I would like to thank Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage for an advance copy of Confidence, the second novel to feature podcasters Anna MacDonald and Fin Cohen.

Anna and Fin are fascinated by the disappearance of Lisa Lee, a young Scots woman who unsuccessfully vlogs about her urbex experiences. Before she disappeared Lisa had posted a video of her trip to an abandoned French chateau and a mysterious silver casket she found there, a casket that is now up for auction in Paris with a starting price of fifty million euros.

I enjoyed Confidence, maybe not as much as Anna and Fin’s previous outing, Conviction, but it’s still an engrossing, if slightly ambiguous, thriller. It is told from Anna’s point of view with excerpts from her podcast inserted as necessary. I like this as the continuity of Anna’s voice allows the reader to attach themselves to her and her viewpoint and get immersed in the narrative and the podcast excepts are a neat way of expanding the background to events and keeping the reader clued in.

The plot is quite broad in scope and the hunt for Lisa Lee becomes secondary to events surrounding the casket. These events, I wish to make clear, bear no resemblance to reality and are purely for entertainment purposes. And they certainly entertain with outlandish characters, exotic locations and all sorts of shenanigans that I can’t enumerate without spoilers. If the novel has a downside, it’s a bit convoluted and concentration is required to keep up with all the agendas at play. All, however, is forgiven in the final chapter with a final micky take that made me laugh as I closed the book.

I found the novel very easy to read. Anna is not an easy going narrator but she has a natural way of recounting events and making the odd comment on them that draws the reader in. It seems like conversation and I imagine that this will be a very successful audio book, due to her tone and style.

Confidence is a good read that I can recommend.

I was excited to be reading a new Denise Mina - her books are usually a rip roaring thriller but this was strangely soulless. I did like the format - podcasters investigating a missing girl and the use of the podcast transcripts. However there were so many double bluffs and fake items that I lost track of what was happening and to whom. There were mentions of the boy's mother - ooh she is really powerful - maybe I missed it but I did not understand where she fitted in.
All in all a bit flat.

Thanks to Netgalley for the chance to read this book. I am a big fan of Denise Mina and was really looking forward to reading it. Unfortunately it wasn't for me. I felt the storyline fell flat towards the final half of the book and it wasn't that believable. The characters were a little weak and it wasn't for me.

When Lisa Lee, a vulnerable young woman, vanishes from a pretty Scottish seaside town Anna and Fin find themselves at the centre of an internet frenzy to find her. I thought it was well written, with absolutely flawlessly done characters, and absolutely unputdownable. Dark, grisly and utterly compelling. Thriller writing at its finest.

Podcasters, Anna and FIn, attempt to solve the disappearance of a missing young UrbExer, Lisa Lee, who seemingly disappeared into thin air not long after posting a film of an abandoned chateau. Being a fan of true-crime podcasts, I loved the premise.

I did get a little confused by the complicated intertwined family relationships of Fin and Anna’s families at the start of the book. It seems that this is not a standalone book, but a series, so I wasn’t up to speed on that front.

That said, Confidence is a very pacy and a quick read. Anna and Fin’s investigation takes them across Europe and there are lots of twists and turns along the way.

Huge thanks to the publishers, Vintage, and NetGalley for making this ARC available to me for a fair and honest review.

Confidence started very well, but faded very badly. At her best, Denise Mina is brilliant, I think, but this one is quite a long way from her best.

Anna and Fin are podcasters with a reputation for investigating and solving mysteries and problems. The book begins with them and their tangled families of exes, new partners and children of various couples on a misguided holiday in a lighthouse, where they are stuck with each other during a very bad storm. Denise Mina handles this part very well, with the tensions and relationships very convincingly drawn, and Anna’s secret past being brought to light realistically and with quiet shock value.

The trouble is, almost none of it has the slightest relevance to the subsequent splot, in which Fin and Anna become embroiled in a complex story of a missing vlogger and the possibly priceless and religiously vital object she has found and may have stolen. This takes them all over Europe in the company of a deeply dodgy man and his young son; there is threat and murder, a lot of who-can-you-trust?, plus a highly unconvincing Perilous Climax with what felt like a deus ex machina denouement. Frankly it all felt rather contrived and like one of those rather implausible thrillers you might read on holiday and then forget and leave behind.

I was disappointed. The really interesting character and relationship developments weren’t at all relevant and were almost a distraction and the plot didn’t do much for me either. Denise Mina is much better than this, I think. I’ll definitely read her next and hope for a return to form, but I can’t recommend Confidence.

This was a gripping read, fast paced, well written with a compelling sotryline. It was full of twists and unpredictability that kept me guessing until the end. I will definitely look for more from this author.

Mind blowing psychological suspense. This author is superb. Really it was a gripping novel. Looking forward for more from this author.
Thanks to NetGalley and Vintage for giving me an advance copy.

I was expecting big things for this as my huge Mina fan, I love her early work notably the Garenthill and Paddy Meehan books tartan noir, strong women and Glasgow what is not to love? Recently I have been unsure what I think I think of some her newer work I was not really a big fan of Conviction but I loved The Less Dead so I was curious to see what I would make of this. I got ARC copy from Netgalley and Random House of whom I’d like thank here is my unbiased honest review

The idea of the book was attention grabbing two podcasters investigating a missing girl, being a fan of true crime podcasts I thought this would be very interesting with the Mina treatment. Moreover the synopsis hinted that you would feel like you were involved with the investigating, this made me think there might be a touch of “The Appeal” about the book.

From the outset I struggled to get it, the full thing escalated far too quick with no tension, proper backstory and became like a bad DaVici Code/National Treasure very quickly.

The actual missing girl story of which the book is sold on becomes almost forgotten and secondary to the farce that become the book.

There was many things I wanted to know about the main characters Fin and Anna but they were only ever hinted at, never felt developed and seemed out of place. Anna’s backstory was one I thought that would have focused on and explored but I felt it was briefly mentioned, it served no purpose and wasn’t handle with the care and respect it needed. Perhaps if I had stick with the first book in the Anna and Fin series( Convection) I may have felt different but like this book it did not work for me, in fact I didn’t get past the first few chapters.

The book for me was too muddled and far fetched. It swings between Anna telling you the story of what has happened and some podcast episodes. This format could have worked it had not been so all over the place with little character development and had more a focus on the missing girl , the main characters backstory and more structured podcast chapters . I have read other books where this sort of format is used and it works ( Our House and After The Silence are good examples of using this as a means to support the main story) so I feel a writer like Mina should have made this brilliant. I think the story itself does not know what it wants to be and as such it comes across as mixed bag without much backbone. I think it starts quite serious almost dark, with some of the subject matter ,but that never gets explored properly leaving the book feeling flat, it quickly becomes almost comical in its outrageousness and any tension or mystery is lost . There are hints of what could have been a great story but they have no been followed though and lost in this smart price Da Vici Code.

I don’t know if Mina is trying to appeal to new audience by changing things up, a younger new generation maybe . If I had been reading this without knowing who wrote it I would have never guessed it was by her. It actually took a while for me to realise that this was a second outing for the characters, which shows how little impact the first book had for me, it was forgettable.
Am sorry to say I think it has been the case with this novel that change isn’t always a good thing, we all like a change but in the case I think it is a case of if it’s not broke don’t fix it…

One of the things I always liked about Mina’s previous writing was the rawness and realness, I loved her characters with all their flaws and the Glasgow setting always gave that little bit extra something special. I feel in all her works Mina tries to highlight corruption within the higher establishment(police, religion etc)the power men hold and the issue of violence against women, even in her historical fiction Rizzzlo this is case, footnote loved that and it is well worth a read, she does attempt this in this novel which is the one plus point for me.

This book really wasn’t for me and I don’t think it will appeal to fans of Mina’s earlier works,as it very different in style. So don’t be fooled into buying it purely off the trusted name. It is worth a shout if you liked and are looking for something that I suppose could be argued is different from the regular thrillers out there today , but be warned tartan noir is is not.

I did like the final sentence it made me laugh but sort of summed the book for me…A little bit daft and leaves a bitter sweet taste

Unfortunately, not for me. I like to get pulled into a story quickly, in the first few pages to be more exact and this one didn’t do it. I did plod on though but it was often a struggle.
I have enjoyed Denise Mina books in the past, but sadly, this one didn’t tick the right boxes.