The protagonist of this novel is the 16-year old Tandy Angel, a self-appointed amateur detective with a love for all things thrilling. The first case that she ever cracked was that of her wealthy parents deaths’. Tandy is now working on a murder mystery to help clear her brother’s name in the homicide case of his girlfriend. Being the curious, nosy person that she is, Tandy figures out that something isn’t right, especially after a murder takes place at her own elite school. She’s quite sure that there’s a serial killer behind these horrific acts and that person seems to target people belonging to a particular profile. The problem being, Tandy perfectly fits that profile.

Like other James Patterson novels, Confessions: The Private School Murders features fully-developed characters who have been created with great detail. The Angel family consists of Tandy’s siblings, Matthew, Hugo and her twin-brother, Harry, with whom she shares a special bond. Malcolm and Maud are the deceased heads of the Angel family. These two characters were rich, powerful and intimately connected to the New York elite.