Compelling!
A really good, easy to read suspense novel.
This book had me hooked from the moment Rachel opens that email.
It is very cleverly written as you begin to create your own ideas but Gillian keeps us guessing all the way through to the end.
Thoroughly enjoyed!
Recommended!

I really enjoyed this book, I liked the characters and I did not guess any of the twists. It is told through the eyes of Rachel, she has broken up with her long term boyfriend and she meets Jack a lovely Scot, from a well to do family. Rachel finds herself pregnant very early on in the relationship. Jacks family are warm and welcome Rachel, but not everything is as she first thinks it is. One day Jack's brother Davey, a man with his own problems, says something that starts Rachel wondering. Rachel is a doctor,but no longer practicing, why? The story unfolds from here.

This book has been described as a psychological thriller but for me it is more about how a relationship built on well meaning lies can become fractured and twisted. As for Googling the name of a new lover, well we've all done it but this makes us think about what we would do if we find more than we ever expected..

I really enjoyed it!

Everything But The Truth was a curious read for me because I struggled to understand the motivation of its characters as events unfolded. The book starts on a strong note, establishing a sort of millenial mystery based around a sneakily peeped email. Our pregnant protagonist, Rachel, has suspicions about her funny, attentive, attractive and also extremely rich man Jack but struggles with them because frankly she fancies the pants off him. The back and forth nature of this struggle at times becomes tedious, especially when we get a little bit more information about Jack's past.

For me Rachel, a licensed GP, is written in such a naïve way that it's hard to sympathise or support her decisions, which become more erratic and weird as the story unfolds. The conceit is that she is burdened with a great deal, having lost a long term boyfriend and a parent, then gained a baby bump in a very short time. Her new mommy madness drives her to obsession, including stealing her boyfriend's phone, Facebook stalking, consulting the Wayback Machine, accessing the dark web and even amateur email hacking. Sometimes, you kind of feel for poor old Jack, who takes all this and more in stride.

As much as I disagreed with Rachel and her odd choices, I did enjoy the pacing and slow burn reveals of this book. I was invested in the motley crew of characters, the glimpses into their lives and relationships, and the underlying problems that we all can relate to. As a debut novel it shows real promise from a new author, who skillfully pulled me in for a rollercoaster ride of emotions. The moment you're sure you know where things are heading, off you go in another direction and more is revealed. I found the ending to be satisfying, not in a neatly tied bow kind of way, but in a life happens and you just have to move forward and deal with it way. The book isn't perfect, nor are any of the people in it. Their complexities and imperfections though, are what make it compelling.

Interesting premise. To what lengths would a person go to when pushed to the limit. I liked the way the back story unfolded,but found the storyline rather two dimensional and drawn out.

I found this a compelling read. Rachel has a whirlwind relationship with Jack and within a few months she discovers she is pregnant. Although a quick development they are happy as they feel they love one another. Rachel's' previous romance had ended not long before due to trust issues. The first thing to spark Rachel's doubts about Jack start when she spots an email arrive on Jack's iPad and reads it.

What occurs from then is a story of doubt, paranoia, fear and inquisitiveness. Is Jack all he seems? Rachel also has secrets which made me feel that her paranoia stemmed from them. This book is written in fairly short chapters and in a very tense style. I had to read 'yet another chapter' often as I was so intrigued to find out more.

This is Gillian McAllister's first book and I am looking forward to reading more from her..

Very interesting book. A good one for book clubs I would think. Lots of moral decisions.

wow, what an up and down story. a couple both with secrets, you think you have found it all out and then another bit comes out. overall a good read

Intrigue, twists and turns. A good read, 3.5*

There were so many good reviews for this book I worried that it wouldn't live up to them but on the whole it does. The story revolves around Rachel and Jack and their unplanned pregnancy which happens very early in the relationship before the couple really know each other properly. We find out that Rachel was a paediatric registrar and that something happened in her career that caused her to lose her job.
We then learn through Rachel seeing one of his emails that Jack has a backstory far from the one he has told
her. Rachel now takes it upon herself to find out more about what happened in his life before they met.
Rachel keeps alluding to a previous relationship with a man called Ben who seemingly was driven away by her obsessive behaviour about what he was doing and who he was with. This same sort of behaviour drives her on to discover Jack's secret. I had little empathy with Rachel's character though finding her more than a bit hypocritical.
There was enough suspense in the book to keep me reading to see what happens next and I enjoyed the read even though the personalities of neither Jack or Rachel really appealed to me.

I enjoyed reading the book and was interested in the way it would end but it wasn't gripping. It was just another psychological story in my opinion. Some of the key parts of the story, eg; the way the main character leaves her profession and then rejoins it seemed unrealistic and a little unclear. The happy ending happens too easily as if the author has run out of explanations so decided to tidy up the loose ends

This is a very enjoyable read. The characters are well drawn and believable. It is cleverly written and held my interest to the end. It is full of intrigue and lies and I thoroughly recommend it.

A book worthy of its gorgeous cover. A slow burning, twisty story full of suspense and intrigue. A story of love, deceit, lies and suspicion. The characters were great with both loving and dysfunctional families. A wonderful debut and I really look forward to more from Gillian McAllister.

This is a book firmly set in the here and now - with a story line that could not really exist in this form without the social media society we live in.

The story begins when Rachel sees an email - which catapults her onto a trail of doubting her boyfriend and father to her unborn baby. We discover that Rachel used to be a Doctor and accused her last boyfriend of so many things, which could have been paranoia - or was it? We find out that her Mother, now deceased, was found to have been having a secret affair, and this has led Rachel to really never trust anything she knows ever again.

The book does flip flop between the present day and one year ago, each chapter is labelled, so there is no doubt which era you are reading about.

Rachel begins to uncover some things she didn't know about her boyfriend - after all she has only known him for a few months. What follows is a discovery by Rachel of someone she thought she knew, but at the same time she has her own secrets, which she isn't giving up to anyone.

I really liked the narrative to this story. It's written in an easy to read style meaning I began to get more and more intrigued about Rachel's boyfriend, but also her own past. I also learnt a few things about the Scottish law and the internet too.

The characters are well written and even the supporting characters have some depth to them. I cringed at Rachel's boss trying to tell her to retype a letter, when she with her medical background had saved his bacon. He decides she must have been a nurse - how very condescending! The book has many true to life scenarios like this and that made it all the more real and down to earth for me.

Rachel after a while developed a whining voice in my head, and I began to get a little annoyed with her, especially as by now we knew her secret. It did balance out in the end and was an unusual story with a what I thought was a satisfactory ending.

I'm giving this book 4 out of 5 stars. My thanks go to Netgalley for providing me with an advance review copy of the book.

Although the book was well written, it was not for me. I felt it took a long time for anything to really happen and then just meandered.
The reveal wasn't terribly interesting either. Sorry.

Excellent book. Brilliant storyline and characters. I would highly recommend this book.

Rating 4.2
Everything but the Truth by Gillian McAllister was a thought invoking drama involving the pregnant Rachel and the enigmatic Jack. A newly involved, professional couple who find love but not trust.

Their hidden secrets were very well written and researched; incorporating all the fears, frustrations, regrets and soul searching that would come with those experiences. I particularly loved Jack's character and thought that Ms McAllister developed this superbly. The lengths Rachel would go to find the story behind the email are eye-opening, would I do it? I really don't know given the circumstances.

A good paced novel, slowed a bit in the middle but picked up quickly revealing a few, surprising twists. Loved the settings. An author to look out for.

Thank you to NetGalley who provided me with an ARC for an honest review, which I have given.

Everyone has a dark secret

This book has been described by some as a psychological thriller. It’s not. It’s a story about how the relationship between two people is affected by small, almost insignificant, events and how secrets can divide and destroy.

Rachel has split from Ben, her long-term boyfriend, and has taken up with Jack whose baby she now carries. Their lives appear to be idyllic and they enthusiastically make plans for the birth of Wally and their future together. However, things are by no means what they seem and an email to Jack seen by Rachel can not be unseen and leads to doubts as to whether he is all that he purports to be.

Unfortunately, Rachel also has a secret which she is reluctant to share so their relationship starts to look as if it is built on sand. The question the reader begins to ask is whether the secrets can be hidden and, if so, whether they will in any event affect what the future will hold.

The first part of the plot establishes the two love birds as typical of many thousands of others starting out on a partnership and planning to settle down together. Their characters are brilliantly developed and the reader should feel that they know each of them very well. For this very reason when cracks start to appear and statements don’t add up the reader will feel especially disconcerted and disenfranchised. How dare these two people who you feel as a reader you know very well have a past which they haven’t told you about.

It’s at this point in the story that the plot gets interesting. Everything which went before was frankly a little boring but it is exactly this contrast which throws Rachel’s investigation into Jack’s past into stark relief and therefore makes it a story worth staying up late to read.

There is no doubt that most readers will relate easily to both characters. We will all understand the reason for telling white lies except that those same white lies compound over time and become more and more complex until the truth just must explode to the surface in such a damaging way. These are after all normal people with abnormal secrets – just like all of us.

This is the author’s debut novel and I very much look forward to subsequent books. It is first class.

mr zorg

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

I loved this! The first page drew me in and I stayed hooked throughout. The characters, especially Jack, are minutely observed and Rachel is easy to empathise with. On the face of it her decision seems easy to make. Should she, a pregnant woman, risk staying with a man who is at best not being entirely truthful and at worst could be a danger to the lives of her and her baby? But her own recent experience, her trust issues and Jack's personality make everything more complicated. Her obsessive investigation throws up more clues while increasing the tension between Rachel and Jack. Meanwhile the contradictions in Jack's account start to multiply. I felt the ending was logical and believable.

This is an interesting and well written book which I found raised a lot of questions.

Rachel & Jack have only been together for a very short period of time. However, they are already expecting a baby & looking forward to the future. Both of them have secrets. How well do they really know each other? Can they trust each other? Everything starts to crumble when Rachel reads and email, then some post progressing on to intense searching on the internet & dark web. She becomes obsessed with finding out all about Jack's past whilst at the same time hides her own secrets.

I have to say that I didn't particularly like either Rachel or Jack. Jack is a very nervy person constantly looking for reassurance and very precise in his ways to the point of OCD. I imagine he would be a very exhausting person to live with. Rachel is nosy......well there is an understatement. She just has to niggle and pick away that things until she destroys them. She is also a very needy person and needs to know every little thing. She drove her previous boyfriend away by not trusting him and this same thing threatens to destroy her relationship with Jack.

I very much enjoyed this book. I found the story easy to read and I ahd a level of understanding with the main characters even though I found them difficult. However, for me, the real point of the book is in Rachel's search for the truth. How far should we go to discover things about our partner's past? Should we make a request under Clare's Law? Should we stalk through their phones, email and social media? Do we go further and track them down on the dark web? There is so much available to us nowadays but how far should we go? There are plenty of very interesting questions around trust and relationships in this book.