Book Review – Everything But The Truth by Gillian McAllister

Title: Everything But The Truth

Author: Gillian McAllister

Publisher: Penguin

Publication Date: 9th March 2017

Format: ARC e-Book

Note: This book was received from the publisher in return for an honest review

About the book:

Just how much can you trust the person you love?

Everything but the Truth is Gillian McAllister’s stunning breakthrough thriller about deceit, betrayal and one woman’s compulsive need to uncover the truth

It all started with the email.

Rachel didn’t even mean to look. She loves Jack and she’s pregnant with their child. She trusts him.

But now she’s seen it, she can’t undo that moment. Or the chain of events it has set in motion.

Why has Jack been lying about his past? Just what exactly is he hiding? And doesn’t Rachel have a right to know the truth at any cost?

What I Thought:

Your world turns upside down, then you meet your perfect guy, and in just a few short months you find yourself pregnant and having to face the reality that your perfect guy might not be perfect – this is the situation Rachel finds herself in, but are her doubts justified or is she just being paranoid?

Everything But The Truth is the debut novel for Gillian McAllister and I absolutely loved it.For me everything just worked, the plot and the pacing combined to keep me turning pages, every time I thought I should stop and sleep, or make dinner, something else happened which meant I had to keep reading just a little bit longer!

The book focuses on Jack and Rachel and their relationship. Jack is a journalist who is originally from Oban in Scotland but moves to Newcastle to work as a freelance writer for a magazine based there which is where he meets Rachel. Rachel is a former doctor who is now working as a secretary at a law firm. They first meet at the foot of the monument, Jack is everything Rachel could want in a partner, he’s attractive, intelligent and obviously adores her, everything is perfect until one night Rachel sees an email, when Jack lies about it Rachel can’t help but dig a little deeper, is there something hiding in Jack’s past, or is she just being paranoid and reading far too much into nothing? After all Jack isn’t the only one who hasn’t shared the entire truth about his past, Rachel has a secret of her own, after all just why isn’t she practising as a doctor anymore?

Around Rachel and Jack are a fantastic range of supporting characters, from Jack’s parents and younger brother up in Oban, to Rachel’s family and friends around them in Newcastle, each of them added something to the story and I can’t think of a single one that the story would have been better without, even Rachel’s deceased mother plays an important role in the plot.

Would I recommend it?

Absolutely without a shadow of a doubt, this was a great read! It’s a fantastic debut that kept me questioning everything, not only what was happening in the plot, but how I felt about all the characters throughout the reveals; do I still like Jack? Should I still like Jack?  Is it really fair of Rachel to be doing this when she has her own secret that she hasn’t shared? Pick it up, read it, and then come back and let me know what you thought!