Mystery/Thriller Reading Friends discussion

Group read discussion for chapters 37-49 (to the end) of Denise Mina's Conviction. Spoilers welcome on this topic.
If the first to post please briefly summarize to guide the discussion.

Sorry, kids, I got caught up in reading A Dangerous Man yesterday and couldn't put it down. No time for summarizing!

Conviction Chapters 37-49

Chapter 37
Anna, asserting that she saw a man looking for them, has to explain again to Fin that she’s a threat to Gretchen Teigler because she can tell her rape story again, and Fin is a threat because he ran over one of her goons and witnessed Anna’s attempted abduction at Skibo. Fin still thinks she’s paranoid. They plan to see Gretchen Teigler. Anna calls Hamish and tells him to take the girls to safety. He doubts her and she tells him she’s Sophie Bukaran.

Chapter 38
Anna and Fin set out for the address where Violetta’s luggage was sent, in a nasty area of Venice. They go to a shabby, dirty, home and find Julia Parker, Violetta’s mother. She’s in poor health. They ask about the luggage and Julia says it’s not Violetta’s: expensive shampoo, clothes too big. All the labels had been removed. She didn’t know Violetta traveled first class on that trip and says she wouldn't have had money to buy the dresses in Saint-Martin. Leon had no money and stopped supporting them. He said Gretchen Teigler would support them but Daupine Loire found out and put a stop to it. Violetta hated her. Violetta has a knack for getting people to give her things. She also sometimes stole from friends.

Chapter 39
Anna finds Venice nervewracking with crowds of tourists. She supposes Dauphine could have been the Dana’s fourth passenger, paying for Violetta, and taking the picture. But how would she get off the boat? Anna messages Adam asking how someone could get off a yacht at sea. Fin finds a post saying Mark had a horror movie poster laminated before going to France. This was reported at the time, even speculated that the film's ghost boy was the poster, but lost in the noise. Anna realizes they’re being followed.

They stop in a restaurant and the tall, blonde, expensive woman they saw in Saint-Martin enters and asks to join them. It’s Dauphine Loire who offers to pay to stop the podcasts. She says there’s a plane waiting to take them to Paris to meet Gretchen Teigler. Adam replies, having watched the diver’s video and found in it the ripcord of a Zodiac, an inflatable raft. Someone used it to get off the Dana. It could have been Dauphine, angry that Leon would get any inheritance she had expected. She could have taken the diamond necklace with her.

Chapter 40
Anna calls Dauphine and says they’ll take the plane. Fin makes a new podcast and Anna speaks at the beginning saying she is the Sophie Bukaran. Hamish calls, having googled Sophie Bukaran. He says their Glasgow house has been broken into. He agrees to move the girls. Fin’s agent calls and tells him he has all kinds of offers including a book deal. He can’t write a book, will Anna? She agrees and that’s the book we’re reading. They go to the airport and see Dauphine and a thug with a concealed knife. It’s the man Anna saw in Saint-Martin.

Chapter 41
Anna and Fin take the train to Paris instead. They still want to talk to Gretchen Teigler but it’s not safe to go through Dauphine. Before boarding they go back to see Julia. They find her dead and the apartment ransacked. On the train they sit in the front carriage to avoid crowds. A lone businessman is in the car.

Chapter 42
Anna and Fin are shaken by Julia’s murder. It’s one thing to risk their own safety but now someone they’ve interviewed is a victim. They order drinks, get drunk, and Anna falls asleep. When she wakes up Fin has been joined by two men, one of them the thug from Saint-Martin.

The thug is Zviad and the other man is Demy. All are very drunk. Zviad refers to Anna as “Ms. Bukaran” and Fin says Zviad's intentions to Anna weren't “honorable.” Fin believes Demy is a witness, protecting them from Zviad, but Anna recognizes both are thugs.

Fin records a story Demy tells about two boys, Demy and Yergey, growing up together and working for the same boss. The boss orders Demy to kill Yergey for stealing. He can’t do it so he tells Yergey to go away and tells the boss he killed him. The boss knows something isn’t right and tells the police to find Yergey. The police tell Yergey the boss killed Demy. Thinking he’s giving evidence against the boss, Yergey tells them everything Demy has done. The police arrest Demy and Yergey is released. Demy is killed in prison. The punchline is that the Demy telling the story isn’t the Demy in the story.

Anna hears the story as about the untrustworthiness of police and the inevitability of death and punishment. Demy begins another story about men in the gulag, the Russian underworld, and thieves’ code. Anna knows he wouldn't mention these things to them unless he’s going to kill all of them. The story is about a generational feud between two sets of prisoners. By the end Demy is openly menacing Zviad, who presumably is on the opposite side. Zviad offers to go get another bottle of vodka. Demy goes to the restroom. Zviad doesn’t come back.

Chapter 43
Anna explains to Fin that Demy is a professional criminal who’s going to kill them. Fin is too drunk to get it. Demy returns. There’s banging from the toilet that becomes louder. Demy goes off. Fin is asleep and Anna pretends to sleep. The train pulls into a station but Anna can’t wake Fin. She hears a head being banged against the toilet wall. Fin slides under the table. Anna yells, “Hurry, Fin” as if they’re debarking and hides under the table. Demy comes out of the restroom and looks out on the platform but he’s still on the train.

Chapter 44
Anna comes out from the table and catches Demy’s eye. He’s on the platform. They change trains. Anna tells Fin about Zviad and Fin insists on calling the police. Neither can communicate with the Italian police but Anna is glad that the call will record their attempt. On Twitter someone has posted a bot-generated picture of Anna’s girls captioned “Call me, DL.”

Chapter 45
In Lyon Anna and Fin go to Sabine’s bakery. She immediately recognizes them and tells them to get out. Amila is ill, misdiagnosed in prison, and now it’s too late for treatment. Fin asks her how she could suddenly afford the bakery and why Amila decided not to appeal. She tells them Gretchen Teigler’s secretary came with a bag of cash. Amila has a brain tumor. She won’t live long enough to go to court. Sabine took the money because Amila wanted her to have the bakery. She sends a photo of the bread to Amila every day. Anna and Fin are profoundly saddened by Sabine's story. Anna is now determined to go to Paris to confront Gretchen Teigler. Fin reminds her that Demy is in Paris and Anna says she’s expecting him. She texts Dauphine that she’ll talk only to Gretchen.

Chapter 46
Anna and Fin get drunk on the way to Paris and end up in a suite in an expensive hotel. The podcast of Demy’s story goes stratospheric. Zviad’s body was found and there’s surveillance video showing Demy. He was arrested. His real name is Yergey. Anna thinks it’s too dangerous for Fin to come with her to see Gretchen but he insists. Anna talks to Hamish and he’s moved the girls. She tells Estelle if anything happens she wants the girls to remember them as friends. Fin and Estelle say their goodbyes.

Chapter 47
At Gretchen Teigler’s villa the lock snaps shut as soon as Fin and Anna enter the gate. A maid answers the door. She bolts it behind them and points to Fin’s phone saying, “non.” Fin takes the microphone off it. Dauphine greets them and Anna notices her accent is Californian now, not Venetian. Dauphine leads them to Gretchen.

Chapter 48
Gretchen and Dauphine are dressed similarly and Dauphine’s body language mirrors Gretchen’s. Gretchen’s accent is Californian. Anna wonders how Gretchen dares look at her, having done such awful things to her. Gretchen looks back “as if I were the offender. . .” Dauphine asks if Anna used to call herself Sophie Bukaran. Anna says people change their names, “don’t they, Dauphine?”

Gretchen brings out the man who attacked Sophie/Anna in her kitchen, his face scarred by skin grafts. Anna is through being scared and doesn’t react. That annoys him and he turns to Fin who gives him a long handshake. Anna realizes Fin is doing this to get a good look at the man’s face. Anna taunts Scarface by asking if he killed the other girl. She asks Gretchen if she’s going to sell the stadium.

Fin details the Dane evidence: a fourth person was aboard that night; the Zodiac zip cord; someone paid for Violetta’s flight, hotel, and two dresses; someone cast the Dana off, drugged the family, and left on the Zodiac taking the diamond necklace.

Anna asks if Gretchen knew Leon was broke when she married him. Did she withdraw Julia’s support in anger when she found out? Gretchen doesn’t know about stopping the support and Dauphine explains lawyers are sorting it out now. Anna says Dauphine is lying; it’s been two years since Julia got money. Gretchen says Julia is happy and Anna says she’s not happy, she’s dead. Gretchen is genuinely shocked. Anna asks Violetta, “Do you feel bad about that?. . .You killed Julia, didn’t you, Violetta?” Gretchen shrinks from Violetta who gestures Scarface to Anna. Gretchen stops him. Violetta says all she wanted was to protect Gretchen. Anna says Violetta needed to get the luggage because the real Dauphine’s DNA would prove she was in Saint-Martins.

Anna sees Gretchen feels victimized by Anna telling a truth she doesn’t want to hear. It was the same in the rape case. Anna asks Gretchen if her will leaves everything to Dauphine. “She’s going to kill you, you stupid self-indulgent bitch.” Scarface comes for Anna and hits her with his gun. She hears Fin yelling, “NOW! NOW! NOW!”

Chapter 49
Anna wakes in the hotel suite. Fin live-streamed the meeting with Gretchen Teigler. The police were watching and waiting outside. Scarface was wanted in many places. Gretchen and Violetta were arrested for conspiracy to murder Anna and Fin. Italian police want to talk to Violetta about Julia’s murder. The press is investigating the stadium sale. The Dana investigation is being reopened.

Hamish, Estelle, and the girls are there. Anna and Hamish talk about her mother and she says part of the reason she ran away was she couldn’t deal with her death. Hamish says, “and the attempt on your life and the court case.” Hamish cries because of how Anna was treated in court.

“Everyone that mattered was in that hotel suite and we knew it and were grateful for each other.” Eventually Anna realizes her situation: she’s not dead, in a hotel suite she can’t afford, penniless. She’s going to have to write a book.

Excellent summaries Jan O'Cat!
I loved this segment. The visit to Julia Parker was terribly sad. The ghost on the Dana revelation was interesting in two ways. Once again amateurs pointing out evidence, and I thought it was said earlier on (in an generally ignored news story) that the ghost could have been a poster. How easily the facts can get lost in social media.

The train sequence was so well done. Imagine waking up to find an even drunker Fin chatting companionably across the table with two murderous hit men. Anna thinks fast on her feet!

I liked Fin's loyalty insisting on going with Anna to see Gretchen Teigler. Sure, he was after the podcast but he was brave to go.

Anorexia and other food related disorders aren't funny but I found humor in Anna's conversation with Estelle (chapter 46) asking, "where's Fin" and Anna answering that he was in the bathroom pretending to wash his hands but probably throwing up his breakfast. That small exchange spoke volumes. Anna doesn't miss much. We are reminded that she and Estelle have been friends and Estelle is Fin's wife and the ease of the conversation is kind of sweet. The fragility of Fin's health is subtly shown - good writing.

I wonder when Anna first realized what happened to Dauphine. I did see the clues while Anna and Fin were in Venice, but didn't pull it all together until the scene in Gretchen's home.
It was a bit of karma that Gretchen was on the way to being treated by Dauphine / Violetta similarly to how her grandmother had been taken advantage of.

Finished this book. I thought it was an excellent and well done thriller. My personal reading preference is a bit more character driven and I didn't get this from the novel, but for the genre it is, it hit all the right notes.

Bonnie: I enjoyed it too! It was an entertaining thriller. ;)

Ann wrote: "I wonder when Anna first realized what happened to Dauphine. I did see the clues while Anna and Fin were in Venice, but didn't pull it all together until the scene in Gretchen's home."

I’m with you, Ann! Mina was very fair with readers—there were hints and I knew something was going on, but I still didn’t get it until about 2 seconds before the reveal. I thought it was very well done.

Ann wrote: "Bonnie: I enjoyed it too! It was an entertaining thriller. ;)"

It also got me interested in podcast, which I have resisted and have now found a few true crime ones to try.

Ann, I hope you continue to feel better. Back problems can be so debilitating.

Barbara: it's Jan (O'Malleycat) with the back strain, and I echo your wish for her to feel better very soon!
Back pain can be horrible.

Barbara wrote: "Ann, I hope you continue to feel better. Back problems can be so debilitating."

Bonnie: That's great! I am addicted to several podcasts!
Bonnie wrote: "It also got me interested in podcast, which I have resisted and have now found a few true crime ones to try."

Barbara wrote: "JAnn, I hope you continue to feel better. Back problems can be so debilitating."

Thanks for the well-wishes, Barbara, under any name!

P.S. I stuck in a J so it almost looks good. :-)