I received Everything but the Truth via Netgalley, and I loved it. It is a psychological thriller but not quite as we know it. The storyline is gripping from the off; there are twists and turns in what are two very unusual situations with a moral dilemma to each of them. The two main characters are full bodied and likeable, the reader actually cares about how their situation will unfold. The ending is satisfactory and too soon really, I wanted to stay attached to Jack, Rachel and Wally. I can't wait to see what Gillian McAllister writes next.

This book was a page turner from the getgo until the very end. A great debut novel which I enjoyed very much and would definitely recommend.

It's hard to believe that this is a debut novel. The characterisation and plot are very well executed and the story contains suspense and drama without being formulaic. This is more about why we act the way we do and the moral maze we navigate through our lives rather than a psychological-thriller-with-a-twist-you-won't see-coming. But that's not to say it isn't gripping, because it certainly had me hooked. Gillian McAllister is an author to look out for in future if this assured and suspenseful debut is anything to go by.

This was a story about trust, secrets and how well do you really know someone. It begins at a good pace when the main character inadvertently sees an email on her boyfriends phone. This creates a whole host of problems with lying, sneaking around and spying. Unfortunately, she is pregnant by him and doesn't want to raise the child without its father.
It was a good story with some tense moments, but the main character was so whiny and in love that to me her actions were ridiculous. How many lies can be forgiven and new chances given? The story is complicated by the main character having a secret of her own and that is told to the reader through chapters from the past. I was very curious about that thread of the story and was shocked by the outcome.
The ending for me was OK, but not great. There was no big twist or reveal. The drama continued and the story ended.
It was a good book and readers who like mysteries might enjoy this one.

I was sent an early copy of this book in return for my independent honest review.
Goodness me, another debut psychological thriller at its best. It had me gripped from beginning to end.
Rachel is a qualified Medical Doctor. However she no longer works in Medicine but in an office as a Medical litigator! After a whirlwind relationship with Jack, she is pregnant. However although in love what does she really know about him and vice versa. It is written in two time periods,present day and a year previous to Rachel and Jacks meeting.
This is fast paced,gripping and all consuming, so don't start reading it until you have free time. Perhaps not for readers who prefer a slow burning, simple plot. This is cleverly written in a style I enjoyed Just when I thought I knew what was happening, another sudden twist and turn emerges.
Well deserved 5* rating.

Rachel and Jack have a whirlwind romance and end up expecting a baby together. But they don't actually know each other very well. Or indeed, do they know each other at all? When Rachel sees a message on Jack's iPad it piques her curiosity, as do the dribs and drabs of information about his past that he lets trickle out under duress. And why has Rachel's life taken such a change in the last year, from hospital registrar to secretary for a medical litigation lawyer?

This is a compelling and compulsive read, and the story didn't quite go where I was expecting. (Which is often a plus point as who wants to read the same thing over and over?) It is twisty and turny and at times a cuttingly incisive dissection of Rachel's state of mind.

Fascinating.

Rachel and Jack have only been an item for a very short while when Rachel falls pregnant. They decide to keep the baby, as their relationship seems to be going so well, maybe too well. But when Rachel accidentally glimpses an email meant for Jack everything changes and Rachel is left wondering if Jack is who he says he is?

Does Rachel have good reason to be so suspicious of Jack or is she just very paranoid, especially in light of her recent personal experiences? And is she being completely open and honest herself?

This book is dark, unsettling and very well written. I find it hard to believe that it is Gillian McAllister’s first novel. I will definitely be looking out for her next one with eager anticipation

This review is written with thanks to Michael Joseph, an imprint of Penguin UK, and Netgalley for my copy of Everything But The Truth.
Rachel and Jack are enjoying a whirlwind romance, and Rachel is pregnant. One night, Rachel reads Jack's e-mails, and realises that there are aspects of his past he is hiding from her. Gradually, Rachel's sense of unease increases, and she is determined to find out the truth. Can their relationship survive in spite of her discovery?
From very early in the novel, the reader is able to see that there are some things that Rachel doesn't know about Jack. It starts with little things, such as a childhood nickname that doesn't appear to make sense, and from there gradually escalates. Whilst this early tension makes the plot move quickly and drew me in almost immediately, it did make me question the authenticity of their relationship, which in turn, hindered my ability to sympathise with the characters. Jack may be hiding something, but Rachel is reading her partner's e-mails, which means I found her attitude a little hypocritical, particularly at the beginning of the novel.
Everything But The Truth is set over two different time frames - the present day and a year previously. Through Rachel's account of the previous year, we learn that she too has a secret. This adds an extra layer to the novel, and allows the reader to consider the question which lies at the heart of the book: Is anyone a bad person, or are we shaped by the mistakes we make? However, this part of the novel increased my impression of Rachel as hypocritical, and I would have liked this part of the plot to have been developed further, so that I was able to consider the central issues of the novel in more detail.
Rachel and Jack live in Newcastle, and Jack's family live in Oban in Scotland. In places, McAllister's descriptions of the locations within the novel are very vivid, and this helped me to develop a sense of place. However, I did not feel this was maintained consistently throughout the book.
Although I found the ending of Everything But The Truth slightly predictable, I did find the novel easy to read and I finish the book pondering a number of important questions.

A confident debut. Gillian McAllister is a talent to watch. 4/5.

In her well-written debut, McAllister gives us a realistic portrayal of a romantic relationship tainted by secrets and suspicion. All the characters, even those who only appear for a few moments, are fully-fleshed out. The author also creates a pervasive atmosphere of doubt and distrust which gradually creeps into every corner of the story and has the reader questioning everything, turning the pages just as the main character trawls the internet, hoping to get to the elusive truth.

For me, reading this story wasn’t a nail-biting experience. Everything but the Truth is more a dark mystery, than a thriller. Readers coming to this book expecting some sort of roller-coaster with killer twists may be disappointed. Told in the past tense, the narrative voice comes to us from a remote and, we assume, safe place. This distance drains some of the immediacy and drama from the story which it would need to be a true thriller. Instead, domestic noir is a good label for this tale which, in addition to the mystery which initially hooks the reader, is an interesting exploration of guilt, regret and forgiveness.

Overall: more stealthy domestic drama than thriller, Everything but the Truth forces the reader to ponder how well we can truly know anyone, and especially those who are closest to us.

I was hooked right from the start of Everything but the Truth by Gillian McAllister. It has everything – it’s very readable and well written, with a great sense of place, set in both Newcastle and Oban, with clearly defined and believable characters, a complex plot with plenty of twists and turns, and a dark secret. It is up to date about social media and information about the internet and how to find hidden information (which as I’m not that computer savvy I had to Google to see if it was genuine – it is). The atmosphere in this book is tense and increasingly dark and claustrophobic. Everything but the Truth is an outstanding book in my opinion.

I didn’t want to stop reading it and when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it. As well as being about lies and secrets it’s also about relationships. How we get to know people and learn to trust them. Rachel and Jack are in a very new relationship and there is still an awful lot they don’t know about each other. And when Rachel realises Jack has a secret she doesn’t know how to get him to open up to her about it. Just what is his secret and is it really so terrible that he can’t talk about it? And why can’t he drive? But what does Jack really know about Rachel? Is she hiding something too, or is she paranoid?

Gillian McAllister’s debut book is simply excellent, written with assurance and with great insight into human nature. It is without doubt one of the best books I’ve read this year.

Thank you to Gillian McAllister, the publishers and NetGalley for my copy of this book for review.

Everything But the Truth

Rachel and Jack are in a new but happy relationship and expecting a baby. So, why does an email received from Jack that Rachel 'accidentally' reads, set off alarm bells in her head? What is Jack hiding?

This is an amazing thriller that will have you holding your breath. Flicking between the present day and a year ago, this book cannot fail to suck you in and hold on to you till the very last page! 4.5*

With thanks to Netgalley and the publisher.

Everything but the Truth captured my attention from the start. And held it! Rachel and Jack in a quite new relationship and everything seem rosy. But is it? Rachel's attention is drawn to Jacks's messages on his IPad.. Now there is a foreboding of something not as it seems. Page after page ther are little niggles as to what Jack is hiding. The storyline kept my interest as I was very curious as to how this was going to finish. A compelling read throughout.

The cover and title attracted me to this book but, as it turned out, it was a different story to the one had I been expecting! I thoroughly enjoyed it though!

The story is about Rachel and Jack, who have been together for a very short time and who are expecting a baby together. Everything is going well until Rachel sees part of an email on Jack's iPad: 'Douglas's Atrocity Rears Its Head Again'. So who is Douglas and what did he do that was so terrible? This question begins to eat away at Rachel until it is all she can think about. It doesn't help that when she meets Jack's family and friends they seem to be hiding something from her, but the more she digs about in Jack's past, the more questions are raised.

And as we learn more about Jack, we also learn more about Rachel - that she split up with her last boyfriend because she didn't trust him, and that she has a huge secret in her own past ...

I was expecting a psychological thriller, but it wasn't really. No one is murdered, there are only a few scenes when the heroine feels she is in jeopardy, there is no race against time to catch a killer. Instead we have a very cleverly written psychological suspense/domestic noir, with brilliantly drawn characters - I did love Jack! The clues are dripped in a little bit at a time and, although it is quite a leisurely read, I found myself reading faster and faster to find out what happens. Each time Rachel catches Jack out on a lie, the tension racks higher and higher, and at the same time we find out more about Rachel's own secret; it was like watching a car crash in slow motion and being unable to stop it.

So, Everything but the Truth is a gripping and compelling read, with a moral about being honest - and that if you're going to snoop around in someone's past, you really ought to be prepared for what horrors you might find. Recommended!


Thank you to Gillian McAllister, Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my copy of this book, which I received in exchange for an honest review.

Rachel is a woman who sees everything in terms of black and white, guilt and innocence. She is quick to judge. She feels that she has a right to know everything about a person before being expected to trust them, and will go to inordinate lengths to find “the truth”. She blames this on her dead mother: “Because the thing was, Mum had died. And she hadn’t been who she said she was. All at once. All at the same time”. Her need to know, her suspicions and her paranoia have already ruined one relationship, and now look set to destroy another. But this time she really is in love, and what is more, is carrying his baby. Jack really does seem like the perfect man, Rachel’s soulmate. She loves everything about him, but cannot understand why he would hide his emails and text messages from her. As she meets his friends and family more and more questions explode in her mind. Rachel becomes obsessed with Jack’s past – what can he be hiding? Unfortunately, Jack is not helping himself. He has taken so many steps to escape his past, and is not ready yet to share it with someone new. He dribbles out snippets of information, that just fuel Rachel’s obsession.
I spent most of this book being really annoyed at Rachel. She sees herself as an ex-doctor, who cared too much. But to my mind, she lacked empathy. Once she had decided on a course or on someone’s guilt, she felt that she was completely justified in whatever steps she took. Other people’s feelings became immaterial, and she was unable to put herself into their shoes, nor alter her mindset until it was too late. She was also guilty of hypocrisy. Rachel did not share her reasons for leaving medicine with Jack, and he did not pry. Eventually you realise that what she has neglected to share, is as momentous as Jack’s omissions – at least in how it has affected their lives. Her repeated, forceful invasion of Jack’s privacy can be seen as akin to a burglar continually breaking into someone’s home – a violation of the self. Rachel sees it as necessary.
Rachel has the support of wonderful friends and her family. She could have an amazing boyfriend. But the doubts will not go away. Not until near the end of the book does she really exhibit any real self-awareness: “The truth was, I realized with a start, it wasn’t Jack I didn’t trust. It was myself. After everything. Mum. Ben. The boy. And now Jack. And, when you don’t trust yourself, you can’t trust anybody else, either … We all rewrite our own narratives constantly. How we see things. Tragedies and successes. They change, like shifting sands, when viewed from different points in our lives … And all we could ever try to do was understand, and move forward, and forgive”. But does this now come too late?
This is a well written book, that draws you into an obsession with truth and trust, and makes you reflect on your own past, and secrets you may have kept from those you love. However, the characters are very frustrating. You want to believe that both Rachel and Jack are worthy of your sympathy, but there is always new doubt being sewn. It is not like the thrill you get from the twists and turns of a good mystery/crime novel. It is a more unsettling tone – a feeling of trawling through someone’s dirty laundry. Perhaps I, too, am guilty of the crimes I have ascribed to Rachel – of being too judgemental, and lacking in empathy.

Very good debut novel, it bodes well for future books by this great new writer.This was a believable story about relationships, trust and self doubt.Rachel was a well written character we all have some of her traits and self doubt I would think and if we put ourselves in her position I suspect that paranoia could set in and make us question our partners and ourselves .I liked the fact that this was a realistic book, I do marvel at some of the plots of the books I read and review these days but it was a very pleasant change to have more of a domestic and realistic theme ,while at the same time still ramping up the atmosphere and keeping me page turning to find out more .I thought it was well written and I liked the pace of the book.Thank you to Netgalley and the Publishers for an ARC in return for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this great psychological thriller. It’s a pacey, fun read which kept me completely absorbed.

The characters are great; I really liked Rachel and felt for her, even though she made some questionable decisions at times. Gillian McAllister has a great way of presenting the characters because she makes you think about the human side to their decisions – I can’t say much without giving too much away but she manages to make you think about whether what her boyfriend Jack may or may not have done is actually as bad as we may think, given the circumstances. And that is a key theme in this book, I felt – the idea that behaving in a certain way might not be quite so bad depending on the context surrounding it. I definitely enjoyed the moral questions it threw up, and felt that McAllister really portrayed Rachel’s conundrum in a great, convincing way. Rachel loves Jack, that much is obvious, but things that have happened in her past (as well as his) which threaten to ruin what seems like a perfect (albeit whirlwind) relationship, and that coupled with what seems to be lies, begins to ruin her trust in Jack.

There are questions at every turn in this book, and I liked that it seemed quite realistic, overall – the storyline, though dramatic at times, wasn’t overly ridiculous or unbelievable. It was crazy enough without making me think, “this is stupid” – something I unfortunately do feel a lot with books in this genre. It had just the right balance, and it makes you think about human nature and what you’d do in this situation.

I hugely enjoyed this novel and found it was a brilliant, riveting read which left my feeling satisfied.

“Our character is what we do when we think no-one is looking”. I love this. So true. Rachel is in a relationship with Jack. She knows little about him and hasn’t met any of his friends. They are always “too busy”. Things aren’t adding up one way or another. Now there is Wally to consider- their unplanned but wanted baby. She starts to find clues but despite using a popular search engine can’t find anything that explains Jack’s strange behaviour. This is a book that you quickly become engrossed in. A lighthearted read although you just have that feeling that something is going to be revealed - a something that will change the way you are looking at the characters. Is Rachel imagining things- and what of her own life? A book that captivates you, with depth and lies and honesty in good measure.
I voluntarily chose to read this ARC and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

A compelling psychological thriller about love, trust and guilty secrets. Rachel used to be a doctor but gave up medicine and has been working in an office. She meets journalist Jack and they fall head over heels in love. However, Rachel has experienced a series of traumatic losses which left her with trust issues: these begin to impinge on their relationship, and Jack seems evasive. The complication is that Rachel and Jack have made a baby.

Just how well can we ever know another person? Are any of us truly innocent? And should the quest for truth take precedence over trust? These are some of the themes explored in this very enjoyable story which begs to be a book club choice because there are so many issues raised and points to ponder and discuss.

‘Everything but the Truth’ by Gillian McAllister is an absolutely cracking debut thriller novel. It is a powerful, satisfying psychological suspense thriller that will keep you guessing to the very surprising finale. Rachel and Jack are together after a whirlwind romance and they have just discovered that they are expecting a baby. They are shocked but delighted and very much in love. They feel that it doesn’t matter that their fledgling romance has not given them time to get to know much about each other and are committed to their relationship and bringing up a family together.
One day an email comes through on Jack’s iPad. He isn’t around at the time and Rachel is curious about who it could be from. She trusts Jack and doesn’t need to find out who the email is from, but she feels a compulsion to lean over and take a look. It’s a fatal mistake because once she’s read the email she cannot forget about it and she feels compelled to find out what it means. This compulsion to find out the truth takes over her every waking moment and time and time again she catches him out on a lie. She cannot believe that Jack would keep secrets from her, even though she is keeping a whopping secret from him. She cannot leave it alone; she is powerless to stop the rollercoaster of things she does to discover more about the man she loves and the more she finds out the more she wonders why Jack is hiding the truth. She fears that it must be something too awful for him to admit. She feels as though she has never known the real Jack. Like the butterfly affect, her life looks set to change forever just because of one single email and the havoc it causes in her relationship with the father of her unborn baby. She simply does not trust him and in a puff of air, their relationship lays fractured.
'Everything but The Truth' is an absorbing novel about betrayal, secrets and deceit. It’s about how a web of lies can erase trust and destroy a relationship. The storytelling is crisp, exciting and full of tension. There are shocks and surprises as Jack strives to explain his way out of Rachel’s suspicions and accusations and allay her compulsion to find out what Jack is hiding from her. I thought Rachel was so determined that she actually backed Jack into a corner, but lies of the magnitude Jack was spinning were only heaping more coals on the fires of Rachel’s yearning to make Jack come clean and confess. In all of this I never once guessed how the story would end; but when it did it was such a satisfying finale to a really enjoyable novel. I would like to thank NetGalley and publisher Penguin for my copy of the novel, sent out to me in return for an honest review. There’s no doubt that this is a very good read and I’m excited to have discovered another new author with a great talent for the genre. I’ll definitely be looking out for a second novel from Gillian McAllister. It’s a 4.5* from me.

Before reading this book I'd lost my reading mojo starting lots of books and just not getting into them .... Then I staring Everything But The Truth addicted from the first page!!! I can see this being turned into a movie after smashing every best seller list ... Highly recommended