Publisher's Weekly Review
This new entry in the young adult series featuring the fabulously wealthy, undeniably weird Angel orphans finds them in Paris with their uncle Jacob Perlman. This time they're battling the villainous minions of their sociopath uncle Peter, who is determined to steal their limitless fortune. Previous outings (Confessions of a Murder Suspect and Confessions: The Private School Murders) explained that the Angels' father was a brilliant scientist with a Big Pharma drug empire, and he and his wife raised their children on a regimen of mood-, mind-, and body-altering drugs. As a result, the series's narrator, Tandy, is a 17-year-old genius with a penchant for detection; her oldest brother, Matthew, is a New York Giants footballer who's won the Heisman; her brother Harry is on his way to becoming a top-of-the-charts musician/composer; and her youngest brother, Hugo, is, at the very least, a world-class brat. There's also an older sister, Catherine, another beautiful genius, whose reported death in a "motorcycle accident in Capetown" now appears to have been an exaggeration. Since Tandy's confession focuses primarily on her own feelings and activities, it's crucial that reader Fortgang has found the right voice for her: she narrates this short, inconclusive novel in a mildly peevish, entitled, intemperate manner and is a bit too emotional- just like a billionaire teenager, in other words. As for the less-defined members of the family, Jacob sounds properly noble, Harry speaks with a stoner's bliss, and Hugo is like Bart Simpson with a silver spoon in his mouth. There's an otherworldly quality about all of them that stems from their extremely odd upbringing, or perhaps from their present lives of extravagance and excess. Ages 12-up. A Little, Brown hardcover. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
In this sequel to Confessions of a Murder Suspect (2012), the wealthy Angel children are sent to Paris in the wake of their parents' murders. Sixteen-year-old Tandoori struggles to make sense of what has happened to her and her brothers amid broad hints of continuing danger ranging from glimpses of mysterious black sedans to having their mansion torched. There are also family revelations both sordid and startling. Meanwhile, her twin brother plunges into a worrisome round of drug- and alcohol-fueled partying even as an opening gig for Adele gives his musical career a huge boost. There's an initially happy return to New York that touches off a devastating betrayal and a murder attempt, leaving a major character dead. The plot, moving in fits and starts, is cut up into tiny chapters interrupted at arbitrary points and with frequent pauses for Tandy's confessions (most of which are e-mails that she writes and then deletes). The book is much shorter than it seems at first glance and zips along nearly as fast as pages can be flipped. Patterson fans and tabloid newspaper readers alike will enjoy the mix of glamour, decadence, and treachery.--Peters, John Copyright 2010 Booklist
