Confidence

By: Denise Mina

Narrated by: Rona Morison, Jonathan Keeble

Length: 7 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

In this "edge-of-your-seat" thriller and sequel to the Reese Witherspoon x Hello Sunshine book club pick Conviction (The Los Angeles Times), Anna and Fin find themselves on another breathtaking chase across Europe—and another race to save their own lives.

Deception. Theft. Murder. All you need is confidence.

Anna McDonald has made a terrible mistake. She has forced her blended family to vacation together. The weather is bad, her daughters are bored, and her ex-husband still insufferable. Oh, and Fin Cohen brought his latest girlfriend, too. So when news of a shocking kidnapping breaks, Anna and Fin do the responsible thing. They take off to solve the case.

Lisa Lee, a young YouTube star, has vanished after answering the door to what she thought was a pizza delivery. Police suspect her dad or the delivery guy, but in Lisa’s last known video she ventured into an abandoned chateau in France, where she uncovered a priceless artifact. Anna knows they must find this young woman before it’s too late. To do so, they need to track down that treasure, a casket that could hold answers to the greatest questions ever asked. But Anna and Fin might have misunderstood the stakes of the game. Soon, they find themselves mixed up with some very dark characters, on another thrilling chase across Europe—and another race to save their own lives.

©2022 Denise Mina (P)2022 Mulholland Books

Compelling but confusing

I really enjoy Denise Mina’s books. Her characters and writing are extremely compelling. But like Conviction, the previous book in this series, the plot is hard to keep track of. By the end, I only had a very general idea of how all the threads interconnected. I think this makes any twists and denouements less impactful, because I can’t really tell what’s going on!

I listed to Conviction again before listening to Confidence, and a lot of reviewers had the same experience as me. There were too many characters, too many stray plot threads and not enough to tie it all together. I do wonder if the book might not lend itself to audio? The narrator is wonderful, though.

Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be buying the next book in this series, if there is one, because I’m just so lost by the end I can barely manage to finish it.

Flat expressionless narrator ruins book

The first Anna & Finn book was read by Cathleen McCarron, who is one of the best narrators working today - she could probably make the phone book sound interesting (if there were phone books any more). Rona Morison, the narrator for 95% of this second entry in the series is unable to do distinct voices for different characters, including different accents - everyone sounded exactly like the narrator's voice. Which made it nearly impossible during dialogues to know who was saying what. Her rushed flat reading removed any semblance of feeling or meaning from the text - no pauses for dramatic effect, no change of tone for humor or sarcasm or irritation or anger. Just toneless throughout. I can't understand how she ever got the job. If you love Denise Mina (I do), do yourself a favor and read a hard copy of this one.

As for the actual story, I found it less engaging than Conviction - I'm not into all the social media stuff so wasn't particularly interested.

Could be a good book but gets lost in a podcast

Historically a fan of Mina, and this has the fun of Anna and Finn characters again, but it’s disappointing. Random podcast chapters that have annoying sound effects, take the plot of track and introduce characters with not depth. Creative historical references get lost in too much talk of logistics

Superb Sequel

I absolutely adored the first book with Anna & Finn and this had exactly the same fun energy. Highly recommended! I binged this audiobook and finished it in less than 24hrs!

Perfection, Stunning, Shocking, Very Well Written

I cannot say enough about how fantastically brilliant this book is.
Expertly written.
Detailed and full of absolutely fascinating and filled with characters that are so alive, so well developed that it’s actually mind blowing.
Denise Mina is a genius, the fact that any one person could write such an intriguing, creative, complex story is like a giant breath of fresh air.
I could not put this book down.
It was even better than “Conviction” and I didn’t know anything could be more entertaining than that book.
I am truly humbled by the pure imagination and complexity of this novel.
This woman is a phenom.
And I cannot wait to see what she does next.
The narration is also exceptional,
Buy this book now.
You will not regret it, I assure you…

Definitely not her best

I have read all of Denise Mina's previous books and liked them all; some were excellent. This is a huge dissapointment--overwrought story line that tries to bring in too many ideas and trends--podcasts, stolen antiquities, the Balkan wars, parenthood, anorexia, and on and on. I was glad when it was over.

Unsure

This book was half great and half boring & confusing. Lots of names of old white dudes that were hard to keep track of. Weirdly I think this novel would have made a better screenplay. The flashback stories: yes. The history of whatever the f they were talking about in between all the action: no. I think I liked this book and it was a fast read but also and easy book to stop reading once that third act kicked in. Basically I had no idea what was happening for the last 4 hours. I don’t regret reading it though and the first half was fun and I was excited to see where it was going. Sadly it went into a labyrinth of confusion and ended in a way that might have felt satisfying had it actually been… well, good? I don’t know. Great writing otherwise. Not corny and I loved the main character even tho I’m not exactly sure why. Anyway long story short maybe read this? Just don’t say that I sent you.

Not her best….

Narration made this hard to understand & as a result, hard to follow the plot lines. It would help if narrator annunciated more clearly .

Don’t recommend

This look I found Laureen drag on. I skipped the head many times. I just couldn’t wait for it to be over. I don’t understand what the high ratings before the waste of a credit in my opinion.

Not up to her usual standard

I usually enjoy Mina’s books. This had too many disparate elements that did not hang together. Too much time spent on interminable travel descriptions that did not move the story along. Too many implausible characters.