Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

We’ve all confessed to wanting to kill people on the heat of the moment, but given the opportunity would you do it? What if your own life was on the line?

This book starts immediately within the action, with a man being watched waking up in the Confession Room. We also get his point of view, what he sees within the room, the confusion he experiences. And as his story gradually builds, you become increasingly intrigued about the room. Who is he? Why is he there?

Then we go on to meet former police officer, Emilia Hayes. Damaged, grieving, intelligent, morbid Emilia Hayes. She is easy to build a connection with, through her personality and also what she’s been through.

The author set this book up with hints about where the story was going to go… and then the book didn’t go that way. Well-played! I’m not sure how I feel about this—this is meant to be true to life and not fantasy and things don’t always go the way you want them to—but it meant for a more ‘wow’ ending, so it was clever and worked from a more ‘shock’ point of view.

Far from the usual ‘bad guy’, there is a much larger web weaved within this book that has you questioning your own morals and the choices you would make. For me, the wrong and right were pretty clear and there were no winners to be had, but maybe others wouldn’t agree.

As a horror fan, this definitely had Saw vibes within it. I can’t even pinpoint one specific genre, as I could see elements of many different ones within it, so this book is perfect for a wide range of people, as long as they prefer stories with a darker edge.

“The Confession Room left behind many victims. Not all of us are dead.”

Thank you to NetGalley, Lia Middleton and Penguin for this DRC in exchange for an honest review.

Well this was an interesting ride, finding it difficult to write a review without any spoilers as there seems to be so many twists and who can you trust. This is such a scary premise but it worked really well and I was engrossed it was a definite afternoon read for me as I wanted to see what happened and why. It all made sense in the end.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publishers but the review is entirely my own.

The description of The Confession Room really had me intrigued, an online forum where you could confess your sins, but unfortunately once I started the book it didn't live up to my expectations. I really struggled to get into the story and I did not like the characters so it just did not work for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC.

recommend reading 'The Confession Room.' Based on an online forum where individuals can disclose their wrongdoings, no matter how severe. From the early chapters, I found myself deeply invested in this thrilling and engaging read. Middleton's writing style was not only enjoyable but also easy to comprehend, which made it even more captivating.

With every twist and turn, Emilia's character became more complex, making the experience all the more intriguing. Although some parts of the book were predictable, and others dragged a little for my taste, my overall enjoyment was not diminished.

I believe that this is a must-read for anyone who enjoys suspenseful horror/crime books, and would make an ideal book club read as there is a lot to digest and discuss!

This had a good premise and was decently paced. It had me gripped at the start but seems to lose it a little towards the middle and the momentum drops. Overall a good read but didn’t thrill as much as I’d expect!

This is a new to me author so I will definitely check out more of their work.

I’ve not read anything like this premise, so I will be looking for more thrillers such as this. I enjoyed the change in the usual whodonit.

We are taken into the deepest farmers depths of the internet, where it plays with those who have confessed. Leaving people and the reader wondering who is going to be next.

The pace started of really well, I was gripped immediately from the first page. Whilst, the pace slowed toward the mid section of the book it did pick up pace towards the end. The book was full of twists throughout, keeping you hooked and wanted to know More!

I really loved the POVs from those that were chosen to be victims by the murderer. I feel like this really added to the tense, dark factor of the book!

Where the confession room didn’t work;

-I was not entirely sold on the ending and I felt like that was unbelievably and unrealistic🤷🏽‍♀️

-I did feel that whilst Emilia was a former detective-some elements did become like an amateur sleuth 🕵️‍♀️ ( but who doesn’t like to do some sleuthing)😂😂

-Emilia did frustrate me a lot throughout with her desire to cross boundaries, act reckless and have zero regard to consequences for others😨

Overall, I enjoyed this and it definitely give you a lot to think about. What does justice look for you??

Initially I found this book hard to get into at first, but once I did I really enjoyed it.

The concept of the story was right up my street, the authors writing is so tense and at parts I was a tad freaked out, as this could be a real life crime!!

Emilia completely annoyed me at times, but then the epilogue came! So so good!

3.5 stars

Brief overview: Emilia Haines left the police force following the brutal murder of her sister that left her unable to work. When an anonymous user starts confessing to murders they have not yet committed online, Emilia becomes fixated on solving the case and saving innocent people. She’s then named as the next victim…

Ok. I need a minute because WOW. This book had me HOOKED from the very first page until the last! I finished this in just 3 sittings because I NEEDED to know what the f*ck was going on.

Whilst some bits were actually a little predictable, it didn’t ruin the flow or the actual story and there were still plenty of unguessable twists thrown in. I ended thinking ok, cool, great read. AND THEN I READ THE EPILOGUE.

💬 ‘The innocent who do nothing are still guilty after all’

READ IT. *please*

This is a good read.
Emilia comes across The Confession Room online and is intrigued by the posts on there. She’d even put her own confession on there.
The posts start off as run of the mill confessions but then it says the word ‘murder.’
Emilia alerts her ex boyfriend Ciaran who is a Detective, but they are too late to save the person named on the online forum.
Soon the word Murder is posted again and they try and save the people named.
When Emilia is taken she faces a very difficult choice.
I won’t say anymore as it will spoil it, but this is a good read.
Thanks to Michael Joseph and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Such a fast paced book full of tension. Chilling and horrific this book had me racing through to see where it was leading. The end was a disappointment and I felt very unrealistic. But then came the epilogue which Ive had to read more than once and leaves the book on a “Woah!” moment.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the ARC in return for an honest and unbiased opinion.

3.5 stars rounded up.

WELCOME TO THE CONFESSION ROOM: An online forum for anonymous atonement.

Some people confess to affairs, others to stealing. Some admit deep. dark wishes. But one day a confession is posted that nobody expects: murder. And not just one named victim, but two. As more victims are named, and more bodies are found, people begin to fear who could be next. Because it seems if you have a secret, they'll find you.

Despite promising confessions without consequences, this is not what happens at all. Confessions of murder start appearing on the online forum, and members on the site start getting nervous. As ex=police officer, Emilia, is trying to find out who is responsible for the murders, but then she's named as a victim. This is a dark and unpredictable read, although I did think it showed the potential to be a much better read. The pace is fast, and I liked Emilia's character. I did find the ending to be a little disappointing, so I took of half a star for that reason.

I would like to thank #NetGalley #MichaelJoseph #PenguinRandomHouse and the author #LiaMiddleton for my ARC of #TheConfessionRoom in exchange for an honest review.

After a chilling opening scene that sets the reader’s mind racing, we meet our protagonist, Emilia Haines. Emilia used to be a police officer – and a good one by all accounts. But after the murder of her sister, Sophie, over which she feels a lot of misplaced guilt, she found she couldn’t continue. So she severed her relationship with her policeman boyfriend, Ciaran and left the force, setting up instead as a Private Detective, specialising in infidelity cases.

As a substitute for leisure time, she becomes more than a bit addicted to a new online forum called The Confession Room; a place where people confess their sins, or offer up their guilt. It’s a way for Emilia to spill her grief onto the page.

Most of the posts are pretty mundane; affairs, petty theft, small acts of revenge. But one day one posts two names alongside one word: murder.

What follows is both chilling and horrific and pulls Emilia into a dark investigation that will ultimately have her fighting for her life.

Lia Middleton’s book starts off with a chilling scene and she does well in keeping up the tempo to draw the reader deeper into to Emilia’s turmoil. The plot opener actually resembles another book I have read, but then there’s very little that is completely new and this book goes off in a different direction and has a twist or two that the other did not.

I did like the different points of view from those who were the chosen victims to the murderer and through to Emilia who always seems to be working against the police. The setting of The Confession Room works really well as we find ourselves in the blood chilling dark web and this increases the fear factor hugely. Lia Middleton writes fluidly and she knows how to create pace and dynamism.

Where The Confession Room didn’t really work for me though was in the character of Emilia. She wasn’t really sympathetic enough for me and I’d have liked to have seen a deeper exploration of her relationship with both her family and her ex, Ciaran.

Because I couldn’t really engage with her character, I found the storyline lost pace and with it some credibility and I was not at all persuaded by the ending.

Verdict: Overall this is a good story with a strong premise that just doesn’t quite pull it off for me.

This book starts with a bang and the beginning was a dark, chilly and twisty story that kept me on the edge and made me feel nervous. Then it was like a souffle that POUF that started to rise and the stopped.
I wasn't a fan of Emilia that I found a bit underdeveloped. I kept on read as I liked the storytelling and I wanted to know who-did-what-and-why.
The end was satisfying but I was expecting something more.
There's a lot of potential and I think this author will write excellent novels.
3.5 upped to 4
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

I'm afraid this wasn't for me. I liked the idea of an online confession room but it wasn't quite as gossipy or exciting as I thought or hoped. Not sure about the ending and looking back it wasn't a novel I particularly enjoyed. Sorry.

This is an absolutely incredible thriller that will keep you guessing and up all night, wide awake, unable to put it down as you need to get to the last page and end the terror! This is definitely a book to rival any horror movie in building tension and just not letting go.
It is very easy to read and I found myself caught up in the story very early on. The first maybe 1/4 is setting the scene and getting us to know the main players in this, especially Emilia. After that, it's full throttle most of the way to the end and believe me, when you get to the end, you'll be turning the page too, like I did, hoping for more but also slightly fearful that there may be more too!
As soon as I finished this I jumped on Social media as I know one of my friends would love this, I described it to her as "It’s dark, slightly twisty, extremely squirmy & absolutely terrifying! It reminds me of a Chris Carter book!" and that is just about the best way I could ever describe this book without giving any spoilers. It's one I heartily recommend to every thriller reader just be aware, I love very dark thrillers and there were times when I had to steel myself before turning the page!

Oooooh this was such a chilling horror story and not what I expected at all! I was delightfully scared!

From the first scene, I couldn’t help being hooked in and having a thousand questions going round my head. Introduced by an unknown narrator, a man wakes up dazed in a small dingy room, his leg chained to the wall. Our narrator is waiting to see how he will react and what he will do next.

We then quickly move away from the scene to meet Emilia - a former police detective who gave up her job after her sister died and is now working as a private detective. She is addicted to a website called The Confession Room - an online forum where people post anonymous confessions, from hidden feelings to guilty secrets. Then one day a confession appears that chills Emilia - the murder of two people.

Now Emilia cannot ignore what she’s seen and she becomes embroiled in the investigation, getting back in touch with her ex, Ciaran and doing some private detective work of her own.

Next follow more posts - more names, and graphic videos. Emilia cannot step away and is determined to stop anyone else getting hurt.

This was so much more than an average thriller - the scenes in the Confession Room itself were really scary, and some of the situations Emilia finds herself in! And I enjoyed the moral questioning aspect of the story - would I watch those videos? What would I do in the victims’ situation? I found myself pondering it whenever I wasn’t reading! And the twists and turns did not disappoint - I didn’t expect any of what happens and the ending - so good!

Absolutely gripping and a really enjoyable read. A little reminiscent of the Saw movies at times - but sufficiently different to move past it! Definitely a more clever story!

This, initially, really intrigued me; A confession room, shown on the internet where individuals anonymously confess their darkest secrets, an ex police officer, still grieving for her murdered sister. Then, someone confesses murders before they happen.

Unfortunately, very quickly I lost interest in the characters and the plot. It’s very likely this is due to the writing style and characters just not grabbing me, so, I’m sure many will love it, but, I struggled to finish it.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the opportunity to preview but not for me.

The Confession Room by Lia Middleton is a fast paced thriller that feels really current because of it's use of social media in the plot. Many social media platforms have "Confession Rooms" where people can go to confess their wrong doings both light hearted and more serious , and this is what the author has based her story on - a website where someone has begun confessing to murders. The protagonist of the story is Emilia Haines, a former police officer who left the force following the murder of her sister, and who regularly visits the confession room site, though she has not yet confessed her own dark secret- the guilt she feels that she ignored her sister's calls on the night she died. When a video is posted and the body of the person making the confession is found, Emilia finds her self drawn into a personal quest to uncover the murder, but as the bodies begin to stack up and her involvement comes to the attention of her former colleagues in the police , she is putting her own safety and freedom in danger if she continues the investigation.
Obviously I can't reveal anything more without spoiling the book, but I can say that the author does her best to keep the reader engaged and I really liked Emilia as a character, I found the ending a little disappointing but overall this was a fast paced and fun read.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own

Ahhhh the confession room 🙂 what a book! I loved it!!! An online forum for people to go onto and post their confessions. Seems simple enough and many people have done this and continue to do this, until one day the darkest of confessions is confessed. Murder.

Emilia Haines is an ex police officer, she left after her sister was murdered and made a confession on the forum saying if she ever found the person who killed her sister she would kill him. Emilia often goes on the confession room forum and one day she is shocked to discover that someone has confessed to murder, however it wasn’t just one murder it was two, and as time goes on many more people are taken and are murdered.

This keeps on going and the police have no idea who is behind this, and they have no leads to follow. Whoever is behind these murders clearly knows how to cover their tracks.

Emilia makes it her personal mission to get to the bottom of who is behind this and becomes obsessed with the confession rooms, she soon discovers that people who have made a confession on the forum are the ones who are being taken. People begin to panic as they have no idea who will be taken next and they soon start to panic. Will Emilia be able to get to the bottom of this or will more lives be lost before she can put a stop to this.

I loved the confession rooms, I was hooked right from the start of this book and every chance I had I was picking up my kindle wanting to know more, and what was going to happen next. At one point I found the book a little creepy, I even had to get up in the night to shut my balcony door whilst reading and turn the light on 😂

A brilliant read with plenty of twists I didn’t see coming. Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for an advance copy of this book in exchange for this review.