Thursday 25 January 2018

Book Review - Anything You Do Say by Gillian McAllister

Amazon UK
Title: Anything You Do Say
Author: Gillian McAllister
Format reviewed: Paperback
Source: Publisher supplied copy
Publisher: Penguin
Publication Date: 25th January 2018
Rating: 4 Stars


'I could run, or I could stay and call him an ambulance. Now it is decision time . . .'

It's the end of the night. You're walking home on your own.

Then you hear the sound every woman dreads. Footsteps. Behind you. Getting faster.

You're sure it's him - the man from the bar who wouldn't leave you alone.

You make a snap decision. You turn. You push. Your pursuer tumbles down the steps. He lies motionless, face-down on the floor.

Now what?

Call 999

Wait for the police to arrive. For judgement, for justice, whatever that may be. You just hope your husband, family and friends, everyone you love, will stand by you.

OR:

Run

Stay silent. You didn't mean to do it. You were scared, you panicked. And no one saw. No one will ever know. If you leave now. If you keep quiet. For ever.

Which is it to be?


What would you do if you had been harassed in a bar for part of an evening, were nervy and jumpy and then expected to walk back to the station late at night by yourself? Especially if you as you are a walking hear footsteps behind you, and believe you are being followed?  

Well Joanne makes the decision to push him, and then has to make the toughest decision of her life as he lays their unmoving - to call 999 or not?

I honestly don't know what I would do in her shoes, other than potentially have called a cab and not walked back to the station.  But that is the basic premise of the book - told in alternating chapters you have two distinct time lines, two variations on what could have happened, on whether Joanne conceals or reveals the truth. 

As the chapters were titled and clearly alternated without fail it was easy enough to keep the two scenarios separate in my mind, so as not to cause confusion. I was with Joanne with every step of her life over a two year period, with the consequences of her actions. 

I found this to be a surprisingly easy book to get into, and I loved the concept of the story. I was interested in both scenarios, and found I kept returning to the book, to get more and more of it read.  I'm not really sure what I felt other than intrigue as I was reading it, but I did need to know what happened. 

It was interesting to see how the characters developed and changed in both halves of the story, and the stark realities of the impact of Joannes decisions. It is definitely a story that will make you think and one that I could fully appreciate the story and writing style of. 

Thank you to Penguin for this copy which I reviewed honestly and voluntarily.  

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