If you saw my What's At The Top Of My 2020 Reading List blog post, you might remember me mentioning this particular book by Denise Mina. And after devouring it in just a few days, I simply had to share my thoughts on it with you.
If you already follow me on Instagram (I'm @ellistuesday on there, if you don't). You will have seen that for 2020 and hopefully beyond, I will be sharing a review of each and every book that I read and using the #everybookireadthisyear hashtag. But I also want to go into a bit more depth with some of my reviews. And that's where blog posts like this one or future 'what I read in the first quarter of 2020', etc. blog posts will come into play.
Plus, I couldn't resist joining the Conviction blog tour after the publishers got in touch with me. They also asked if I'd like to do a giveaway so that one of my followers could also read the book. Unlike previous giveaways on here, all you need to do is like my Conviction post on Instagram.
But until then, here is what I thought of Conviction by Denise Mina;
Synopsis:
It’s just a normal morning when Anna's husband announces that he's leaving her for her best friend. And taking their two daughters with him.
With her safe, comfortable world shattered, Anna distracts herself with someone else's story: a true-crime podcast. That is until she recognises the name of one of the victims and becomes convinced that only she knows what really happened.
With nothing left to lose, she throws herself into investigating the case. But little does she know, Anna's past and present lives are about to collide, sending everything she has worked so hard to achieve into freefall.
Review:
Conviction is one of those books that you simply can't put down. And I flew through it, eagerly anticipating the next time that I could sit down and be taken on Anna and Fin's journey. And what a journey it is! We go from my hometown of Glasgow, to a castle in the Scottish highlands, to Saint Martin in France, London and Venice. We also have several different story lines going on at once.
As someone who can't get enough of true crime documentaries, having a true crime podcast be what propels the story in this works brilliantly for me. Hearing the podcast episodes play out and then following along as Anna and Fin, in an almost buddy cop-style way, investigate and get tangled up in what has happened, was incredibly engaging. And it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole way through.
However, if I had one gripe with Conviction it would be surrounding the character of Gretchen Tiegler. Throughout she is hyped up as the main villain. But when we do finally come face to face Gretchen, which only takes place over the course of a few pages, it's all rather anticlimactic. The ending also feels a bit rushed as well, after how much has led up to it.
Overall though, this was such a fun and captivating read and I can't wait to read more from Denise Mina.
Rating:
★★★★
Conviction is out now on paperback. And it is available from the likes of Amazon, WH Smith and Waterstones here in the UK.
Does Conviction sound like something you would like to read? And would you like to see more individual book reviews like this on the blog?
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