Conviction /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A true crime podcast sets a trophy wife's present life on a collision course with her secret past in this "blazingly intense" Reese Witherspoon book club pick and New York Times Best Crime Novel of the Year (A. J. Finn).
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.
Conviction is "daredevil storytelling at its finest" (NPR's Fresh Air ), a breathtaking thriller from one of the most "superbly talented" writers of our time (Hank Phillippi Ryan, bestselling author of Trust Me ).

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

Anna McDonald is comfortably married to a wealthy Scottish lawyer and dotes on her two young daughters. A true-crime podcast about a yacht exploding, killing someone she'd known years earlier, frightens her. Then her husband suddenly announces he's leaving her for her best friend and Anna's photo goes viral, exposing a notorious past from a rape trial. As her world explodes, she's thrown together with her friend's husband, Fin, an ex-rock star, fending off murderous attackers while attempting to solve the mysterious yacht killings. A rich and powerful woman with a Nazi past seems to be controlling everything, as Anna and Fin scramble across Europe searching for answers. The text of the podcast is interspersed throughout the narrative while simultaneously Anna's hidden past is gradually revealed. Mina ("Alex Morrow" series) is a skilled author of novels, plays, films, TV scripts, and graphic novels. In this stand-alone, traditional mystery elements are infused with social media and technology that emphasizes the interconnectedness of our contemporary scene. VERDICT With a gutsy, endearing heroine and a wondrously surprising ending, this is highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 12/3/18.]-Roland Person, formerly with Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Anna McDonald, the heroine of this spellbinding thriller from Edgar finalist Mina (The Long Drop), fled her personal problems in London and started over in Glasgow nine years earlier. She's now engrossed in true-crime podcasts such as Death and the Dana, about a murdered family, a sunken yacht named the Dana, and a wrongful conviction. After Anna's partner, Hamish, runs away with her best friend, Estelle, she and Estelle's despondent husband, anorexic former rock star Fin Cohen, embark on a road trip, bingeing Death and the Dana while investigating its claims. Anna soon discovers that she has multiple ties to the tale. When a picture of her and Fin goes viral on social media, dangerous figures from Anna's past get on their trail. The mysteries of Anna's tragic history and the Dana's true fate unfold in tandem, with podcast transcripts peppering the colorful narrative. Anna and Fin alternately bolster and antagonize one another, balancing introspections on modern life and human nature with laugh-out-loud humor. Mina delivers a metafictional marvel that both endorses and exemplifies the power of storytelling. Agent: Henry Dunow, Dunow, Carlson & Lerner Literary. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

Raised in a storytelling family, Anna McLean finds refuge in stories' patterns and hidden meanings. And, not for nothing, her storytelling skills certainly came in handy 15 years ago, when she was forced to mask herself with a new identity. When she seeks familiar comforts in her latest true-crime podcast, however, she's confronted with a devastating reminder of her past. Leon Parker, the podcast's prime suspect, is an old friend. Then, as if on cue, Anna's new life implodes: her husband, Hamish, suddenly announces that he's leaving her for her best friend, Estelle, and Anna is expected to find another home while Hamish and Estelle take Anna's daughters traveling. Grief-stricken, Anna escapes into Leon's story. When Estelle's has-been rock-star husband, Fin, arrives to commiserate, Anna sweeps him up in her determined quest to shake her grief: they will prove Leon's innocence together. But their mission abruptly shifts into desperate flight after a fan posts a picture of Anna and Fin online, placing Anna back in the crosshairs of a vengeful heiress' assassins. Mina's grim gangster time hop, The Long Drop (2017) seemed unbeatable, but Mina pivoting dramatically here delivers another winner with this suspenseful, humorous, and surprisingly hopeful ode to storytelling. Mina's longtime fans will happily recognize traces of Paddy Meehan's snarky survivors' nature as Anna chain-smokes her way toward a satisfying showdown.--Christine Tran Copyright 2019 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A compelling, complex thriller as modern as tomorrow.Mina (The Long Drop, 2017, etc.) leaves historical Glasgow and sets this crackling tale in the very moment. Sophie Bukaran is living as Anna McDonald; she's hidden herself in Glasgow, in marriage to a lawyer, in being mother to two girls. Then one November morning, between episodes of a true-crime podcast called Death and the Dana, her life "explode[s]." Her best friend, Estelle, is at the door, and Anna's husband reveals that he and Estelle are lovers and they're leaving with the girls. Anna considers suicide, but the podcast distracts her. Leon Parker and his family have died aboard the Dana, and the ship's cook has been convicted. The podcast asserts that the cook could not be guilty and the deaths were the result of a murder-suicide committed by Parker. But Anna knew Leon Parker and feels he could not be the culprit, so she decides to try to learn more about his fate. When Estelle's anorexic and feckless husband, Fin, a minor rock-and-roll celebrity, appears at her door, he is caught up in her decision, and they eventually create a companion podcast that details their explorations. But in the process Anna and Fin are photographed and the pictures posted online, so Anna's quest becomes entwined with threats to Sophie Bukaran's life. Years earlier Sophie was raped by members of a beloved football team, and her accusations threatened the team's reputation and value. When the only corroborator of her testimony was silenced, Sophie was discredited in the usual manner: Her morals were questionable, she was possibly drunk, she was seeking money. Dismissed and subjected to public vilification, Sophie disappeared. But a new witness has come forward and could confirm Sophie's accusations, and her reappearance again threatens a financial empire. As Fin's podcast becomes wildly popular and he and Anna begin to unravel the mystery of Leon Parker's death, the assassins seeking Sophie close in.This one has it all: sexual predation, financial skulduggery, reluctant heroism, even the power of social media. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Denise Mina was born in Glasgow in 1966. She initially left school at the age of 16 and worked a variety of low skilled jobs like bar maid and kitchen porter. She later returned to school and earned a law degree from Glasgow University. She has since become a crime writer and playwright. She has authored the Garnethill trilogy and three novels featuring the character Patricia Meehan, a Glasgow journalist. She has also done some comic book writing with 13 issues of Hellblazer. She won the John Creasy Dagger for Best First Crime Novel for her book, Garnethill, in 1998. She also won the Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award with her title,The End of Wasp Season, in 2012.

(Bowker Author Biography)