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A review by steph1rothwell
The Evidence Against You by Gillian McAllister
4.0
This crime novel is slightly different to the other books I have read before because the murder investigation concerned is an old one. Time has been served for the murder of Izzy’s mother. The person who served the sentence was her father and he has just been released from prison, determined to have contact with Izzy.
Izzy has moved on with her life despite missing having any loving family connection. Somehow the connection with her husband’s ‘Instagram family’ doesn’t compensate for what she has missed out on. She loves her husband, hates her job and doesn’t know if she can trust her father.
Most of the novel is set in modern day but there are occasional flashbacks to Izzy’s teenage years, mainly concerning the few days before her mother was murdered. But you also get to see her dreams of going to ballet school and her relationship with her first boyfriend. You also see the way that her interpretation of her parents relationship and how it differs from her father’s. These accounts were increasingly fascinating, especially when Izzy finds documents that suggest she may not have been fully aware of what was happening.
I did work out who killed Alex before Izzy did but the way it was revealed left me hanging on to see if I was correct. The explanation was different to what I imagined but it did work. And how it was handled left me a little emotional. Izzy trying to find out who was responsible wasn’t what I liked most about this novel, it was the character and relationship changes that I was more interested in. It was this part I will be thinking about for the next few days.
Izzy has moved on with her life despite missing having any loving family connection. Somehow the connection with her husband’s ‘Instagram family’ doesn’t compensate for what she has missed out on. She loves her husband, hates her job and doesn’t know if she can trust her father.
Most of the novel is set in modern day but there are occasional flashbacks to Izzy’s teenage years, mainly concerning the few days before her mother was murdered. But you also get to see her dreams of going to ballet school and her relationship with her first boyfriend. You also see the way that her interpretation of her parents relationship and how it differs from her father’s. These accounts were increasingly fascinating, especially when Izzy finds documents that suggest she may not have been fully aware of what was happening.
I did work out who killed Alex before Izzy did but the way it was revealed left me hanging on to see if I was correct. The explanation was different to what I imagined but it did work. And how it was handled left me a little emotional. Izzy trying to find out who was responsible wasn’t what I liked most about this novel, it was the character and relationship changes that I was more interested in. It was this part I will be thinking about for the next few days.