Conviction

Starred review from April 1, 2019
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.

Starred review from April 1, 2019

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 Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from April 15, 2019
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.

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Starred review from May 1, 2019
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.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)