Day of Confession - Allan Folsom

ALLAN FOLSOM / DAY OF CONFESSION


A few weeks ago I was browsing the book section of Amazon’s web site. Lo and behold, there was a reference to a new book to be published at the end of April 2004. Nothing unusual about that I guess, but the author was none other than … Allan Folsom. ‘Who?’ I hear you say. Exactly!

You probably haven’t heard of him because he has only written two novels, although both have been ...
...of his first book, ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, in 1994 and Little Brown Books/Warner Books read it. They took a gamble and paid him 2m dollars for publication rights. The gamble paid off: the book fast became a bestseller.

Folsom wrote his second book, ‘Day of Confession’, in 1998 and this too rose high in the charts to become a bestseller. The reference I saw on the Amazon site, was to what will be his third book, ‘The Exile’.
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ALLAN FOLSOM / DAY OF CONFESSION

A few weeks ago I was browsing the book section of Amazon’s web site. Lo and behold, there was a reference to a new book to be published at the end of April 2004. Nothing unusual about that I guess, but the author was none other than … Allan Folsom. ‘Who?’ I hear you say. Exactly!

You probably haven’t heard of him because he has only written two novels, although both have been bestsellers.

THE AUTHOR

Allan Folsom was born in 1944 and grew up in Boston, USA. When he was about 20 he moved to California and did film work, in the form of writing and editing. He became a script writer for film and television but remained relatively unknown. He wrote the script of his first book, ‘The Day After Tomorrow’, in 1994 and Little Brown Books/Warner Books read it. They took a gamble and paid him 2m dollars for publication rights. The gamble paid off: the book fast became a bestseller.

Folsom wrote his second book, ‘Day of Confession’, in 1998 and this too rose high in the charts to become a bestseller. The reference I saw on the Amazon site, was to what will be his third book, ‘The Exile’.

He now resides in Santa Barbara with his artist wife and their young daughter.

With his new thriller on the way I thought … 'Now is the time to introduce you to this exciting author through his current (second) novel. Why wait till April?' When you have finished it I am sure you will look forward to ‘The Exile’ with the same enthusiasm as me.

DAY OF CONFESSION

As in his first book, Folsom uses the sweeping world political landscape to paint his broad canvas. The characters are vibrantly portrayed – you can sense them, touch them, understand their feelings. His novel is clearly backed up by a great deal of research and fact finding. The narrative flows along like a gushing stream.

Harry Addison, living in Los Angeles, USA, is a very successful lawyer to top film directors and Hollywood stars. He has a younger brother, Danny, but they have been estranged since they were teenagers and have not even talked to each other for eight years. Their sister died young in a tragic skating accident on a park lake. Both parents are also dead.

Danny Addison joined the US Marines as a teenager where he became a ‘highly decorated marksman’. Later he decided to enter the priesthood and, as the story opens, he has spent the last nine years assigned to the Vatican, recently becoming the private secretary to Cardinal Marsciano.

Marsciano is one of the five Cardinals who make up the Pope’s inner circle or ‘Men of Trust’. As such, he controls the Vatican purse strings. The five Cardinals each head the various departments involved in the running of the Papal Church throughout the world – very important men indeed!

In the prologue of the book we witness the assassination of one of these five – Cardinal Parma - a few days before on 28th June. Parma is shot dead, within the Vatican walls, by a sniper from an outside vantage point.

The story proper starts on Thursday 2nd July when Harry Addison retrieves an answerphone call from his car. Astonishingly the message, from Rome, is in the form of a stuttering cry for help from his brother Danny. No detail in the message – just imploring Harry to ring him back. Harry rings back. No answer. He rings the Vatican information office and is told ‘Father Daniel is away and is not expected back until Monday.’

By Saturday night, however, Harry is officially informed by the Los Angeles Catholic Archdiocese that his brother is dead – apparently blown up in a terrorist attack whilst on a bus travelling to Assisi.

This illustrates the pace of this book throughout. The whole story starts on 2nd July and ends on 17th July. We witness so many events, twists and turns and alarming discoveries in those fifteen days! Folsom cleverly takes you through each day detailing the activities of several characters in different places and often in the same time slot. He reaches into their minds and allows us to feel their anguish and frustrations. We feel their pain and adrenalin rushes. We get caught up in the web and are completely involved in the action.

‘What characters? What action?’ you might be asking. Well, my friends, I will not spoil things by detailing any more of the storyline. Suffice to say that from the moment Harry flies to Rome, to pick up Danny’s body and take it home for burial in the USA, he is in serious trouble! He encounters Italian State Police detectives Otello Roscani and Gianni Pio who play a very significant part in the unfolding drama. The Italian State Police have no authority within the Vatican walls – a State within a State. Here the Vatican police are under the control of Jacov Farel who is Swiss.

The Italian Interior Ministry has set up a special task force, ‘Gruppo Cardinale’, to investigate the murder of the Cardinal Vicar of Rome. The force’s Chief Prosecutor is Marcello Taglia. All factions must try to work together!

Before long, Folsom has us caught in a mesh of inextricable plots, suspicion and deception. Cardinal Palestrina, another of the Pope’s ‘Men of Trust’, is in charge of overall church policy. Surprisingly he seems to have a hand in the chaos of activity, if only in the background. But is it his own hand or the hand of the devil? He is an imposing figure, full of stature and importance. We see him almost as a megalomaniac with grand ideas of ever widening the Holy Roman Empire throughout the world. Starting with China perhaps?

So, we have Cardinal Marsciano at odds with and trying to restrain Palestrina’s ambitions. He is also desperately trying to find out what, if anything, Father Daniel told his brother Harry over the telephone. Why? Also, why does Harry find himself on the run from both detective Roscani and the Vatican police chief Farel? Harry is on his own until he (by chance?) encounters an old acquaintance, Adrianna Hall – a World News correspondent. Thomas Kind, an international sadistic terrorist from Spain is also trying to find Harry before anyone else does.

Just why is EVERYONE trying to reach Harry Addison?

I haven’t even mentioned the dwarf Hercules, the nursing nun Elena Voso and her patient Michael Rourke, James Eaton from the American Embassy or Pierre Weggen the Swiss banker …..

Alan Folsom weaves a nightmarish tale with exhausting (you just can’t turn the pages fast enough!) fervour and heart-stopping action. He takes you on nail biting chases through Bellagio, Lake Como, Northern Italy and the Swiss border and to scenes of unbelievable human tragedy in Heifi and Wuxu, China. It all ends in an epic finale in ……………………?

This is another book in my top ten thrillers (how many are there in ten?). I have read this book three times now and still thrill to it. I simply want you, urge you, to read it just once. Enjoy! Thanks for reading this.

‘Day of Confession’ paperback is readily available at most large bookstores (Smiths, Waterstones etc.) at £6.99. It is currently (Jan 2004) on offer at Amazon.co.uk priced (sale) £4.79 or at Splash DVD.com priced £4.99.

Published by Warner Books. ISBN 0751520195.
 

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