BOOK REVIEW: Conviction by Denise Mina

Publication Date: June 18, 2019 Format: Paperback Genre:  Noir Crime

Publisher: Little Brown & Co                   Length: 385 pages Buy: Paperback | Kindle

Synopsis

The day Anna McDonald's quiet, respectable life exploded started off like all the days before: Packing up the kids for school, making breakfast, listening to yet another true crime podcast. Then her husband comes downstairs with an announcement, and Anna is suddenly, shockingly alone.

Reeling, desperate for distraction, Anna returns to the podcast. Other people's problems are much better than one's own -- a sunken yacht, a murdered family, a hint of international conspiracy. But this case actually is Anna's problem. She knows one of the victims from an earlier life, a life she's taken great pains to leave behind. And she is convinced that she knows what really happened.

Then an unexpected visitor arrives on her front stoop, a meddling neighbor intervenes, and life as Anna knows it is well and truly over. The devils of her past are awakened -- and they're in hot pursuit. Convinced she has no other options, Anna goes on the run, and in pursuit of the truth, with a washed-up musician at her side and the podcast as her guide.

Review: 

What a wild ride.  As Anna's life starts falling apart, her partner deciding he is leaving her for another woman, and that woman being her best friend and then taking off on holiday with her kids leaves Anna clinging anything that will keep her mind off suicide.  

Immersing herself in a true-crime podcast Anna quickly discovers that not only is she intrigued by the mystery but that she knows the players.  One is a sworn enemy and the other she considered a friend.  As she struggles to figure out her next moves her best friends partner (a famous musician with an eating disorder) shows up at the door hoping to find a friend in their mutual misery.  

Soon they find themselves part of the mystery and creating their own podcast surrounding the true crime, but as the mystery unfolds so does Anna's past and things start to get deadly.  On a race through the UK, Italy and France unfolds so does the mystery of what happened one night upon a boat called the Dana when a father and his 2 children died as the boat sank.  Some thought it was suicide others murder but Anna holds a key that could unlock evidence and shed light on what really happened.  

This book is mystery but with a lot of humor thrown in.  I couldn't put it down, I felt just as obsessed as Anna with her true-crime podcast.  I wanted to unravel the mystery.  I wasn't sure what to think of Anna in the beginning but the more that is revealed the more I started to really appreciate her and like her. The play between her and Fin (the musician) is hilarious at times.  By the end I was Anna's biggest fan and was chuckling to myself at the ending of the book.  Definitely a fine ride I will be looking for more from this author! 

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