The Evidence Against You by Gillian McAllister [review]

The Evidence Against You
Title: The Evidence Against You
Author: Gillian McAllister
Publisher: Penguin Books

[Synopsis]

It’s the day her father will be released from jail. Izzy English has every reason to feel conflicted – he’s the man who gave her a childhood filled with happy memories. But he has also just served seventeen years for the murder of her mother.

Now, Izzy’s father sends her a letter. He wants to talk, to defend himself against each piece of evidence from his trial. But should she give him the benefit of the doubt? Or is her father guilty as charged, and luring her into a trap?

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[My Review]

This has immediately risen to my top three books of 2019 so far. It’s a beautifully crafted novel which completely surprised me: I was expecting a fairly typical mystery/ crime thriller (which had me excited to start reading, as that’s my favourite genre!) but The Evidence Against You is so much more than that. It’s sharp, mysterious and utterly heartbreaking. I finished it feeling bereft that it was over and confused as to how I felt about the ending… before realising that the way the book finished was just so right.

The characters are completely convincing, well-rounded and never over-simplified. Each character had their own faults, but they felt like real people and this only made me want to read about them even more. There were parts which had me desperately trying to work out what really happened, parts where I was convinced of one outcome before swinging back to the opposite theory, and parts where I actually cried! Without giving too much away, it addresses various themes, some of which I really didn’t expect, and kept me guessing right until the end. A fantastic novel which I’m not surprised I loved, when I reflect that I’ve given 5 shining stars to her other novels – this certainly lives up to those and more.

[Rating: 5/5]

Many thanks to Penguin UK for providing a copy of this book on which I chose to write an honest and unbiased review.

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