Conviction: A Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine Book Club Pick

Product Information

Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. At the beginning of the book, it looks to the reader like Anna is at a low point. All she wants to do is listen to this true crime podcast and then she gets some very bad news. You'd think Anna is at a low point but it turns out she's had it much lower. Right off the bat we know that Anna is not quite who she says she is, and a lot of the journey of the first half of the book is actually two journeys: Anna's dive into the podcast, which details the death of a man she knew years ago; and our gradual discovery of who Anna actually is. Denise Mina was born in East Kilbride in 1966. Her father worked as an engineer. Because of his work, the family moved 21 times in 18 years: from Paris to The Hague, London, Scotland and Bergen; she has also professed an affection for Rutherglen, her mother's home town. [4] Mina left school at 16 and worked in a variety of jobs, including as a kitchen porter, a cook and behind a bar. She also worked for a time in a meat-processing factory. In her twenties she worked in auxiliary nursing for geriatric and terminal care patients, before returning to education and earning a law degree from Glasgow University. [5] Anna is your typical housewife who enjoys listening to podcasts/escaping into a book along with a nice cup of Joe after getting the kids up and ready each day. Unfortunately for Anna, this particular day happens to be the one where . . . . . Another sweltering month in Charlotte, another boatload of mysteries past and present for overworked, overstressed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan.

Conviction is a wholly different type of novel in the suspense genre. My favorite parts of this book are the interactions between the characters (Anna, Fin and another character named Adam) v. the chapters featuring the actual podcasts (which I think are on the slower side). What I find intriguing is how the author, Denise Mina, intertwines the storylines – which at first, seem quite impossible and then, well, are absolutely seamless.

Retailers:

Misusing her grant she stayed at home and wrote a novel, 'Garnethill' when she was supposed to be studying instead. Just before Anna learned Hamish was leaving her, she had begun listening to a new podcast. She learned the podcast was about the death of Leon Parker, a man she had met while she worked at a luxury resort one summer. Trina Keany, the narrator of the podcast set forth the argument that Amila Fabricase, who had been found guilty of the murders of Leon and his two children, could not have killed them because she was on a plane headed home when the three died. Trina argued that Leon had killed himself and his children. Based on what Anna knew about Leon, Anna did not believe that Leon would have committed that sort of murder. Oh dear, my very first read of the year and it’s unfortunately a 2 star read. How disappointing. I don’t have much positive to say about this one. For that reason, I’m not going to go into a long detailed review focusing on everything that I didn��t like, but I obviously I intend to make a few high level comments. I loved his developing character and built-in frailties; it is Fin that is often the agent whether consciously or not that propels the story to great heights. Denise Mina was born in Glasgow in 1966. Because of her father's job as an Engineer, the family followed the north sea oil boom of the seventies around Europe

Mina's novels are engrossing, deeply rooted in reality and astutely perceptive about human nature Daily Express Denise Mina: I think it’s partly the second one, because it was totally unregulated and [podcasters] were doing lots of things journalists cannot do. Journalists used to be real Wild West-y, they would break into your house to get evidence and things like that. Podcasters were naming people that they suspected of the actual crime, a journalist would never do that, because they have big corporations behind them. A suspenseful, professional-grade north country procedural whose heroine, a deft mix of compassion and attitude, would be welcome to return and tie up the gaping loose end Box leaves. The unrelenting cold makes this the perfect beach read. I wanted Anna and Fin to meet up with my Brunetti. That didn't happen-but some Venice locale situations fit right in to his world and tone- regardless. Especially tourist comments by the cafe locals. Killers from Russia and Eastern Europe- assassins by proxy. All aboard! CONVICTION the title. Is this a noun with the meaning of having a "belief" that you perceive as truth? Or is it conviction as in the final state/ act of finding a defendant guilty and so sentenced? You tell me!Complex plotting and absolutely superbly proportioned and perfectly cored set of prime characters. And of those a great number of them are women. Most of them are. And ask yourself this- if you did buy the 1000 Euro perfect little dress- would you buy two of the same one with a distinct pattern? In different sizes?

Absolutely highly recommended. Also before you think I’m cleverer than I am, the Latin came from an episode of the also brilliantly written “The West Wing” and has stayed with me long enough for me to apply it here. The Long Drop is an extraordinarily unsettling, evocative and compelling novel Laura James, AGA Magazine

BookBrowse Review

Why do Scottish writers dominate British crime fiction? With Denise Mina at least, the answer is pure class Daily Telegraph