Book Synopsis:
The Victim: A sixteen-year-old girl with facial deformities, neglected by an alcoholic mother. Who accuses the boys of something unthinkable.
The Defendants: Four handsome teenage boys from hardworking immigrant families. All with corroborating stories.
Whose side would you take?
Zara Kaleel, one of London’s brightest young legal minds, shattered the expectations placed on her by her family and forged a glittering career at the Bar. All before hanging up her barrister’s wig to help the victims who needed her most. Victims like Jodie Wolfe.
Jodie’s own best friend doesn’t even believe her claims that their classmates carried out such a crime. But Zara does. And Zara is determined to fight for her.
Jodie and Zara become the centre of the most explosive criminal trial of the year, in which ugly divisions within British society are exposed. As everything around Zara begins to unravel she becomes even more determined to get Jodie the justice she’s looking for. But at what price?
Take It Back is available in ebook and hardback now. You can purchase a copy of both using the link below.
My Review:
I’ve been hearing lots of great things about this book so I had lots of high expectations, which normally means I’m disappointed. This book was an exception to that rule as I found it a brilliantly compelling, tense and thought provoking read which was also incredibly gripping.
This is mostly a court room thriller which has some very tense scenes to it which not only kept me thoroughly gripped but also made me keep changing my opinion on what had happened and who was right. The two sides show two very different groups of society which makes for very intriguing reading as it brings up a lot of current and thought provoking subjects which are, unfortunately, present in modern day Britain. The themes of poverty, racism and bullying are well presented as they are never sensationalised but rather mentioned subtly as almost background information, which I thought was cleverly done.
The characters in the book are wonderful creations that manage to pull on your heart strings and hold your attention. Jodie was a very compelling character and my heart broke as I learnt more about her and everything she has had to deal with. Some of the scenes were very difficult to read about and I had a lump in my throat as they were described. Zara was a great central character and I loved how she came across as so strong in court but had insecurities in her home life. The fact she was from a similar background to the perpetrators, but chose to defend Jodie helped add an interesting slant to the story. I really enjoyed following her story and her fabulous performance in court.
I found this a very intense, gripping read which was very hard to put down as I was so involved in the story. I would sit down to read in the evening and only look up when my husband was poking me to tell me he was going to bed, which is always a sign of a great read. There were lots of twists, sometimes in every court appearance, which made me change my opinion on what happened constantly. I will definitely be recommending this book to everyone!
Huge thanks to Lucy Richardson for inviting me onto the blog tour and for my copy of this book!
About The Author:
Kia Abdullah is an author and travel writer from London. She has contributed to The New York Times, The Guardian, BBC and Lonely Planet, and is the founding editor of outdoor travel blog Atlas & Boots, read by 250,000 people a month. Kia’s new novel, Take It Back, is out now (HQ/HarperCollins, Aug 2019).
Over The Rainbow Blog 
Brilliant review of a fab read Jo!
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