This was a fun novel to read. At times it did get a bit suspenseful, but Dek’s personality and humor are a constant fixture in the story. The characters were interesting, and while I have not yet read the first four novels in the series, I was able to jump right into their lives.

Sometimes Dek’s character reflected a bit of an old Humphrey Bogart-type detective from the early 1940’s. A little sarcastic and definitely sure of himself, Dek is the private investigator who is going to keep digging until he figures out what is going on. Even though Wendell has taken Dek off the case, he is not backing down.

This story had a lot of twists and turns. I’m not sure if there are enough clues laid out for the armchair detective to really guess the ending, but it’s a fun ride along the way.

First Sentence: The gold Rolex Day-Date on his wrist had cost eleven thousand dollars.
Dek’s ex-wife, Amanda, is the daughter of one of the most wealthy and powerful men, who control the city of Chicago. And they are dying; being murdered very quietly. Amanda, who wants Dek to investigate, is someone he cannot refuse. Her father is less than agreeable. It quickly becomes clear he’s knows more than he’s saying. Can Dek keep him alive, or is he behind the murders?
It’s nice to see an author’s writing mature, and Fredrickson’s definitely has since his first book. In Dek, he has created a very interesting character with sardonic humor balanced by introspection and hope, as wonderfully exemplified by an ash tree.
The focus on sartorial details is always an interesting way of establishing social and economic class. Fredrickson employs that device in the conventional way, but also turns it on it's head with Dex' best friend. The same is done with food. One can appreciate the way in which Dex evaluates fast food restaurants. Some authors offer mouth-watering description of superb meals. Frederickson provides guilt-pleasure descriptions of artery-closing food... “His masterpiece was four over-easy eggs piled atop two English muffins, slathered with sausage, melted cheddar and mushroom gravy the thickness of porridge.” It's some of these nuances that make Fredrickson such an enjoyable author to read.

Dex is an interesting character whose career, relationships and life has seen highs and lows, yet he maintained his ethical core. The pacing of the story is nicely done with good flow. This is certainly not a book one puts down with thoughts of coming back to; rather, it is a good, compelling read. You want to know what is going to happen next. Two minor criticisms; The prologue was completely unnecessary and would have been better left only within the context of the story and, my personnel irritant, there was an unfortunate, and completely unnecessary, semi-portent.

“The Confessor’s Club,” is a very good book with nice tension, suspense and plot twists.

THE CONFESSOR’S CLUB (PI-Dek Elstrom-Illinois-Contemp) - VG Fredrickson, Jack – 5th in series Severn House / First World Publication – July 2015

**I received an ARC of this story in exchange for an honest review**
Amanda called her ex-husband Dek. Dek was to meet with her father. He hired Dek to find out about the deaths of some of his friends. Dek found, through his friend Leo, that there were 16 people that were the movers and shakers of Chicago. Dek got fired by Amanda's dad, but actually got drawn deeper into the question of what was really going down in Chicago. Especially upon learning about the Confessors' Club.
Dek was down on his luck. Amanda was the daughter of a very wealthy man. Once they parted, there was a newspaper article that almost destroyed Dek. He got rid of the trimmings of his old life with Amanda and started to rebuild. He was resourceful. He didn't just give up. He wasn't a bad person. I liked his character. I liked the book a lot. Sometimes it was a bit slow but interesting enough to keep me going with all the twists and turns. It was a great story, great plot, and great characters. I highly recommend it.