No Further Questions by Gillian McAllister
Publication Date 4 October 2018
Published by Penguin UK/Michael Joseph
Genre: Mystery & Thrillers
421 pages
My thanks to Michael Joseph at Penguin UK and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this emotional new book from Gillian McAllister in exchange for an honest review. She has never failed me yet.
Book Description:
The compulsive thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Everything but the Truth and Anything You Do Say. You'd trust your sister with your life. But should you?
The police say she's guilty.
She insists she's innocent.
She's your sister.
You loved her.
You trusted her.
But they say she killed the person you care about most.
My Review:
An emotional courtroom drama of a novel, I am seriously impressed with the quality of this author's work once again. It puts family members on opposite sides of the court, with friends and others close to the sisters having to take the stand to give evidence in a heart wrenchingly tragic tale of the suspicious death of 8 week old Layla. Experts are also brought to the stand to provide medical evidence and social background to the case which keeps the pendulum of doubt swinging in regular sweeps between guilt and innocence.
The story is very clearly well researched, although I found the timescale a bit rushed for a real trial to take place - which the author acknowledges in her notes at the end. I have to admit I did work out what had happened on 'the night of' but this did not spoil the book. Although the main scenes of the book are set in the courtroom the emphasis is more on the emotions the sisters and their families go through in coming to terms with the loss of Layla and the conflict they feel as they try to fathom just what happened and whether foul play could be involved. Martha and Becky's parents are well and truly stuck on the fence between them whilst trying to cope with their own sense of loss. There is a constant feeling of a missing jigsaw piece in the story which leads to Martha overthinking things and putting others at the scene, however her husband cannot comprehend anyone other than Becky being responsible for the loss of his daughter. There are feelings of guilt expressed from various characters' perspectives which made me relate to each of them as they ran through a never ending set of 'what ifs'.
This is a sensitively written book which I completely believed in. Gillian McAllister goes from strength to strength with her writing and I will be watching with bated breath for her next work.
The story is very clearly well researched, although I found the timescale a bit rushed for a real trial to take place - which the author acknowledges in her notes at the end. I have to admit I did work out what had happened on 'the night of' but this did not spoil the book. Although the main scenes of the book are set in the courtroom the emphasis is more on the emotions the sisters and their families go through in coming to terms with the loss of Layla and the conflict they feel as they try to fathom just what happened and whether foul play could be involved. Martha and Becky's parents are well and truly stuck on the fence between them whilst trying to cope with their own sense of loss. There is a constant feeling of a missing jigsaw piece in the story which leads to Martha overthinking things and putting others at the scene, however her husband cannot comprehend anyone other than Becky being responsible for the loss of his daughter. There are feelings of guilt expressed from various characters' perspectives which made me relate to each of them as they ran through a never ending set of 'what ifs'.
This is a sensitively written book which I completely believed in. Gillian McAllister goes from strength to strength with her writing and I will be watching with bated breath for her next work.
About the Author:
Gillian McAllister has been writing for as long as she can remember. She graduated with an English degree and lives in Birmingham where she now works as a lawyer. Her debut novel Everything But The Truth was a Sunday Times top ten bestseller. Anything You Do Say followed in January 2018 and was both a kindle and paperback bestseller. No Further Questions will be published in autumn 2018.
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This sounds really good.
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