A pacy, thrill-packed story with an ending I didn’t see coming. I was prepared for the dark subject matter after reading the marketing blurb (make sure you do this too) so I knew I was in for a rollercoaster of emotions. This was addictive, cleverly written and one I’d recommend to fans of psychological courtroom dramas.

Next Of Kin Kia Abdullah

I devoured this book an a day! Check out the blurb, as that will count as your trigger warning for this book.
Once you are like me, and can read difficult topics, then you are in for a hell of a ride.
I read, and absolutely loved Take It Back and it's explosive, so was hoping for more of the same as I got it!
Superb courtroom writing, fantastic character building and a storyline that breaks your heart. As we drew closer to the verdict, I didn't know what I wanted.

Kia is fast becoming a favourite author of mine, more like this please!

I’m a bit confused about this one. I don’t know if I loved it or hated it! When I was actually reading, I was gripped, desperate to know what had happened and feeling terrible for poor little Max and for Leila. Well, I felt sorry for her and then I hated her for being so stupid and irresponsible. Then I was confused because she didn’t seem like the sort of person who would make such a horrendous mistake. So I was conflicted, but I was also enjoying the drama.

Then I cam to the end and I was gobsmacked. Some reviewers say the twist(s) at the end are predictable, so I must be really suffering with menopause brain because I genuinely had no idea. The twists, I thought, were fabulous, so very clever.

Then I mulled things over for a few days and all the annoying things I’d pushed away while I was caught up in the drama came bubbling up to the surface. Why was Leila so cold? Why was her brother-in-law so pathetic? Why was her sister so flipping ungrateful and spiteful?

And then I read another review and something that had been nagging at me suddenly clicked into place – there is a bit of a plot hole that most parents will recognise (I can only imagine that I didn’t either because of my menopause brain or the fact that my children are grown up). And then I wondered about the motivation behind the big plot twist. It didn’t seem enough to me.

So half of me wants to give this five stars for a really engaging and page-turning read, and half of me wants to give it two stars. So I’ll give it three and a half and recommend it because it IS a good read, if you don’t think about it too much!

I always enjoy Kia Abdullah’s thrillers, which are never quite what they first appear and without fail come with at least one or two major twists. Next of Kin certainly delivers in that regard. It is a tense courtroom drama mixed with the story of a devastating family fracture. I found it totally gripping throughout and emotionally intense from start to finish. It is a story about family relationships, motherhood, guilt, perception and culpability. The characters are flawed and layered in a way that makes their struggles feel immediate . I must confess that I think there was perhaps one twist too many by the end but I still found it a propulsive and well crafted thriller with no easy answers to some twisted and emotional moral questions.

I must firstly apologise for the amount of time it has taken me to provide a review of this book, my health was rather bad for quite some time, something that had me in hospital on numerous occasions and simply didnt leave me with the time I once had to do what I love most.

Unfortunately that does mean I have missed the archive date for many of these books, so It would feel unjust throwing any review together without being able to pay attention to each novel properly.

However, I am now back to reading as before and look forward to sharing my honest reviews as always going forward. I thank you f0r the patience and understanding throughout x

What did I just read - I’m actually dizzy 🥴. I really did think this one wasn’t going to be much different to another read of a similar storyline so wasn’t holding out much hope. BUT OMG Kia Abdullah has done it again! Just when you think you have it all figured out she completely turns you upside down, inside out and back to front 😳. Very well developed cleverly written storyline that just keeps you turning those pages to satisfy your run away mind. I really didn’t care for any of the characters and just couldn’t bring myself to like them despite the tough topic. They were all despicable in their own way. It’s a little slow paced for my liking but it really does ramp up in the last 1/4 and as for the twists they’d make you dizzy. I haven’t met a Kia Abdullah book yet I didn’t like and this one has just been added to the list.

Thanks to Netgalley and HQ for the opportunity to read and review #NextOfKin

Where do I start? I can’t believe I have waited so long to read this, my first Kia Abdullah book! What started as an interesting book, with an intriguing, harrowing, tough subject read, (don’t read if you can’t handle child death) has some threads where I thought, woah, here we go …. Twists coming, ‘I think it happened like this’ moments. Then the unexpected started happening, and not just once!

I found myself on tenter hooks at several moments in this story and wasn’t sure who to believe. This seemingly tough court room drama envelops so much more: family, childhood, jealousy, marriage to name but a few. It is a tragic story in so many ways.

If you can cope with a difficult storyline, told brilliantly, then I would highly recommend this book.

Brilliant book! Tough subject, but the storyline around it was fascinating. Twist and turns leave you gasping!
Loved it, can’t read to read more from a great author!

I really didn't enjoy this book although from the description I thought it was going to be a very good read.
I was pleased to see that women featured highly in it but not really my type of 'heroine'.

What a great courtroom/legal thriller. So much tension throughout and the twist at the end actually made my jaw drop. I wasn't expecting it at all. In fact, there were several twists near the end and I didn't expect any of them. I'm not a parent but I can imagine this could be a difficult read for parents given the subject matter I can't wait to read more from the author if this is anything to go by.

Oh god I seriously held my breath throughout the whole book, I went blue 😂 wowsers seriously now this is a book and a half. Can’t believe this so my first book by the author, what have I been missing!!!! Fantastic I can’t give it enough stars and I’m praying they release another book sharping!!! A must read for 2022…don’t miss this one!!!!

𝙉𝙚𝙭𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙠𝙞𝙣 𝙗𝙮 𝙆𝙞𝙖 𝘼𝙗𝙙𝙪𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙝

This was my first read by Abdullah and I can’t believe I hadn’t heard of her before! I’d only seen glowing reviews fill the pages of Netgalley and I was not disappointed. This was such an expertly written plot that instantly draws you in and keeps you engaged— I love was unable to fly through the pages quick enough.

When I first read the synopsis I was so dubious as to how someone could just forget a child but this delves into the situation so deeply and has you questioning everyone. The death of a child is so immensely catastrophic and of course a difficult subject to read about but the author did such an incredibly good job of making it feel realistic and raw. I felt every intense emotion alongside the characters- the heartbreak, the horror and the anxiety were all palpable. This plot raised so many difficult questions and I really enjoy a book that has a moral dilemma at its heart.

I was completely hooked throughout and especially loved the cross examination and interrogations of the court case. This was one of those books that delivers a jaw dropping twist but then, when you think you’ve finally wrapped your head around it, spins off on another and leaves you reeling, trying to piece everything together. I highly recommend picking this up if you enjoy legal/courtroom thrillers!

𝗥𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ (4/5)

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐫 + 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐀𝐑𝐂!

Next of Kin is a breathtaking and jaw dropping court thriller that has so many twists. Kia Abdullah writes this type of story so well and it's a fantastic read.

First time I have read a koa book but I wasnt disappointed and found it hard to put down, I will look. for more from kia in the future

Hmmmmm...this is a difficult one.
Right from receiving this book I was so exited to read it, the premise sounded sharp, painful, unimaginable and I just had to know what happened. I haven't read many court-room thrillers so I was especially excited to give this one ago. I read this in about three sittings. These sittings were short and I was quite literally on the edge of my seat. I was in two minds about how to feel about what was happening in the story; pain for the lost child or compassion for a tragic accident? What I wasn't in two minds about though was how I was feeling about the book. I was well and truly gripped, it had created such a dilemma in my mind that even when I wasn't reading it it was on my mind. And I felt this way, for about 75% of the book. Basically until the court case was over and a little after that.
Without spoiling, in about the last quarter of this book I personally believe it became too convoluted. I will admit that it was a very well-done and shocking twist, but in this book I personally thought it was a case of 'just because you can doesn't mean you should'. I know that plenty of people will have loved this book for exactly the reason I didn't but to put it simply I enjoyed it enough with just the courtcase element. I thought it was complex and thought-provoking. I thought the characters were well fleshed-out and like I understood each one of them but that just made the story all the more painful and all the more genius. I personally thought examining this family and the character dynamics following this tragic event, and the difficulty that comes with a courtcase and deciding whether it's possible to forgive was enough for me.
Despite the slight disappointment by the end of this book I will be reading anything else Kia Abdullah releases in the future as I thought her writing was fast-paced, vivid, and despite not thinking the final twist was necessary in this book I nonetheless concede that it was a stroke of genius; set-up to near perfection without any gaping holes.
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the early copy of Next of Kin.

Next of kin - Kia Abdullah

I’m sorry I Didn’t get to finish…..Expired before I got a chance such a shame.

Kia Abdullah certainly has the knack for writing great books. Having read her other books I was looking forward to her latest and it certainly didn't disappoint. Leila Syed is a successful architect who has a younger sister Yasmin who was brought up by Leila after their mother died. Yasmin and her husband have a young son Max, aged 3, and live quite close to Leila who then regularly rely on for childminding duties. However one morning Leila receives a phone call from her brother in law to ask if she would drop Max at his nursery school. Leila agrees, albeit reluctantly as she has a busy schedule. Unfortunately she is distracted by a phone call from a colleague which results in her forgetting about Max and he is left in the car on the hottest day of the year. Leila is charged with his manslaughter and the second part of the book deals with her trial.

There are so many twists in this story that you are never quite sure whether Leila did forget about Max or if she left him intentionally and, if so, why?

The only part that jarred with me is the age of Max. I wouldn't expect a 3 year old to be fast asleep at 8 am and neither would they be lifted into the car in the type of seat you'd use for a younger child. However, apart from that, this was a very enjoyable read.

Woah!! This was incredibly tense, gripping and heart wrenching. A great read. 5 very well earned stars.

Another great read from Kia Abdullah, I loved her previous one too. She write with suspense that captivates her readers keeping them up reading late into the night. I cried out 'Oh No'! as I saw Leila head to her place of work- a drastic turn of events, something, because of external distractions, that could so easily happen, that has happened to others, and that can rip families apart. This was such a great read that I did not want to end!!!

CW: child loss and miscarriage

Next of Kin is a heart wrenching story, told in 3 parts; the before, during and after. Leila is called to take her nephew, Max to pre-school, it’s hot, she’s busy, she’s distracted. Max is sleeping in the back. Leila rushes to work…3hrs later, she gets a call…Max didn’t make it to school.

This courtroom/domestic thriller was brilliantly written! I read it in 24hrs and couldn’t stop thinking about it. The courtroom scenes can be hard to read; the prosecuting lawyer is brutal and cut-throat which makes it so hard to decide the facts!

There was one twist I saw coming but the following 3 or 4 had me shook! Such a well crafted story of love, loss and sacrifice.

Due to the hard-hitting nature of the book (and I did have to check on my sleeping child half-way through this book) I have given it 4* - as a parent myself this was a VERY tough topic to read which stopped me giving it the full 5*.