he would have been better off with his grandparents! Fitzgerald uses language and scene settings that are not 'chick-lit' by any stretch of the imagination. I found this a rather shallow piece and would not recommend it. However, at 270 pages it does have the one merit of being relatively short!

180 reviews2 followers
December 22, 2012
The second novel by Fitzgerald and another rather rattling read! Not for the mushy amongst us, it has to be said. The story re-visits Krissie and Chas from Her fist novel, Dead Lovely but only touches upon that story briefly once or twice and can be read as a stand alone very acceptably.

The plot has a great pace and keeps the reader turning the pages to a breath-taking climax. Not everybody ends up happy in this novel but the ending is satisfying. Be aware that Fitzgerald uses language and scene settings that are not 'chick-lit' by any stretch of the imagination - I hate Chick-lit but love this woman's writing!!

Now I'm going straight on to the 4th of her novels after devouring her first three in short order. I do hope that this Austrailian writer who lives and writes her stories based in Glasgow, can keep up the excellent rate of success she has shown me so far.
Profile Image for Sara .
559 reviews5 followers
July 17, 2015
I thought that this was a good mystery/crime book but the main character annoyed me too much and it was also a bit predictable in some parts.
Profile Image for Kees van Duyn.
1,056 reviews7 followers
July 25, 2018
Flair geeft aan dat het een ijzersterke thriller is die tot de laatste pagina spannend blijft, Yes heeft het over een hoogstaand politiedrama en Esta noemt het boek een krachtige thriller. Als je van deze reacties uitgaat moet het boek wel erg bijzonder zijn.

Maar dat bijzondere valt toch wel heel erg tegen. Spanning heeft het boek niet, uitgezonderd een enkele frase op de laatste paar pagina's. Een politiedrama? De politie komt in het boek niet voor. Thriller dan? Nee, want in een thiller moet sprake zijn van een spanning. Die in dit boek dus ontbreekt.

Wat is het boek dan wel? Tja, eigenlijk meer een 'chicklit' waarin het vooral draait om het leven van Krissie Donald. Omdat ze, door haar werk, te maken krijgt met criminelen zal de reden zijn dat het boek het predikaat 'thriller' heeft gekregen. Maar ik denk dat je het beter kunt betitelen als een soort roman.

Natuurlijk is het niet alleen kommer en kwel met dit boek. De hoofdpersoon is sympathiek waardoor je geen hekel aan haar kunt krijgen. Verder zit het boek niet ingewikkeld in elkaar waardoor het vlot leest. Maar als geheel is het niet wat ik er van had verwacht.
Profile Image for Between The Pages (Gemma M) .
1,340 reviews28 followers
November 24, 2019
As I was reviewing this I noticed this is meant to follow on after Dead Lovely which I have not read yet. However, I am going straight into dead lovely. It read fine as a standalone. Yet again another brilliant story I got stuck into!
In this story Krissie has a new job and an interesting one too, a parole officer. Things soon do not seem as great as she first expected, work starts to take her away from her family, her life. She turns into a detective which isn’t her job and gets it all completely wrong. She’s told offenders too much about herself and got too into her job.
Similar to cat and mouse. She messed up and life starts to become dangerous and scary for her. Making it a fast paced, thrilling edge of your seat read to see it all unfold. A happyish ending for a change. But did she learn her lesson? Loved it! A well deserved five stars. Highly recommend.
Profile Image for Anke.
1,439 reviews7 followers
October 3, 2018
Goed boek, leuke hoofdpersonen.
Profile Image for The Blurb Radio Show.
30 reviews2 followers
July 7, 2010
Review by Bernard Ryan, Blurb presenter.
On this program we do our best to promote LOCAL writers [ as with John today again.:]....I am cheating a bit in this regard with Helen's book: she USED to be a "local" in that she grew up around the corner from us in Kilmore. Nowadays Helen lives in Glasgow with her husband and two cjhildren.....But i reckon we should trumpet the achievement of anyone from our Central Highlands who can get SIX novels written and published in the UK. Helen's husband Sergio is a screenwrter and she says it was largely a case of " If he can do it, why can't I?" hat got her starting in professionl writing [ though knowing Helen's Mum, a former colleague, and three of her older siblings, I suspect there was always a writer waiting here inside...:] There is in fact feel of he screenplay in today's book for review.


The handful of characters are neatly drawn, here is a strong sense of place [ though her Glasgow isn't as gritty as, say, Ian Rankin's - which may be because of her assured contemporary placing of the action. Kriissie is at the heart of all the action [ as she will be in the later " Dead Lovely'.:] Here helen is undoubtedly drawing on her own experience when she worked for some years in the Glasgow prison system as something like our probation officer - a demanding and occasionally life-threatening profession, no doubt. Krissie is quirky, intelligent, reflective, vulnerable - and always very up-front honest.


Someone close to Helen old me to be ready for a " racy" read, and it is true,. All the frankness and brashness of 21st century urban life is on display here. This is not however " grunge' literature; there is too much fun lurking just below the surface [ in THIS novel by Helen at least.:] I found the tone appropriately ironic which makes even the darker bits bearable. Krissie is a single Mum who has decided she will move herself and son, Robbie, in with long-time boyfriend, he sculptor, Chas. She begins her new job, as a probation officer. These workplace scenes are, not surprisingly, among the novel's best: the colleagues, the " workplace relations, the casework. In her efforts to avoid child abuse cases, Krissie attracts some doozies of clients to put it mildly. This provides the second key plot-line [ after the Krissie-Robbie-Chas relationship.:]


The books defies any net classification of " crime novel', " thriller" or " procedural' and yet she includes features of each. AsKrissie becomes more involved in the case of accused murderer, Jeremy, she inevitably finds work cannot be left at the office. The family space becomes horribly vulnerable. We will met Krissie again in " Dead Lovely" where any notions the reader might have carried that she was some sort of heroine or role model will undergo a drastic re-think! [ Please read on after the first page.:] Apparently the Krissie characyter is being worked into TV series and I can see the possibilities.


She is a new New Woman - stereotyping-challenging, abrasive, yet very human. I wonder how many readers will empathise with her.......No matter: two of my favourite crime fiction characters are Rankin's John Rebus and JL Burke's Dave Robicheaux - but I'm not sure I LIKE them. They are INTERESTING, entertaining. So too Krissie. I congratulate Helen on what she has so far done. I suspect we are seeing h apprentice at work, however. She is already way ahead of so many whose bulk takes up the space in our libraries and book stores. helen writes great dialogue, doesn't use cliches and gives us credible characters - not a bad start for good novel writing, i say. The books are in your Geelong regional library, and I hope in the shops. Well worth reading.
Profile Image for Bill Kupersmith.
Author 1 book243 followers
March 24, 2013
Traditionally trained Roman Catholics will recognise the allusion in the title to the sacrament of Penance ("It has been thus and so many weeks since my last confession"0 Here it turns out the "penitent" is actually a serial killer who includes a request for albolution for a murder he is planning to commit. I seem to vaguely recall that there's a character in Dante's Inferno who received absolution from the pope himself (one of the "bad popes"--Dante's Hell is well-supplied with these).

My Last Confession is not so laugh-out-loud funny as its predecessor Dead Lovely. And here Krissie's propensity for falling into sexual entanglements only rates a PG13, although some of the other characters certainly achieve Helen Fitzgerald's delightful standard of off-the-wallness. (I'd love to watch a chat show discussion of whether lesbian sex with one's mother ought to be regarded as incestuous.) I think this is her first novel to intorduce a psychopathic serial killer; Bloody Women and The Devil's Staircase will also feature them.

Krissie has now become a prison social worker, although she takes on the role of detective trying to exonerate an innocent accused of murder. Being Krissie she manages to mininterpret every single clue she encounters, though in fairness the reader will too unless rather more alert than I am. I feel I'm a bit of a soft touch for the four stars--would have liked more laughs. But it was a non-stop read.

Profile Image for Petra.
688 reviews11 followers
August 15, 2016
Ook ik zou dit boek, net als de andere reacties, niet als literaire thriller willen bestempelen. Eerder als chicklit met een spannend aspect. En als het in dat genre beland dan is het een aardig boek. Als je de achterflap niet vlak voor het lezen van het boek doorneemt dan is het boek aardig spannend. Nadeel dat de schrijfster wel blijft vermelden: als dit niet zo was gegaan was het misschien goed afgelopen... Het is dus aardig spannend, maar je kunt ook aardig verwachten wat er aan zit te komen.

Desondanks leest het boek snel weg en is het verhaal goed te volgen. Doordat alles vanuit de hoofdpersoon, Krissie, wordt geschreven leer je door haar ogen het verhaal te bekijken. Dat zorgde ervoor dat ik aardig geloofde in haar gedachtegangen, al is veel wel kort door de bocht. Ik mag ook hopen dat zo'n 'ontspoorde' maatschappelijk werker wel eerder wordt tegen gehouden. Het einde is helaas afgeraffeld waar in de rest van het verhaal elk detail ongeveer beschreven wordt.

Zin in een boek voor tussendoor waar je niet heel veel bij na hoeft te denken? Dan is dit boek aan te raden. Als je dol bent op spannende thrillers, dan zou ik deze laten liggen.
Profile Image for D.
259 reviews44 followers
November 22, 2016
I usually tend to read psychological thrillers but have lately been disappointed in the books I have read. I have started finding them very predictable and tad boring. I usually like the way the author portrays the protagonist but there was no description about Krrisie's physical appearance so I found it difficult to give face to the main character and for some reason didn't like her good boyfriend Chas. I liked the way she portrayed Jeremy who turned out to be a psychopath. An easy read as I finished this one in 6 hours with breaks. If you haven't read many psychological thrillers then go ahead as this could be an interesting one for you. I have read much better ones hence only 2 stars. It could have been better but seems like author had a deadline and so she somehow managed to finish writing this book.
Profile Image for Saskia.
161 reviews1 follower
May 23, 2012
Aardig boek voor tussendoor, maar ik had meer verwacht van Helen FitzGerald. Ik keek enorm uit naar dit boek, omdat ik haar debuut Kleine meisjes echt super geweldig vind. Ik had dan ook gehoopt, dat ik Kleine meisjes in mijn top 10 kon vervangen in het nieuwste boek van Helen, maar helaas! Misschien waren mijn verwachtingen wel te hoog... Het einde was wat afgeraffelt en dat vind ik jammer. Toch las het boek wel lekker vlotjes en zal ik ook zeker haar volgend boek niet laten liggen in de boekhandel!
Profile Image for Jess Jones.
15 reviews
February 1, 2015
A nice easy read, what I would all a beach read. Slightly predictable and not the best written book I've read. However, I did read it in a day and found myself wanting to know what happened. I found the ending a bit disappointing. Also, maybe I'm getting old if there was so much pointless reference to sex as well as an awful sex twist that I didn't particularly enjoy. Not a bad read but no something I'd read again
54 reviews
January 21, 2023
Anfangs gut, lustige Passagen, eigener Humor. Mittelteil zieht sich allerdings, man ist nicht mehr wirklich gespannt, was passiert... Ich legte das Buch öfters beiseite. Am Schluss wieder spannender, einige unerwartete Wendungen, allerdings auch nicht so unerwartet, dass es mich vom Hocker haute... 50 Seiten mehr und man hätte den Schluss wesentlich ereignisreicher und nicht so vorhersehbar machen können.
Profile Image for Frenchorchidea.
429 reviews38 followers
February 11, 2014
Voilà un livre que j'ai laissé traîner dans ma PAL durant plus de 3 ans.... que j'ai longtemps hésité à lire et finalement voilà je l'ai enfin lu! et devinez quoi? j'ai beaucoup beaucoup beaucoup aimé ce petit thriller!!!! Bonne surprise! Ce thriller est vraiment unique et la fin est tout à fait surprenante! J'ai passé un très bon moment avec ce livre!
13 reviews1 follower
May 8, 2016
Bridget Jones meets Taggert

Best book I have read for a while. I tend to read the psychological thriller genre mostly but have lately been disappointed in the books supposedly belonging to this genre. This book belongs there and also is a little different in terms of adding humour to some very dark and disturbing subject matters. It is Bridget Jones meets Taggart!
845 reviews2 followers
August 9, 2015
OK, a bit unbelieveable and I'd have preferred not to have the list of things that were going to happen listed on the first page. Like the other book of hers I have read speeds up dramatically in the second half and despite plot holes you find yourself totally drawn in!!
Profile Image for AnAnPi.
6 reviews
July 8, 2011
I think the main turning point would have deserved more than two or three pages...
4 reviews
May 28, 2014
Na Kleine meisjes heb ik meteen ook maar het tweede boek van Helen Fitzgerald gelezen. Wederom: spannend en onderhoudend.
Profile Image for Renita D'Silva.
Author 20 books401 followers
December 1, 2014
Liked the other books by her that I read. This one, not so much. The narrative was a tad too unbelievable for me and seemed hastily put together.
Profile Image for Jetty.
20 reviews1 follower
Read
February 6, 2017
Couldn't really capture my attention + the character(s) annoyed me. So many other (better) books still on my nightstand to read, so decided to give this one up.
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews

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