Izzy's father is finally released from prison, seventeen years after he was convicted of murder.
Izzy wants nothing to do with him. But then her father writes her a letter, begging her to believe he's innocent.
Against her better judgement, Izzy is tempted to believe him. But how can she?
Because the woman they say he killed was Izzy's mother . . .
What did I think?
Gillian McAllister is one of those authors where you know you're guaranteed a great read when you pick up their book and The Evidence Against You, Gillian McAllister's fourth novel, is no exception. Being first published in 2017, I still think of Gillian McAllister as a new author but, with four cracking thrillers under her belt already, she certainly seems to have caught the writing bug, which is excellent news for us readers.
I really loved the character of Izzy; she is filled with so much emotion that all of her feelings spill out of every page. Her family was snatched away from her in an instant when her father was imprisoned for killing her mother. Izzy has taken over the running of her mother's restaurant, Alexandra's, mainly as a way to keep her mother's memory alive as Izzy's love is for ballet not food. So when Izzy's father, Gabe, is released from prison he knows exactly where to find her.
Izzy's feelings for her father are so mixed. Naturally, she is confused, as she was quite a daddy's girl when she was younger (weren't we all), but all of the evidence points to the fact that her father killed her mother, Alex. When Gabe gets the chance to speak to Izzy, you can feel her defences crumbling as he adds the crucial ingredient of doubt; but the other man in her life, her husband Nick, is a police analyst and he keeps reminding Izzy that her father was convicted so he must be guilty. Right?
I experienced a see saw of emotions whilst reading The Evidence Against You as the evidence and facts all point to Gabe's guilt but he continues to profess his innocence, as do all convicted criminals. So who do you believe? I loved the flashbacks to the time around Alex's death, with viewpoints from both Gabe and Izzy. It's really interesting to see both sides of a story and to see how easily you can jump to conclusions from hearing just part of a conversation.
I know without a doubt that Gillian McAllister will be at the top of the charts with everything that she writes but as much as I enjoyed The Evidence Against You, something didn't quite give it the full five star experience for me. I didn't really connect with the characters, although they are expertly fully formed, and the story interested, but didn't fully grip me. I guess it might depend on whether you believe Gabe's version of events or not, as to whether you'll get that jaw dropping moment at the end.
The Evidence Against You reminded me of one of those adventure books you may have read when you were younger, where you can choose your own path in the story. Whether you are on Gabe's side or not will determine your experience of The Evidence Against You; either way you're in for a mighty fine story written by one of the finest young authors around at the moment. Keep an eye on this author; Gillian McAllister is setting out for world domination, so make sure you read all of her books right now!
I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.
Buy it from Amazon
Follow the tour:
No comments:
Post a Comment