(83)Conviction by Denise Mina `

It was just a normal, ordinary day when Anna McDonald's world was shattered.  She was getting her daughters ready for the day when her husband told her that their marriage was over, there was another woman.  And he was going to take the girls on a holiday starting that day.  Anna is so devastated. Her daughters are her life, but her past will prevent her from going after them.   In order to distract herself, she listens to a new true-crime podcast.  It shocks her to discover that she knows one of the accused, Leon Parker.  She knew him from the days when she worked in hospitality and she knows that he did not kill his children and blow up his yacht.  Episode by episode she becomes so engrossed it helps her to forget the crushing pain of possibly losing her children.  And then she gets to an episode where her past overlaps with Leon Parker's story and she knows for a fact that he did not do what he is accused of doing.  And she is going to prove it.  With the help of Finn, the husband of her husband's mistress, they set off to prove that Leon Parker did not kill his children and blow up his boat. Even though doing so will put herself on the radar of one very scary woman, Leon Parker's widow.  Will solving this mystery finally give Anna back the life she left behind more than ten years ago?  Or will she end up dead just like Leon Parker?

Conviction was the first book that I have read by Denise Mina and I was thrilled to discover that it takes place in Scotland, as we were there this past summer. Inverness and Loch Lomond are both places we visited.  Anna McDonald is a kind of "anti-hero."  I felt bad for her because her marriage was falling apart, but she was very much an angry, unhappy person.  She made the reader uncomfortable with her suicidal ideation and careless behavior.  I was really surprised though by Fin, the author really created a character that defied the average tropes.  Yes, he was a scorned husband.  But he was also a washed-up musician with an eating disorder, that isn't the kind of character you find in many books.  There are really two mysteries for the reader to figure out - who killed Leon Parker and what is Anna's backstory.  Both are revealed if you stick with it.  CLICK HERE FOR SPOILERS For all of their faults, by the end of the book you were rooting for them and hoping for happy endings. 

Bottom Line -  I thoroughly enjoyed Conviction.  I don't know what I was expecting,  but it wasn't and intelligently written mystery with such diverse and deep characters. I will definitely be adding more Denise Mina to my reading list. 

Details: 

• Conviction by Denise Mina
• On Facebook
• Pages:384
• Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company
• Publication Date: 6/18/2019
• Buy it Here!