Book Review For "Confidence"

It was not my favorite book.

I wasn't planning to read Confidence by Denise Mina, but fell into the mystery. Conviction is the first book in the Anna and Fin series and Confidence is the second book of the two-part series. I didn't love Conviction but at the end of the book Amazon had Confidence on sale and I couldn't pass up a sale.

The book opens with Anna and Fin on vacation with their newly blended family ( Anna's ex-husband, 2 daughters, Fin's ex-wife, her baby, and Fin's new girlfriend). With the trip as awkward and uncomfortable as it sounds Anna's attention is caught by the disappearance of Lisa Lee, intrigued Anna and Fin leave their families and the vacation to investigate the disappearance.

When I started I was excited because Anna and Fin were more likable as characters and the story wasn't dragging as much as the first book, but about 40% through the book that had changed. The story started to slow down and the mystery they were solving became more and more murky and confusing.

When Anna and Fin start their adventure they head back to Ana's house to look for messages sent from the missing women but they are met by a stranger Bram waiting for them who has taken great interest in the Lisa Lee case. This is where the book loses me because the mystery flips from Lisa's disappearance to finding a missing casket with a dark history where Lisa was last seen. Bram a con artist is wrapped up in the mystery and has teamed up with Anna and Fin for his own selfish reasons.

The story mainly centers around Anna and Fin chasing Bram around looking for the casket with their suspicions that he is in on it or hiding something. Anna and Finn are still recording for their podcast and working with Trina Kelly.

Trina doesn't play a large role in this story and the mystery is confusing. This leaves the reader wondering what the characters are trying to figure out and with the multiple suspects introduced it is difficult to keep them all straight and what is going on.

Overall I was disappointed by Confidence maybe even more than I was with Conviction. Going into part two I know I didn't love the characters from the first book but I did like the mystery part of the series. Reading Confidence I liked the characters more but did not love the mystery storyline and found it confusing.