I wanted to love this, ive loved other similar books and this author’s previous work but I found it really hard to get into. I couldn’t seem to follow what was happening. Maybe I’ll re-read in a few months and see again

An important story, beautifully and sympathetically written.

#NoSpoilers the story keeps giving right to the end. I would have preferred to stick with the main character in the latter part of the book. As interesting as the other characters are, it felt like some of the tension and pace was lost by diverting to them. This was a minor quibble though and still very much a five star read for me.

Highly recommend.

After enjoying Take It Back I couldn’t wait to read this second book by Kia Abdullah. I did not realise it continued on with character Zara Kaleel and was pleased to find this. Truth Be Told is another legal/courtroom drama again on the subject of rape, however it again appears to have been written sensitively. There was a twist at the end of the book which I did not see coming also like the first. This book would make a great three/four part tv drama. I would definitely recommend!

Truth be told is a tense thriller that tackles sensitive and important issues. Kamran attends a prestigious boarding school and comes from a wealthy Muslim family with high expectations for him. He bravely comes forward to seek help after being sexually assaulted by a fellow pupil and Zara Kaleel supports him in his quest for justice.
After reading this book, I discovered that Kia Abdullah has written another book (Take it back) involving Zara, but Truth be told works well as a stand alone novel. A great read for fans of courtroom dramas and interesting to read a book that includes an important storyline from the perspective of the Muslim culture.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Kia Abdullah's debut novel Take It Back which stayed with me for some time, I was excited to read the author's second novel. Similarly to her first book, Truth Be Told is a thought provoking and profoundly moving drama exploring the taboo subject of male rape.

Kamran is a confident 17 year old boy from a good Muslim family attending a prestigious boarding school. After a night of partying and drinking, Kamran wakes up and realises there is someone else in his bed. The experience haunts him and Kamran decides to report the rape in order to get a closure he desperately needs. However, by doing so he disrupts the successful path his father projected for him and the perfect world he used to live in comes crumbling down.The book features the assault counsellor Zara Kaleel from the first book who herself is an interesting character with a bumpy past who doesn't easily conform to her culture traditions and family expectations.

What I enjoyed most about both books is that when I think the story is nearing the end and there's nothing left to say, Kia surprises me with a twist that I did not see coming at all. She did it in her first novel but it caught me totally off guard again the second time around. 

Many thanks to HQ for my review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I found the writing of Kia Abdullah quite hard to read as it chopped and changed from one character to another without any warning. I also found it hard to get into, however saying that, once I did get hooked on it I was desperate to find out what happened.

The parents were unlikeable and I pitied Kamran and Adam for having parents like them despite their lifestyle. I did get emotional during some parts of this book and the ending was a real twist.

I would like to thank HQ Stories/Harper Collins and Netgalley for an advance copy of this book in return for my honest review.

Firstly a big thank you to HQ for my copy to read on netgalley. I loved her debut which i had the pleasure of reviewing.

Another fantastic courtroom thriller which focuses on a moral dilemma. Asking huge questions and getting the brain working overtime. Thought provoking and culturally relevant.

Unpredictable and suspenseful.

A great read which introduces various cultures to the reader and their morals.

Excellent storyteller who clearly has done her research .

Published 3rd September

It was not until half way through this novel that my interest piqued! I was ignorant regarding the vocabulary and following the story and I had to finish.

Zara Kaleel is a person in crisis. A Muslim, a lawyer, a fractured woman with an addiction and an arranged marriage upset. Zara is counsellor to one of the brothers. The story centres on the Hadids, a wealthy Pakistani family, especially two brothers, Kamran 17 years old and Adam, 16 years old. Kamran accuses a fellow student at his school of rape. The courtroom case of Kamran has an unguessable ending. This novel is well outside my comfort zone! I struggled with genre and the unfamiliar vocabulary made it jagged reading. Shocking in parts but pleased to finish the book.

Readers of courtroom thrillers will enjoy this book but I struggled to continue but happy to finish and be able to review my thoughts on the novel.

I would recommend this novel and give a 4 star rating.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK NETGALLEY FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF READING AN ADVANCED COPY OF THIS BOOK

Seventeen year old Kamran Hadid has a great future ahead of him, he comes from a wealthy family, attends prestigious Hampton College where he boards and he has a place at Oxford. On the eve of an exeat ( a weekend away) he joins enthusiastically in the pre- exeat party where he, like many others, becomes very drunk and hazy. What happens that night with Finn Andersen becomes a court case after which nothing will ever be the same for Kamran and his family. Zara Kaleel becomes involved and helps fellow Muslim Kamran to the best of her ability.

This is an exceptional book and I think it will stay with me for a long time. I found it a profoundly moving reading experience and deeply thought provoking. The impact on Kamran is very emotional, his feelings are depicted very strongly and he feels the whole range from guilt to shame, embarrassment, anger and so on. He’s a boiling cauldron of emotion. He is pulled in different directions by the expectations of a conservative and very privileged school environment and also by the demands of his father Mack (Mustaque) who is the product of his upbringing and whose influence in his family is stifling and demanding. This book examines the taboo of homosexuality in the Muslim Faith and also what masculinity means. The author shows how this can be a cage and how the desire to be an alpha male can have toxic effects. The court case is excellent and you feel the tension as both sides of the argument are presented. There are a lot of shocks and things you don’t see coming that it jolts you like an electric shock, especially after the verdict. The characters are brilliantly portrayed and I really like Zara, she is fascinating and her background adds another dimension to the storytelling.

Overall, an outstanding book that covers relevant issues in a way that draws you into the narrative and makes you feel something. It’s hard to put down, it’s skilfully written and I am definitely a fan of Kia Abdullah.

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HQ for the ARC.

A gripping courtroom story about a very emotive subject. It was written with great sensitively and an understanding of the Pakistani culture and the pressures put on students whose lives at home and school can have completely different outlooks.
Thank you NetGalley and HQ for the ARC of this book

An absolutely brilliant court room drama. This was tense and fast paced and realistic. Brilliant. Highly recommended xx

Wow this was fantastic - quite a slow start although still enjoyable - but the second half was brilliant and thought provoking - highly recommended

An emotive topic is dealt with sensitively in this book. The characters were all so well drawn that you found them very believable.
There were many issues raised in this storyline and all made me feel that bit more aware without It being forced at all.

I enjoyed this book- a subject that isn't talked about, but it was the characters and the impact of traumatic events on lives that was quite compelling. Interesting to see a westernised Muslim perspective on the conflicts they face- family expectations versus fitting in.

Kia Abdullah is officially now my favorite author. I don’t say that lightly because there are some REALLY great authors out there. Truth Be Told, like its predecessor Take it Back, kept me gripped from the beginning until the end. But there are a lot of books that do that. What sets Kia apart from other writers is that she has this amazing ability to immerse me in a culture/religion I don’t know and weave words together to make me actually empathetic to every single character from one extreme to the other. She tells amazing stories and everything flows perfectly. Take it Back made me burst into tears at the very end. Truth Be Told made me cry several times during the book feeling the anguish right alongside the characters.
I really liked that we got to learn a little more of the aftermath from what happened after Take it Back ended. Kia writes in a way that makes the characters living, breathing people rather than just words on pages.
I’m already desperate for her to write another book about Zara the Brave.
Both Take it Back and Truth Be Told are now at the very top of my permanent list of books to recommend.

Thank you SO much to HQ and NetGalley for the incredible privilege of allowing me to read this book in advance!

‘It’s more complicated than yes versus no.’

Kamran is a bright, confident boy from a wealthy background, who has a bright future ahead of him. However, following a drunken night at his boarding school, his privileged existence is upended, leading him into the path of assault counsellor Zara Kaleel. What follows is a courtroom drama, but the overall story is so much more than that.

I particularly appreciated how Abdullah dealt with so many pertinent issues in this book – rape culture, male rape, consent, culture, religion, homosexuality, privilege, masculinity, family dynamics – yet none of the points were in any way laboured or contrived. The characters were so rich and felt very real, and I appreciated how nuanced they were, unlike in other titles with a similar theme that may very blatantly set out the “goody” versus the “baddy” from the off. There was never a sense that Abdullah was leading me as a reader towards any one particular conclusion, but presented the complexities of the characters’ trials with subtlety, compassion and intelligence, leaving me heartbroken at so many points in the story.

This was an incredible read, although an uncomfortable and devastating subject matter, and is one that I know will stay with me for some time to come. I will certainly be reading more of this author’s work in future.

My thanks to the author, NetGalley, and the publisher for the arc to review.

I was looking forward to this book, having enjoyed the first in the series. I worked in a school with high percentage of Indian and Pakistani pupils and was so aware of the conflicts they faced between their school lives and home where the culture and norms were completely different in some cases. We were also used to young girls disappearing, sometimes for weeks, when they were being matched up for arranged marriages. In all honesty though, most of the older girls in 6th form seemed to be quite happy with this. The insight into the cultural backgrounds of the characters is on of things I like most about these books.
If I'm honest, I liked the first book better. I felt that the ending of this one was quite frustrating and stretched credibility, although I admit that as a non Muslim I might be wrong in this opinion.
Zara is a great character and I hope we meet her again.

The Hadids are an ''effortful'' family. Flowers are sent for the slightest problem or achievement: letters are sent to thank and this prompts a phone call in return. There are two sons of the family, seventeen-year-old Kamran and sixteen-year-old Adam. Their mother, Sofia, regrets that she didn't name them the other way round: 'Adam and Kamran' trips off the tongue so much more easily than 'Kamran and Adam'. Sofia worries about that sort of thing. Both boys go to the prestigious Hampton school, where they board, despite the school being less than ten miles from their Belsize Park home. Kamran has a place at Oxford next year and all seemed to be going well until the night when he was raped.

Kamran shouldn't have been at the party: he was going to his friend's home in the Cotswolds but the party there was cancelled. The Hadid's weren't a raucous Asian family - a friend described them as more 'clenched' and whilst Kamran warned his younger brother not to drink too much at the school party he disregarded his own advice and staggered back to bed in West Lawn in the early hours of the morning. He was dimly aware of something happening a little later but woke the following morning to find Finn Anderson in bed with him. Kamran finally contacted a rape support adviser and then the Metropolitan Police.

The school would, of course, have preferred that they'd been able to deal with this 'internally'. Kamran interpreted this as meaning that there would have been an enquiry and it would have been found that Finn had no case to answer with the whole episode being put down to youthful, drunken high jinx. That wasn't what Kamran wanted and it isn't what Zara Kaleel, his counsellor, wanted either. It's going to end up in court.

There's no requirement for vengeance from Kamran - he simply wants justice to be done. He's in a difficult situation at home. His father can't deal with it and wishes that it had been handled by the school. It's not that he's not supporting Kamran - he loves him dearly - but he just wishes that everything would go away. And Sofia Hadid just doesn't do empathy. Finn Anderson is no better off: his parents are also wealthy but they're in Switzerland at the moment. They do assure him that they would come back if it was necessary.

Zara Kaleel wishes that Muslims came with a barometer so that you could gauge just how liberal they are. She's a fugitive from an arranged marriage - which led to her father issuing a death threat. Even her best friend, Safran, is strangely illiberal on certain subjects. Religion lends a murkiness to the case, but Zara's problem is simply that within her community she's a girl - and thus a ''half-formed thing''.

In essence, though, the nub of the case is simple, if not straightforward. It revolves around consent. Kamran did not say 'no' to Finn, but neither did he say 'yes'. Does the failure to give a positive indication of willingness have the same effect as a definite negative statement? The subject is handled with sensitivity but very thoroughly. It will make you think.

I guessed one of the twists at the end of the book, but I definitely missed the full corkscrew, despite all the clues being there. A superb read. I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy.

I loved take it back and I loved this! The amazing Zara is back and this time is helping a male victim of alleged rape from another boy. Such amazing characters and such an incredible story that keeps you guessing. Love love it!

I wasn’t sure about this book but once I started reading I couldn’t put it down. Such an emotive subject and written with such sensitivity. The story really tugged at your soul. Would definitely recommend.