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Dawn MacPherson O'Toole's review Jan 24, 2017 · edit
it was amazing
Read from January 22 to 24, 2017

Thank you to netgalley, the publishers and author for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel and Jack are having a baby after a very short relationship when things just aren't as they seem. Rachel is struggling with grief after the death of her mother, her job has not panned out how she expected it to and things with jack take a dark turn.

How far would you go to uncover the truth?

I throughly enjoyed this book and it was full of twists and turns. I really look forward to more by Gillian

A Fantastic book. I loved the story and how the characters evolved. The conflict between the heart and the mind is a very real one and was portrayed beautifully in the book. A definite must read!

An enjoyable read, and an interesting dilemma.
Rachel, in love with Jack, and having his baby. But she realises he's not who he says he is. On the other hand, she has history of not trusting people, and neither is she open about her past.
I liked the main character, and the relationship she had with Jack seemed real and warm. The peripheral characters were interesting too.
Might make a good film....

Everything but the Truth is a fabulous psychological thriller that I devoured over the weekend. The main character Rachel has had some life-changing events happen which have caused her to re-evaluate her life and after splitting with her long term boyfriend she meets Jack and quickly becomes pregnant with his child. One night she sees a private email to Jack and thus begins her downward spiral into doubt and suspicion, and becomes determined to uncover everything about him whatever the cost. The reader is made aware early on that Rachel has secrets of her own and this makes this book all the more compelling and emotional as we uncover the truth throughout the book . A wonderful debut to keep you on the edge of your seat. Gillian McAllister is a talented author who captures the reader and takes them on a tense journey.

An original and intriguing debut from Gillian McAllister. The story is dark, gripping and explores the characters deepest secrets and relationships. When do you trust someone? When you first meet them? After a year? Never? Everyone has secrets and while not all are earth shattering with extreme consequences, the question is do you tell all to your nearest and dearest or is the truth sometimes best kept hidden? Nothing it seems is black and white and this book does well to explore the effects of silence and honesty.

This is the first novel by this author and tells the story of Rachael and Jack who are just starting their new life together and preparing for the birth of their baby. This book reminded me of other books I have read and I would encourage all readers to read this book as I kept second guessing.

This book slowly wove its way into my mind from what I admit was a bit of a slow burn to begin with. You couldn't have prised it out of my hands by halfway through!

I don't even know why I found it hard to lose myself at the beginning, though; I am happy to accept it may be because there was no murdered body to be seen! Anyway, for whatever reason that barrier was up and so I was a bit annoyed by what I perceived as Rachel's incessant nagging and questioning of Jack, and found her doubts just a little bit over the top. Whilst I did mostly brush this aside further in, I will admit to it rearing its head a couple of times throughout, and I did ultimately think that Rachel was prone to being a bit intense. I could understand why though and I did accept it as just her character, but even so I did sometimes wish or will her to relax a little bit. It is fair to say though that her nagging doubts did filter through to me, and because I found the whole Jack mystery very intriguing, it in turn kept me hooked right until the last page.

I thought the way that Rachel's own secret played alongside Jack's quite a clever tool, raising as it did the question of how much we ever truly share with other people. Plus of course the obvious similarities between the two entirely different scenarios surrounding the question of culpability; they both definitely made me examine my own thoughts and morals on each of the secret events.

The gradual feeding through of details and switching of timeframes meant that I wanted to keep reading just one more chapter constantly, but also meant that the story remained shrouded in the mystery until the end. The sense of things being forcibly rushed by the appearance of Wally on the scene was further heightened by the rushing between Newcastle and Oban; I just couldn't settle.

Ultimately though this was just a jolly good read. A totally engrossing mystery which was always calling out to be solved. Great.

I was really intrigued straight away by this book, not only is the cover eye-catching but the description was fascinating and I instantly wanted to know more.
Everything But The Truth quickly became a story that was impossible to put down, I was captivated and fascinated by what I was reading and I wanted to know more.
The author does an exceptional job of creating an atmosphere and building tension amongst the characters. I was never sure who to trust or what secrets were being hidden.
This is a story that will have you intrigued and absorbed from the beginning, I’m looking forward to reading more from Gillian McAllister. A brilliant debut not to be missed.

Thank you!

Everything but the Truth is a story full of suspense and intrigue.

Rachel’s mind goes into over drive after seeing an email come through late at night on Jack’s ipad. I have to say it’s quite obvious that Rachel has some trust issues, from that point on she makes it her mission to find out exactly what Jack is hiding.

Throughout the story I kept wondering whether sometimes it’s better to not know the truth, though like Rachel, I was desperate to know. The further into the story it’s obvious that Rachel was right to go with her gut instincts.

Other than Jack’s secret, him and Rachel make a great couple. They are expecting a baby which both are excited about and I was really hoping that what ever it was, wasn’t going to be enough to split them up.

I have to say when it all comes out, whilst it didn’t shock me, it certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. Some parts, if anything, were extremely thought provoking which I liked as it really puts you into the characters shoes and makes you think about what you would do if you were them.

Everything but the Truth is without a doubt a read that will have you totally engrossed in it. The author weaves a story that will have readers hooked from start to end. I’m not sure what I was actually expecting from this book as I thought it sounded like it could be a psychological thriller from the description, which it isn’t by the way. What it is though is a story that is shrouded in lies and suspense and without a doubt makes for an engaging read. Hard to believe this is the authors debut novel and very excited to read more by her in the future.

My thanks to Netgalley and Penguin UK – Michael Joseph for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own and biased in anyway.

I was given an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and independent review.
Rachel is in a relationship with Jack and pregnant but they have not known each other when an email comes in to his iPad whilst he is asleep and then he does not tell her the truth, all her senses bristle. What secrets is he hiding? Is he who he seems to be?
This debut novel for Gillian McAllister was very well written and constructed, drawing me in from the very first page, with some excellent characters and a great pace. This book left me with questions about the moral dilemmas involved. A recommended read.
4.5****

This is compelling read.that twists and turns .The relationship with Rachel and Jack is a new one and then something happens which makes Rachel question everything even though she has not told Jack about something in her past .Can there be trust again ?Will love really conquer all ?Such a brilliant read ,leaving me thinking what would I do in the same circumstances !!!

This book gripped me from an early stage and I did enjoy it. After a while, I found Rach quite hard to like as a leading lady as I was rooting for Jack more. Their stories felt a little overplayed at times and the ending did not - for me - quite fit with how the book had built. An easy read though.

A good 3.5 stars from me. I didn't guess what the twist was and enjoyed the way the backstory was drip fed throughout the book.. Would definitely recommend this book to others.

Rachel and Jack have been in a relationship for 7 months. She is already pregnant. As Rachel discovers more about Jack, she becomes distinctively uneasy as she realises that she knows very little about him. She begins to doubt his honesty and can find out very little of his past. Should she leave him for her and the baby's safety? Read on.

How much can we trust someone? What lies do we tell to hide our past? Rachel knows that her boyfriend Jack is keeping secrets and telling lies but she also has secrets of her own. How far would you go to find out the truth and will you be able to cope with what you find? This beautifully written story deals with all these issues in a captivating way.

A brilliant first novel, beautifully written and telling a compelling and plausible story of secrets and lies. I didn't want to put it down!

I have heard a lot of great things on social media about this book, and all of them are true. Everything but the Truth is a fascinating and compelling story of what happens when Rachel and Jack meet, quickly fall in love, only for secrets about Jack's past to emerge which makes Rachel question EVERYTHING. It really made me question what I would do in her situation, which, for me, is always a sign of a great read.

The characters are so well drawn in this novel I felt like I was living the whole experience with them. The way Gillian reveals the secrets slowly-slowly is brilliant and kept me gripped to the very last word. And as for the boat scene depicted on the cover of the book - oh my!

This is a must read for readers of slow-burn thrillers and dark women's fiction. I already can't wait to read Gillian's next book!

Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with an advance copy of this book.

For a first book, I found this very well written and kept my interest. Being Scottish, I like that it was partially set in Oban where I've been several times so know some of the geo references. I could also relate to the main male character's accent and the "not proven" verdict (which was fairly crucial to the story and therefore maybe also why it was partially set in Scotland).. That said, the story was only slightly thrilling. The plot became fairly obvious I thought, (maybe I read too many mystery/thrillers). I don't like to discuss plots in my review for fear of spoilers. I really liked the main characters. They do have flaws as we find out but they're romance is very sweetly written. I got a little bored when it took so long to get to the bottom of the male character's "mystery". It was very obvious something bad was being very covered up. Given the evidence and the doubt, I agreed with the Scottish verdict. Given the final confession, my verdict would have been totally different and that's the bit that sits uncomfortably with me about acceptance and the male character's "character.". Is there an aspect of double indemnity? The female character was obviously intelligent and her mystery was slightly less terrible and not so deliberately covered up - just much sooner and not quite ready to talk about. But yes, they were both guilty of keeping secrets from each other. Just another little niggle .. was the female character actually unemployed or was she working as a secretary? I only mention it because if I was unemployed, pregnant and just gone through two back to back break ups, the latest from my obviously wealthy baby daddy, I would have definitely have had a reaction to the £312 bill that accompanied the court records!! Where would she get the money to pay for that. But that could just be my Scottish canniness!! Overall, I liked the book but would have felt better if the male character actually did fully do the right thing, regardless of all the alleged mitigating circumstances. And yes, I would read another book by this author.

There has been a tendency, since Gone Girl, to make a big fuss of 'stunning twists' in novels, as they hope to make an association between themselves and a hugely popular book famous for its twist. However, it seems many publishers/reviewers are conflating 'twists' with the natural surprises unfolding in a narrative.
Everything But The Truth is contemporary fiction, where one character finds out something about another over time - it's not a twist, where we are led to believe one thing and this is later subverted. It's like 'hmm, something is going on with my boyfriend...oh, I was right, something is indeed going on with my boyfriend'.
If it hadn't been sold to me on its 'stunning twists and turns' though, I would have been less underwhelmed. It's actually a perfectly decent story about morality and love and how we balance our ethics and our judgment etc. It's not a Hitchcockian thriller or Gothic suspense; its a love story. The characters are relateable, the emotional highpoints worked well for me and overall it was well-written and interesting.
Only in the guise of a Girl On The Train-esque shocker did it disappoint!

I am reviewing this through NetGalley. It is a mystery but one with a fresh storyline. If you start reading it, you will find it hard to take a break. The story is embedded in a thoughtful commentary on guilt,responsibility and human vulnerability which adds to the book's appeal. It is well written without distracting description and entirely believable characters.