Anything You Do Say has an unusual premise in that the story is told from two perspectives in a 'Sliding Doors' manner. So the question is what would you do if in the same situation as Joanna, who after being assaulted in a nightclub, finds herself being followed home. In the space of a moment, her life is changed irrevocably.

A dual narrative follows: in the first case Joanna owns up to the crime she has inadvertently committed and in the second she hides the event from everyone. The way her character is drawn and reacts is very well drawn and the marital trauma which happens as a result of her dilemma feels realistic. Gillian McAllister's writing goes from strength to strength and she is bound to pick up new fans with Anything You Do Say. Many thanks to NetGalley and Penguin for the opportunity to read and review it.

We are introduced to a crime scene in which we can at least understand the sequence of events which led up to the moment and why the protagonist did what she did. Then we are introduced to her thought processes, which again make sense to the reader to some degree, even if you don't agree with her decisions. In fact, I thought this was the best part of the novel. Because after this it started to drag a little. I really liked the idea and did want to find out what happened in the end, but wasn't all that engaged with what was happening. I think the author had already decided which version of events was the right one and it played out this way in the resulting consequences. And, I've said it before, if I don't like the characters I generally don't like the novel as much and I didn't really warm to any of the characters.apart from the narrator they were all a bit flat and underdeveloped. I am glad I read to the end but wish it hadn't taken quite so long to get there.

This is very much a sliding doors scenario. One night changes Joanna'so life whichever decision she takes. Should she walk away or stay and call the police? We see what happens if she does both! ! It took me a while to get properly hooked but I really enjoyed it. I really liked her husband'so character and felt for him more than her!! Worth a read.

This book starts with an event which causes a butterfly effect from which decision is made. You see both decisions and the fallout of them. It is a brilliant book from beginning to end and it will keep you gripped until the last sentence!

When I started this book I had no idea on how much the story would affect my thoughts and wider feelings on the issue. The initial harassment Jo is faced with most women have lived through at one time or another and the feelings described are exactly on point. It is also easy to see how this could lead to the event that changes her life completely, with such a knee jerk reaction. The decision that she is left with leaves her concealing or revealing her actions through the remainder of the book. As a reader you see Jo live both of her decisions concurrently. It breaks down any preconceptions you have on what is self defense? And can you be punished for a genuine mistake?
You also see the changes she experiences with her husband, friends and family, how their lives become impacted with her actions and how they deal with the fallout of it.
This book left me questioning my own moral beliefs and also questionning my reaction to what she did-was is justified?
I cannot wait to read more of Gillian McAllister's work and thank Penguin for the ARC. I will be talking about this book a lot when it is published and believe this book has been one of the most enjoyable books I have read in a long time. If you have the opportunity to read it - please do.

This is the first book I've read by this author and won't be the last.

The story centres on a night out with 2 friends, Joanna and Laura. A stranger in a bar sexually harasses Joanna to the point that the women end their night out. On her walk home, Joanna mistakenly believes she's being followed by the stranger from the bar and lashes out in fear and a sense of self-protection. A crime is committed. This is where the story takes a clever twist, does she stay and admit her crime to the police or leave and cover it up. The story takes on a "sliding doors" moment exploring both decisions and their outcomes, effects on people in her life and Joanna's fight for self-preservation.

I loved how this book played out and felt sorry for all the characters involved. I would certainly recommend this book to others. Many thanks to Netgalley and the publishers for this advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

This book is about Joanna. She gets hassled by a man in a nightclub whilst out with her best friend. They decide to leave but Joanna is convinced that the man is following her. Without spoiling the story too much Joanna can make one of two choices, the right or the wrong thing. We follow both these paths in this story.

I really enjoyed this story. It really made me question what I would do in the same situation. I do also sometimes question what would have happened if I had made different decisions at certain points in my life. This was extremely well written and not at all sugarcoated. I would highly recommend it.

Joanna thinks she is being followed when she is walking home. She thinks it is a man who was annoying her earlier. She turns round and pushes him and he falls down steps. He is very badly hurt. Does she confess to what she just did? Or does she run away? This book explores both possibilities and the consequences. It is a very well written page turner which is full of suspense right up to the end. It explores relationships and friendships and gives you a lot to think about.

Two roads diverge....

Thirty-year-old Joanna is somewhat disorganised, even shambolic, inclined to avoid rather than confront difficulties; not really sure what she wants to do with her life; never quite feeling like a Proper Person. Still, her life seems good - happily married to the socially-conscious Reuben, with good friends and a steady job, even if she's never quite measured up to the promise of her schooldays (or the expectations of her parents).

Then something happens while she's walking home from a night out. A split second, a terrible misjudgement which spells disaster - but it's what Joanna does in the immediate aftermath which will determine the path of her life from that moment on. To reveal - or to conceal? Own up and face the consequences - or flee and hide? Both possible paths, with their repercussions for both Joanna and those around her, are dissected in alternate chapters.

It's an original and challenging method of telling a story - two stories, even - and it is so well written and cleverly done that it works really well. I never felt confused about which version of "reality" I was reading. The differences and also similarities between the two timelines are fascinating to observe, not only for Joanna and her husband, friends, colleagues, brother - but also for the victim, who is simultaneously at the centre of everything yet still somehow outside, and his family.

Through the parallel timelines, we witness on the one hand a frightening and confusing journey through the legal system; and on the other, a depiction of the corrosive effects of persistent guilt, silence and concealment. Most of all this is a sensitive and nuanced character portrait and analysis of personal consequences.

There's also a very real sense of "this could happen to any of us", and I imagine most readers will at some point ask themselves the question: what might I do in a moment of sheer panic? And what might be the consequences of that?

Anything You Do Say is an enthralling and thought-provoking read which is destined to be very successful.

Review will also be published on my blog http://atickettoeverywhere.blogspot.co.uk.

Joanna is out for the night with her friend. She has been unable to fully deflect the unwanted sexual attentions of a guy they meet in the bar. Now walking home alone, she is being followed, and when she pushes her assailant and he falls to the ground, she becomes aggressor rather than victim.
Gillian McAllister examines the two options available, whether to summon help and face any consequences, or to flee the scene.
Providing alternate chapters on the potential courses of action (conceal or reveal) after an exhaustive examination of the incident and it’s consequences on Joanna and her friends and family, the results for Joanna are remarkably similar whatever route she chooses.
The strengths of this sort of psychological thriller is being able to imagine yourself in this bad place if fate dealt the wrong cards, and that secondly there is often no clear distinction between good and bad. Using these yardsticks alone this novel is inventive, well thought-out and successful, one I would easily recommend.
Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin UK Michael Joseph

Wow! This book is an emotional rollercoaster. I couldn't help but feel everything Jo felt throughout this story.

This is a really unique concept in which we experience two potential outcomes for a shocking situation. Each one burns with tension and anxiety, that'll leave your heart racing...but you'll be unable to stop reading!

A real page turner and something quite a bit different to other thrillers out there at the moment. Really enjoyed and would recommend this book.

I was expecting this book to be a regular thriller/suspense novel, but it is so much more! I was initially dismayed by the alternating chapters of reveal/conceal; again, this wasn't a problem at all. The book begins with a woman being followed from a bar and she defends herself. I kept imagining how easily this could happen to any woman, with devastating consequences, whichever way it was played out, whatever decision you made. The tension is kept up brilliantly. I could not imagine how it was going to end, and it took me by surprise. I kept thinking about it, and long after I had finished reading it. I felt such empathy with Joanna. Absolutely fantastic.

Wow this book is a cracker! I thoroughly enjoyed it!
Joanna is faced with a moral dilemma. She is being followed late at night by someone who has been harassing her in a club. Expecting to be assaulted at any moment, she lashes out and pushes the assailant down some stairs. At this point she doesn't know how badly the man is injured. This is when the book splits into two scenarios - conceal and reveal. It follows the consequences of simply walking away and not telling anyone about what happened or of trying to help the man and reveal her involvement in his injury.
I loved the way this was written, it was very cleverly done. It highlights just how much one person's actions and split second decision can affect so many people in the present and the future. Very thought provoking and quite scary!
Excellent book, I would certainly recommend.

Anything You Do Say is Gillian’s second novel and it blew me away even more than her first. Gillian cleverly uses a ‘Sliding Doors’ style of writing, alternating ‘conceal’ or ‘reveal’ chapters to explore the different paths Joanna the protagonist takes, after rashly pushing and injuring a man who she thought was following her.

What would you do? Would you walk away and carry on with your life, or would you call the emergency services and admit what you'd done?

Gripping and thought provoking from beginning to end, this would make an excellent book club read to discuss the consequences of Joanna’s actions not only on her, but those that she loves. I already can’t wait to read what Gillian writes next! Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with an ARC.

Excellent book - Great characters and plot. I would highly recommend this book.

This book is written from two perspectives - that of admitting involvement in a crime and that of concealing involvement. Although the stories are very well written from each perspective, I found it quite disconcerting to be flipped from one to the other throughout the book. I'd just get immersed in one perspective only to be pulled out and flung into the other which mean't I had to take the time to orientate myself before I could begin enjoying the quality of the writing again. However, by the time I got to the end I was surprised, and impressed by how both sides of the story came together.

Do the right thing? Do the wrong thing? Concel or Reveal? A really unusual interesting read. Read over a few evenings after work (TV? what's TV?) I really wanted to know what happened - in both stories. Vividly shows how one mistake can change not only your life but the lives of all around you..A very well written look at how ours lives are just one unfortunate move from being turned totally upside down and life changing.

Real "Sliding Doors" type story. Very readable and very believable.

A very (for me) highly unusual take on a crime novel. It would be a spoiler to explain the plot and especially the ending, and I'm left trying to decide whether it worked for me or left me feeling slightly cheated. Leaving aside the mechanics, the writing is very high quality and in my view that compensates for feeling mildly frustrated by the outcome. A 'must read' if only for the quality and the concept.

On a night out with a friend Joanna is harassed and assaulted by a strange man in a bar. This leads to her making a terrible mistake on her walk home, along the canal, late that night. A mistake that will change her life. What should she do? Ring 999, and confess, or run and pretend it never happened?
The chapters are called Conceal and Reveal. So there's two different stories; what happens if she reveals what she did, and if she conceals. I really enjoyed the first 70% of the book. I wanted to find out what would happen to her when, or if, she was found out versus what happens when she's completely honest, but it was a bit of a disappointment.

Every now and again, an exceptional story comes along that knocks you off your feet and ANYTHING YOU DO SAY by Gillian McAllister is one of them.

ANYTHING YOU DO SAY follows the story of Joanna, a young woman from London, who on her way home after a night out, believes she is being followed. Hearing the footsteps speed up and fearing it is the man from the bar who wouldn’t leave her alone, Joanna panics and pushes with all of her might, sending her pursuer tumbling down the steps to lie motionless on the floor. Now Joanna has to make a decision: Call the emergency services or leave him and run? Fight or flight? Reveal or conceal?

Described as “GONE GIRL meets SLIDING DOORS”, ANYTHING YOU DO SAY is an edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller with a moral dilemma. Told in alternating chapters - one in which Joanna reveals herself to the police and one in which she conceals her actions and walks away - the dual narrative is told at a relentless pace, leaving the reader gripped right until the very end.

Like her debut EVERYTHING BUT THE TRUTH, McAllister pulls no punches with her writing, handling the dual narrative with tremendous skill. Each chapter, voiced by Joanna, is incredibly well written with a forensic eye for detail. The characters are also well-defined and realistically flawed.

Whichever route you follow, it is easy to sympathise with the protagonist Joanna. As an avoider for most of her adult life, she would much rather ignore a situation than face it head on and as the story develops, it is fascinating to witness how her character changes as both parts of the story unfold.

But what makes ANYTHING YOU DO SAY really special is the moral dilemma at the heart of the story. The plot leaves you constantly questioning what you would do in the same scenario and how a momentary, split second decision can suddenly change your life, for better or for worse.

It’s difficult to say much more without giving away the plot but suffice to say, this is a tense and thought-provoking thriller that will leave a lasting impression.