A very cleverly written court drama that keeps you guessing right to the end. Very enjoyable read and highly recommended.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
This book is a gripping family drama, for most part set in a court room.
I had several theories as to what might have happened, and I kept swaying between them all until gradually they appeared to be eliminated.
This is very cleverly written twisty plot which keeps you hooked in right until the end.

After reading her other book “Anything you do say” I was very excited to start this!!

It starts in a court room, was Martha’s baby Layla killed or was it cot death? Martha was busy setting up her charity in Kos, and had left Layla with her sister Becky,who was being paid to be their nanny. Sadly Layla dies and it seems Becky is to blame.

I’m not a fan of court room drama but I loved how it was written, very clever how when a witness is called to the stand to give evidence,we then get the witness flash back to the night Layla died, rather than a long dialogue of them giving evidence.

A gripping read full of tension and grief, I couldn’t imagine losing a child pornographers that you’re sister might be to blame makes it ten times worse!!

During the flashbacks of Becky looking after Layla, you can feel her despair and frustration, that she cannot stop her from crying. You could really believe that she might have snapped under the pressure of a constant crying baby.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy in exchange for a review.

Every parents worst nightmare. An 8 week old baby is dead and it's looking like murder. To make it even worse the person suspected is the baby's aunt. What's the truth of that night?

This truly is the worst nightmare of any parent. It's such a heart breaking story and yet it's very real and honest. The plot follows the court case and is told by various people which I really enjoyed. The ending was so sad but given the subject matter I knew it was never going to be a happy ending. Its very well written and detailed. The medical information is well researched but not heavy in detail so easy to follow. This is quite a heavy story to read but it was a fascinating read. It does get you thinking about how you would handle things in their situation.

The characters are all so on point and really shows the varying emotions especially for Martha. I found myself instantly sympathizing with her.

This was a real page turner which kept me guessing for most of the book. The information was dotted throughout the story bit by bit, so by the end I had a vague idea what had happened, but the final details were still a shock. An emotional and poignant story and one I very much enjoyed. Cleverly written.

Wow! An absolutely gripping if difficult read following the heart-breaking story of the loss of a child. Martha and Scott hire Martha's sister as a nanny for their new baby Layla who sadly dies one night in Becky's care whilst Martha and Scott are away for work. Becky is charged with the murder of Layla and a large part of the book focusses on the courtroom trial of Becky that was gripping and moving.
Poor Martha is torn between her grief for Layla and her love for her sister and her pain is so eloquently written by the author - how can she believe that her sister would do such a heinous thing but as the story progresses the evidence against Becky mounts up.
The story also flashes back in time and we see more details of Becky and Martha's relationship as sisters and friends and the impact of the situation on their respective families now.
Overall a fantastic and emotional read and I cannot recommend this highly enough. This is my second read by this author and I am most definitely a fan. Read this book - you won't regret it! 5 stars!

Wow! Gillian McAllister has done it again. What an incredible novel. This is a courtroom drama based book which I found incredibly gripping and would highly recommend.

Martha is struggling as a new mum. Baby Layla cries- a lot! The baby's health issues make life difficult for her & Scott her husband. Martha runs a refugee charity in Kos and is finding it hard to separate herself from it during her maternity leave.

Becky is fed up with rushing around with little or no thanks as a set dresser for a TV company. She is separated but on good terms with her ex, Marc. The pair of them have managed to share custody of Xander, their son. When moaning to Martha after a particularly thankless day Martha suggests Becky becomes Layla's nanny.

Layla is a very different baby to Xander. When Melanie has to go away for two days and Scott is away at the same time Becky has Layla overnight. This stretches to two nights. When Becky gets up after finally getting some sleep Layla is dead. Investigations show it was not a cot death but that Layla hd been smothered.

The book covers Becky's trial. We see events from lots of different perspectives and throughout we are wondering if Becky snapped or was there another explanation? Martha doesn't know what to believe, but she still loves her sister.

This was a totally enthralling read. It showed how strong the bonds of family can be and how things are not always as they seem.

This was a story I still can't stop thinking about- a five star read for me.Thanks to Netgalley & the publisher for letting me read & review this book.

This was a courtroom drama with a new way of telling the story. I really liked the clever writing which felt like peeling an onion: my belief in what had happened changed all the time. Sadly without giving too much away I spotted the defining clue the moment I read it and spent the rest of the book raging against the seemingly ineptness of all involved. If I, an ordinary person, could spot this pivotal point, then I was incredulous that the so called experts wouldn’t have picked up on it. Therefore I worked out soon after that moment what had actually occurred. Obviously I was pleased I had worked it out but slightly insulted. Notwithstanding this, I did enjoy the writing style and the depth of research that must have gone into the story. I also liked the characters, warts and all as they seemed very believable.

When I stared to read this, did have second thoughts about reading on as thought it may be very upsetting to read about the death or potential murder from unknown causes of a very young baby, but I am glad I did carry on. Very cleverly written, almost as if I was sitting in the jury as each person's story unfolded. Maybe a little longer than it could have been as I did find myself speed reading a few of the chapters but still held e to the end.

I was given an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest and independent review.
To be honest I found this book so hard to get into but I persevered and was pleased that I did.
A cleverly written courtroom drama told through the eyes of a number of characters.
For me the strength of this book is in the characterisations and the development of the personalities, in particular the main ones.
Overall I really enjoyed reading this.

I found the story,played out mainly in the courtroom,really interesting. It was a different slant enabling the unfolding of what occurred to be told from an observer,like a juror. The split narratives allowed the impact of the tragedy to be seen by those involved. I did suspect the one responsible for the death but I thought circumstances made it impossible. I was really disappointed in the explanation of how vital evidence had been missed. I don't think it would happen in real life. The outcome of what happened was a surprise and I did enjoy reading it, I hope the explanation in the next book by this author may be a little more credible.

I enjoyed this authors other books but struggled with this one a bit. I found it quite long and tedious at some points and it didn’t really keep me hooked.

A brilliant courtroom drama with a bit of mystery and thrills all neatly put together to make plot every mother would be terrified of. Martha has to go away with work so she leaves her new born baby with the person she trusts the most, her sister. Something is wrong and by the time Martha is back home her baby is dead. The story plays out in the court room with Becky on trial for the infants death, and Martha is push to deal with a rollercoaster of emotions, torn between her baby and her is sister.
The emotional story line was at times hard to read but this showed me how well constructed and researched it was. I love Gillian’s Style of writing and will look forward to her next book

I read No Further Questions within a few hours, but it was not an easy read emotionally. As a new mother myself, it was like reading my worst nightmare.

Martha’s daughter Layla was just 8 weeks old when she had to go away on business and leave her with her sister Becky. By the time Martha got home her daughter was already dead.

Now her sister is on trial for murder and Martha has to choose between her daughter and her sister.

No Further Questions was written as a split narrative tale, but the majority of the chapters were written from Martha’s perspective. This had the effect of making the book feel a lot more emotionally raw than it probably would have done otherwise. I felt as though I was feeling everything she was.

The book begins with us learning more about her experience of birth.

“I don’t remember why when they finally handed her to me, but I remember her afterwards: a warm weight in my arms, her head curling surprisingly around my own.”

Our first indication of how close she was to Becky was when we learn she text her between contractions and that she was the only one she text.

For much of No Further Questions the reader will feel torn between the two opposing arguments put forward during the trial.

“The woman who used to WhatsApp me first thing, every single day, without fail. The woman whose eyebrows I plucked on the eve of her wedding, both of us laughing as when they became more and more uneven. The woman who painted my living room with me one Easter weekend. We didn’t stop chatting for the entire four days. My sister. My best friend.

And now: here we are.

Cot death, the defence says – unexplained.

Murder, the prosecution says.

I look across at my sister in the dock. The woman accused of murdering my child.”

The book deals with the weeks preceding Layla’s death as well as the immediate aftermath and the trial.

One of the things I thought the author did particularly well was when she examines the impact of Layla’s death on the whole family not just on Martha, her husband Scott, and Becky. She writes about the impact on their parents, on their brother, on Becky’s husband and on her son Xander.

The most devastating effect for them both was the inevitable strain the trail placed on their relationship.

“It has been nine and a half months since it happened, and nine months since we last saw each other. We were prohibited from speaking from the moment she was charged. We became opposing witnesses. Me for the prosecution and her for the defense. Two sisters carved in two by the justice system. “

Being both a new mother and close to my sister like Martha I still found it hard to put myself in her position because I cannot conceive of any situation where I would believe my sister had done something so terrible not even for a moment. However, the author does a very good job of helping us to see why Martha feels herself a traitor ‘caught in no-mans land between my daughter and my sister.”

One other thing she portrayed well was the way the woman is often blamed in situations like these and the male parental figure is absolved by virtue of being male.

“There are only women in this case. Me. My sister. My daughter. Two female barristers. The almost all-female jury. The witnesses. All women, so far. Mothers, daughters, friends. This tiny world seems to revolve around us. It discards the men. They are not expected to look after their children, and they are not blamed when they don’t.”

Martha blames herself for being away and Scott too for extending his trip. Mostly she blames herself for not being a better mother and goes around and around endlessly thinking of things she believes she didn’t do right for Layla or could have done better.

“And here we are; the culpable parents. The parents who were not there. We’re not in the dock, but we should be.”

This book contains a few twists and turns and the final one was one I had an inkling about fairly early on, but it didn’t diminish my enjoyment of the book.

Finally, although I enjoyed the book immensely It is only fair to warn the potential reader that there are some fairly distressing descriptions of the dead baby within the book.

I am afraid I struggled with this book. It seemed to go on endlessly. I suppose I am not a keen lover of "court case" stories but I did not really enjoy it. I really felt that it as a very long book about not a great deal.
I hate to give a bad review when the author has obviously spent a lot of time researching the subject. However that is my opinion.
The basic story of a child mysteriously murdered, whilst in the care of the mother's sister, takes a great deal of time and effort to finally discover the reason for the death.
Not quite my sort of story, sorry.

Thanks to Net Galley and Penguin UK for an ARC of this book in exchange for a review.
Another excellent read from Gillian McAllister. A fast paced court room thriller, with the spot light on two sisters. Becky is in the dock as the defendant,charged with the murder of 8 week old baby Layla, her sisters daughter. Martha is Layla’s mother, she is in the gallery listening to the evidence that is being presented, firstly by the prosecution and then the defence team, she is unsure what verdict she is hoping for.
An emotional rollercoaster as the events of the tragic evening unfold, is Becky guilty, did she hurt Layla, was someone else there, was it an accident?
Martha and her husband also feel guilty that they hadn’t been there, they had both been away, they hadn’t been putting their baby daughter first. The drama unfolds with a twist Rather a chilling yet powerful read.

What a fantastic, well written court room drama Gillian McAllister has written.
You feel for all the characters, the did she - didn't she keeps you guessing,

Book a day off, make a flask, get comfy and prepare for a rollercoaster ride of emotions, twists and turns.

Thank you netgalley, Penguin and Gillian McAllister for allowing me to read and review this book.

If you like a book to obsess about and get your heart rate up then look no further – it’s here!

This is the story of two sisters and a court case; one a defendant, one a witness. Each day, they sit in court watching and listening to the details unfold in front of them. Guilty or innocent?

I’m quite shattered after reading this, finished in a day. I struggled to lay it aside even to make a coffee – and, believe me, I drink a lot of coffee! This is a compulsive, compelling read and I changed my opinion on the possible verdict with almost every turn of a page. It is an amazingly well plotted book, giving nothing away whilst throwing up possibilities here, there and all over the place. I’m not surprised that the author is part of the legal profession; the courtroom scenes are vibrant, impressive and put the reader firmly in the place of a voyeur; when it comes to writing she has truly studied her craft.

The details are tantalisingly revealed and I feel as if I have lived and breathed the very same air as the characters. Wow! Different, challenging and so, so surprising – this is a read which will play with your emotions due solely to the nature of the case. As an added bonus there’s a labrador – which you all know by now always warms my heart but, to be fair, he doesn’t put in an appearance until I was already smitten with the story! And the outcome? Well, obviously you have to find that out for yourself but I was shocked to my core. Awesome, stunning and I cannot recommend this novel highly enough to do it justice.

My grateful thanks to Michael Joseph – an imprint of Penguin Books, for my copy via NetGalley. This is my honest, original and unbiased review.

The writing and characters in this book are very strong. I had my suspicions as to who might have 'done it' but couldn't work out how as the evidence didn't fit. Very clever story telling.