This was a brilliant read. As soon as I started reading this book I just knew I was going to love it. Highly recommended

A disturbing but compelling read, Anatomy of a Scandal reveals the arrogance and duplicity of the political and social elite.

It centres around the rape trial of a prominent MP and although the ‘twist’ is obvious from the outset this only makes the storytelling more intense.

Thanks very much to the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this title. Many thanks, Dave

Anatomy of a Scandal has been in my Netgalley queue for an ashamedly long time but with the new series airing on Netflix and my preference to read a book before watching the adaption I thought it was about time I gave it a go.

The story follows two main characters in the present with scenes from the past interwoven throughout. I kind of guessed where it was going about half way through however that didn’t take away from the story for me. I’ve been reading a lot of genres besides romance recently so this foray into crime thriller has me intrigued for more!

I have no watched the adaption and I definitely enjoyed it. Have you read or watched this one? What are your thoughts?

This is an amazing book from an amazing author. I couldn’t put this book down at all, it completely pulled me in. Highly recommended book!

Kates life 25 years ago and what she was like then, and what she is like now.

Lies, deceit, mistrust and huge revelations are what’s on this books agenda with an almighty roar to the reader with gobsmacking jaw dropping moments.

I listened to this book while recovering from covid symptoms and I can truly say it stopped me coughing do to my thoughts being elsewhere in this book.

Why hadn’t I read this earlier.

Did he?
Or
Didn’t he?

Is she right?
Or
Is SHE right?

''Sophie’s husband James is a loving father, a handsome man, a charismatic and successful public figure. And yet he stands accused of a terrible crime. Sophie is convinced he is innocent and desperate to protect her precious family from the lies that threaten to rip them apart.''

This book was a change of genre for me, and although I enjoyed it, I have to admit to being quite disturbed by how dark and creepy it was in places, and how realistic and current the concept of a public figure being caught up in a crime and scandal was.

It was well written and compelling (if a bit confusing in places) reading and the story was a fast paced thriller.

A very well written court room thriller with unexpected twists and turns that I didn't see coming. However I wasn't completely convinced by the subject matter and considering the serious issue it was dealing with, sexual violence, I would have expected it too be more clear cut.
I would still recommend if you enjoy a legal drama

A fabulous book, expertly and delicately written. A difficult subject matter and I took time to read it because it was tough to be immersed in. It's powerful, accessible, and legally fascinating. There are enthralling plot twists to aid engagement.

V v good.

For me having some of this book based in Oxford made the story more connectable.

However for me this didn't live up to the hype around it.

Good story but nothing that makes me go wow

An up and coming MP has an affair that could ruin his career. How his wife, legal team and party officials deal with the situation. This is the backdrop of the story. However there is an underlying event that happened when Kate, the barrister, James the MP and Sophie his wife were all at Oxford. Will James finally have to pay for his sexual violence to women at last?
This is a really good read and thoroughly enjoyable. Well researched and excellently written this is an author to watch out for

This book stayed with me for a long time after reading it - such a gripping narrative with a number of twists and turns that kept me gripped to the end.

Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan
Emily Bestler Book, December 2017
Disclosure: I received a review copy.

Anatomy of a Scandal is a courtroom thriller more than anything. James Whitehouse, a member of Parliament is on trial for raping a young staff member, and the story switches between Kate's(the prosecutor) and Sophie's (his wife) perspectives, with a bit from James's (the accused) point of view. The story also cover the contemporary criminal case and everyone's college years.

The cover of my review copy is misleading, a quibble I often have with books. “You want to believe your husband. She wants to destroy him.” That is not this book. There is no direct confrontation between Kate and Sophie. Vaughan does not play clear favorites between those characters. She's more interested in how everyone is affected by James, both during the criminal case as well as before and after. She's more interested in how women live in a world where men abuse women both criminally and psychologically. It's very reflective.

The humiliated politician's wife shows up in movies and in real life over and over, and this book gets at Sophie's struggle. And it's very perceptive about the slitheriness of James, the accused. The longer I am away from the book, the more impressed I am by how damning this story is to him.

Epic. Brilliant. Vital reading material. The perfect tale for current times. Sarah will be added to me trusted author list.

A good courtroom thriller/drama. Set in Oxford, England. A young experienced lawyer is set to prosecute the case. Sophie's husband James is a loving father, a handsome man, a charismatic and successful public figure. And yet he stands accused of a terrible crime. Sophie is convinced he is innocent and desperate to protect her precious family from the lies that threaten to rip them apart. Who will win Sophie or the young lawyer?

Anatomy of a scandal was a good book. Great twists and turns throughout which kept me interested. A real page turner.

Thank you Netgalley for this Arc in exchange for an honest review.

I have been so obsessed with psychological books lately and this was just one of the great ones I read in 2018. It was thrilling, provocative, and very well executed. You’ll want to go into this novel knowin* as little as possible so that you can be like woah! It was quite a slow burning drama rather than fast paced suspense but I still thoroughly enjoyed it!

Thanks to NetGalley and to Simon & Schuster UK for providing me an ARC copy of this book that I freely chose to review.
I got a copy of this book a while back, but I must confess it got buried under tonnes of other books at a time when there were many things on my mind. I kept seeing the book here and there but wasn’t even sure I had a copy any longer. Eventually, as it always happens at the end of the year, I saw a list with recommended reads for the year that ends, with this novel featured prominently, and it was the push I needed to start reading it. I apologise for the delay because it was well worth a read.
The book opens up the 2nd of December 2016, is set in the UK, and is mostly narrated chronologically by a collection of characters. Kate, a QC (the prosecution lawyer in other countries) working in London tells of her experience in court, prosecuting sexual crimes, in the first person. The rest of the characters’ perspectives we get are narrated on the third person, and include those of Ali, a friend Kate met while she was a college student; Sophie, the wife of a junior conservative minister, James, and now stay at home Mum; James himself, the only male account, an upper-class man who always knew his future was golden, and Holly, whose narration starts in 1992, in Oxford. She is a fish out of the water, a young girl from the North, from a modest family, who has managed to get into an Oxford College to study English with a grant, and she suffers a cultural shock at first, although later things seem to look up until… (No spoilers here). It takes a while for all the strands of the story to fit together, although we soon realise there are some coincidences, and some of the people whose narrations appeared disconnected at first, had crossed paths years back.
The author, who as a political journalist has more insight than most people into what goes on in political office and in the government, provides a detailed and totally immersing account of the life of privilege of those who seem destined for “better things” from the very start, and creates very credible and nuanced characters. Vaughan is skilled at describing the atmosphere of the government corridors and of the Old Bailey, and as skilled at shining a light on the characters and their motivations. We have those who feel entitled to everything; characters who keep lying to themselves because they feel they got what they wanted and should now be happy with it, even if it has turned out to be far less ideal than they had always thought; the survivors who reinvented themselves and paid the price of never being completely at ease in their skins, and we have big areas of grey. (I think this book would be ideal for a book club, as there is much to discuss and plenty of controversial topics to keep the conversation going). What is a relationship and what is not? What is love and what is only lust? And central to the whole book, a big question, what is consent? Is it a matter of opinion? Although the definition of the crime seems very clear, when it comes to what people think or “know” in their heads at the time, is anything but.
Although the book is told from different perspectives, it is not confusing to read. Each chapter is headed by the name of the character and the date, and we soon get to know who is who, because their narration and their personalities are very different. That does not mean there aren’t plenty of surprises in the book, and although some we might suspect or expect, the story is well paced, the revelations are drip-fed and make the tension increase, and with the exception of one of the characters (hopefully!), it is not difficult to empathise and share in the thoughts and the moral and ethical doubts of most of the characters. We might think we know better and we would do the right thing but determining what the right thing is can be tough in some cases. And we all compromise sometimes, although there are limits.
I have read some reviews complaining about the amount of detail in the book and they also say that it is slow and nothing much happens. The book is beautifully observed, and the way it explains the ins-and-outs of the trial feels realistic. Perhaps the problem is that we are used to books and movies where everything takes place at lightning speed, and there isn’t a moment to contemplate or observe what is truly happening, beyond the action. This is a thinking book, and there are not big action pieces; that much is true. I have mentioned there are surprises. Secrets are revealed as well, but they surface through digging into people’s memories, or getting them to recognise the truth, not with a gun or a punch. The way we connect with the characters and the layers upon layers of stories and emotions make for a gripping reading experience but not a light one. I have sometimes read books or watched movies that have such a frenzied pace that I always come out at the other end with the feeling that I’ve missed something, some gap or hole in the plot that I would be able to discover if only I were given some time to breathe and think, but that is not the case here. Even the turns of events you might not have expected are fully grounded and make perfect sense, both action-wise and according to the personality of the protagonists. No big flights of fancy here.
This is a book for those who love psychological thrillers, and courtroom dramas that go beyond the standard formula. Although it is a book with strong roots in England, the British Criminal Justice System and the country’s politics, it is so well-written that it will make readers from everywhere think and will inevitably bring to mind cases and well-known characters at a national and international level. Now that I live in Spain, I could not help but keep thinking about the infamous case of “La manada”, where definitions of sexual crimes have become a hot political potato, for very good reason. The debate that the #MeToo has generated should be kept alive, and anything that contributes to that is useful, and if it is a great book, all the better.
I know it is silly, but I was happy to discover that I had finished reading the book on exactly the same date when the book comes to an end, 7th of December 2018. I take that as a sign and look forward to reading many more books by the author.

A book that makes for a very uncomfortable read, the nature of sex, power, entitlement and truth are all exposed in a tough exposure of an anatomy of a scandal. A very apt book in these days of MeToo. It shows how we don’t always know people as well as we think we do.

Character driven if slightly long winded at times! Legal aspects were a bit over done in my opinion but I do understand it was window dressing. The differing perspective and slow unraveling of the plot leaves you feeling very unsettled. It’s that unsettling feeling tha we all have when we realise that we never ever really no everything and we just have to trust.

A good book for this time.

Been a long time since I had to read a book in one day. Brilliant and spellbinding.
A real page turner and the only thing I dislike is the style of ending but not enough to drop from a 5 star.