Book Info
Title: The Fatal Confidant
Author: Debra Webb
Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Romance
Published on: February 17, 2026
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Source: E-Book (NetGalley)
Pages: 333
Series: Dark and Dangerous
Goodreads Synopsis:
An aspiring DA must put his trust in a criminally seductive fixer in a twisty thriller about secrets, manipulation, and murder by USA Today bestselling author Debra Webb.
Deputy district attorney Carson Tanner is nicknamed the Avenger for good reason. Fifteen years ago, the murder of Carson’s family fueled an unrelenting need for justice. His latest investigation into Birmingham crime boss Otis Fleming is a career maker—if he can crack Fleming’s closest confidant.
Annette Baxter is a fierce and cunning fixer who makes the dirty deeds of the city’s elite disappear. She’s ready to turn on Fleming to save herself—but Carson may not be ready to face all the secrets she protects.
Annette claims there’s more to Carson’s brutal past than he could have imagined, and a string of new murders suggests that someone in town is tidying up loose ends. Can he trust her long enough to find the truth? Can she trust him long enough to survive?
My Review
My Rating: 3.5
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC copy.
The Fatal Confidant is a revised version of the author’s book Faceless. The story follows the character Carson Tanner, also known as “Avenger,” a title given to him by the public for his unwavering dedication to finding the truth. Especially after his family had been murdered 15 years earlier.
There are multiple POVs to follow in the story, including Carson Tanner, Annette Baxter, our primary characters, with the occasional POV from secondary characters. There were a few times where I got confused about who’s POV we were in as the way a lot of the chapters are written start by describing a character we are about to meet, or is the primary focus of the chapter and sometimes it is from that character’s POV, however in other instances it starts that way and ends up being someone else’s POV. In similar circumstances, it seemed like a chapter started as one character’s POV and then, with no sign, had jumped to a different character’s POV. I had to re-read at least one chapter just to make sure who narrated that part.
The story pacing was incredibly slow at the beginning of the book, seeming to get stuck on constantly bringing up one scene from the very start multiple times, and getting hung up on there, A plot point that was not all that important to the overall storyline. Finally, three-quarters of the way through the book, the plot speeds up, and unfortunately for me, I had the whodunnit figured out at that point, so it was just a matter of the how and why.
If the focus of the story had remained on Carson finding the truth about what happened with his family and the assignment he had been tasked with of taking down Otis Fleming throughout the entire story. Revealing the secrets of people he thought he could trust, etc. I think I would have enjoyed it more, but the constant hang-ups on secondary plot points had me annoyed. Yes, the book is described as having romance elements, but when most of it was not a progression of that romance, just flashbacks to a moment two characters shared previously, left me feeling that it was unnecessary to include.
Overall, it was well written. Having not read the original version of Faceless, I cannot comment on any revisions made. The premise interested me when I read the blurb. I was just hoping for more? The author does a good job at the twists and turns aspects of mystery writing. I am interested in reading more books by this author, and hopefully among them there will be one I enjoy more.
Have you read this book? What were your thoughts on it? Leave a comment below and let me know.
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