FATHER CONFESSOR (2011)
First published by Fives Leaves Publications in 2011.
New, updated edition published independently in 2020
"Outstanding... rattles along at an irresistible pace..." Eva Dolan, author of Between Two Evils
New edition includes additional scenes and some edits from original version.
DCI Ernie Bright is dead. A good cop gone bad? Not everyone believes that one of Tayside Constabulary’s longest serving detectives was leading a double life.
One of those looking to vindicate the dead copper is Bright’s protégé, private investigator J McNee, who has his own reasons for trying to prove Bright’s innocence. But as the evidence piles up and McNee makes enemies on both sides of the law, he finds that justice and the law are not always the same, and that good people can make
bad decisions.
Dark, violent and psychologically gripping, Father Confessor is the third in the critically acclaimed J McNee series. This case will change the Dundee detective’s world forever.
Now available on Kindle: Amazon UK/Amazon US
Also available as a Print on Demand paperback edition from Amazon (or through expanded distribution - ask your local bookseller)
Praise for Father Confessor
"a superbly well told and compelling book that grabs you by the throat within the first few pages, and doesn't let you go until you've reached the climax" - Undiscovered Scotland
"McLean has a fine eye for the small acts of betrayal which can ruin lives... McNee’s world is one where secrets eat into people like cancer and accepting comfort is akin to weakness... he has evolved into a complex, contradictory character, with a full complement of demons... there’s enough darkness in him to run a good while yet." Crime Fiction Lover
"Carving out a place for himself in the blossoming world of Scottish crime writing, McLean writes with bite and casts Dundee in a light that suits this type of thriller in which trust and loyalty are very slippery concepts." The Herald (arts magazine, 22 September 2012)
"McLean has created a sympathetic yet flawed character who tries to do the right thing and sometimes hits the mark but, more often than not, doesn't (as he comments himself, ‘so many people I knew seemed to wind up dead’). Loyalties count in his world; loyalty to friends and more particularly to family. If you’re after a dark slice of Dundee noir then you can’t go far wrong with this" Shots Magazine
"a dark, gritty and moralistic novel which will not only entertain the reader but also make them ask questions of their own views on justice." Crimesquad
"This is a story of failed relationships and guilt as much as it is about crime. There's also humour and a great attempt to get under a person's skin, to understand the motivation, the power that past events have on the present and to discover if the future is ever free from the baggage that we all carry." I Meant To Read That
"McLean has a fine eye for the small acts of betrayal which can ruin lives... McNee’s world is one where secrets eat into people like cancer and accepting comfort is akin to weakness... he has evolved into a complex, contradictory character, with a full complement of demons... there’s enough darkness in him to run a good while yet." Crime Fiction Lover
"Carving out a place for himself in the blossoming world of Scottish crime writing, McLean writes with bite and casts Dundee in a light that suits this type of thriller in which trust and loyalty are very slippery concepts." The Herald (arts magazine, 22 September 2012)
"McLean has created a sympathetic yet flawed character who tries to do the right thing and sometimes hits the mark but, more often than not, doesn't (as he comments himself, ‘so many people I knew seemed to wind up dead’). Loyalties count in his world; loyalty to friends and more particularly to family. If you’re after a dark slice of Dundee noir then you can’t go far wrong with this" Shots Magazine
"a dark, gritty and moralistic novel which will not only entertain the reader but also make them ask questions of their own views on justice." Crimesquad
"This is a story of failed relationships and guilt as much as it is about crime. There's also humour and a great attempt to get under a person's skin, to understand the motivation, the power that past events have on the present and to discover if the future is ever free from the baggage that we all carry." I Meant To Read That
