Review: Everything but the Truth by Gillian McAllister

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.