A review by philippakmoore
Everything but the Truth by Gillian McAllister

4.0

An excellent and very compelling read - and not for the reasons I expected. For me, the intrigue and suspense was less about Jack's story and what he was hiding (which I figured out before the big reveal) but about the narrator Rachel's hidden past and how that was slowly drip fed to us as the present-day narrative unfolded and tripped her back into her past, filled with pain and errors of judgement that had terrible consequences, things she would rather forget, genuine mistakes that arose from her just trying to do the right thing. The parallels with Jack's situation are not lost, and indeed make the reader think about culpability, intention, motive and why we do what we do. It also makes you think about the difference between lies and the stories we tell to make our actions more justified in our own minds; the right to anonymity; the right to wipe the slate clean after a traumatic experience and start again....but how that doesn't always work in the real world. McAllister is a skilled, thoughtful and engaging writer and Everything But The Truth is a dark and different love story that will certainly make you think, as well as make you stay up until 1am turning the pages. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.