Book Review: Take It Back by Kia Abdullah

                                                          Kindle Edition, 304 pages
                  Published December 8th 2020 by St. Martin's Press (first published August 8th 2019)
                                                        Buy from Amazon

One victim.
Four accused.
Who is telling the truth?

Zara Kaleel, one of London's brightest legal minds, shattered the expectations placed on her by her family and forged a brilliant legal career. But her decisions came at a high cost, and now, battling her own demons, she has exchanged her high profile career for a job at a sexual assault center, helping victims who need her the most. Victims like Jodie Wolfe.

When Jodie, a sixteen-year-old girl with facial deformities, accuses four boys in her class of an unthinkable crime, the community is torn apart. After all, these four teenage defendants are from hard-working immigrant families and they all have proven alibis. Even Jodie's best friend doesn't believe her.

But Zara does—and she is determined to fight for Jodie—to find the truth in the face of public outcry. And as issues of sex, race and social justice collide, the most explosive criminal trial of the year builds to a shocking conclusion.

                                                          MY REVIEW:

Take It Back by Kia Abdullah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A shocking, twisting courtroom thriller.
The Victim: Jodie Wolfe, a physically flawed 16-year-old girl accuses four boys in her class of something unthinkable. Jodie Wolfe is a white girl with horrific facial deformities. Her mother is an alcoholic who is mentally abusive to Jodie.
Four handsome immigrant and Muslim boys are coming from good, hard-working families, having a bright future ahead them.
Zara Kaleel, a former lawyer, one of London's brightest legal minds, takes on this case.
Together, they enter the most explosive criminal trial of the year, where the only thing that matters is justice for Jodie.
Zara is Muslim and her family is not a family I would want to be a part of. They treat her horribly and because she is a lawyer defending a white girl against Muslims then they feel she is betraying the community, along with the Muslim community.
There are a couple of twists and turns that I didn't see coming and the ending will leave you shaking your head in confusion.
Thank you to St. Martin's and NetGalley for the book to review.

View all my reviews

                                                                     Kia Abdullah


Born  London, The United Kingdom

Website
https://kiaabdullah.com

Twitter
kiaabdullah

Genre
Suspense, Thriller, Crime

Influences
Gillian Flynn, Louise Doughty

URL
https://www.goodreads.com/kiaabdullah



Kia Abdullah is an author and travel writer from London. Her novel Take It Back was named one of the best thrillers of the year by The Guardian and Telegraph and was selected for an industry-first audio serialisation by HarperCollins and The Pigeonhole. The follow-up, Truth Be Told, came out on 3rd September 2020 (HQ/HarperCollins).

Kia has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times and The Telegraph, and is the founder of Asian Booklist, a non-profit organisation that advocates for diversity in publishing.

Website: kiaabdullah.com
Twitter: @kiaabdullah
Instagram: @kiaabdullah

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