Conviction

Never heard of or read Scottish author Denise Mina, although she has published over a dozen books.  Her first book, Garnethill (1998), won a John Creasey Dagger Award for best first crime novel. The narrator is Anna McDonald, married with two daughters she adores and a husband with whom she is no longer so in love. Her morning starts as they often do--some early quiet time indulgently listening to a true crime podcast before getting the kids ready for school. But things take a shocking turn on two levels. The podcast involves the death of someone she befriended years ago, and then her best friend, Estelle, shows up--not to join her in attending yoga class, but to leave town with Anna's husband and children.  Anna is furious, distraught, and completely alone. When Estelle's anorexic and mildly famous husband, Fin, shows up on Anna's doorstep, the moment is captured by a nosy neighbor and posted to social media. The new identity Anna--born Sophie Bukaran-- has so carefully crafted is now visible to old enemies who once tried to kill her. There are repeated hints about a dark past secret and it isn't until fairly late in the book that we find out Anna was a victim, not a perpetrator. 

Anna doesn't know where to turn but decides to try and solve the death of the man she knew and, at the same time, to elude enemies who will be sure to find her. So ensues a crazy road trip across Scotland and then to the continent chasing down clues and trying to outrun killers. 

The Washington Post's Maureen Corrigan notes that this novel is very different from Mina's earlier work and gushes that it is both a compelling and "spectacular" read. Kirkus claims this book "... has it all: sexual predation, financial skulduggery, reluctant heroism, even the power of social media." There's also an interview by the NYT with Denise Mina that will give some interesting insights into the author. The Guardian offers an in-depth review and offers this summary, "Although there is a rollercoaster, cross-continental murder mystery at its backbone, the muscle and sinew of Conviction are satisfyingly substantial themes about the sustainability of self-invention, and how possible or desirable it is to tell the truth about oneself in the social media age, as well as a subplot that reflects the core concerns of the #MeToo movement."