Brillant. Lots of twists and turns and courtroom drama. Fans of Jodi picoult will love it. Fully recommend

Thanks to HQ and NetGalley for the ARC in retrun for an unbiased review.
Every parent's worst nightmare when childcare is entrusted to a third party and it all goes wrong.
A frightening story that take you on a rollercoaster ride from the ill fated day of the incident through to the court case and outcome.
Is everything as it appears to be ?
You bet it isn't and loads of twists in the storyline.
You won't regret reading this one.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for this ARC.

Having read the authors previous books I was pleased to get this and had high expectations. Did the book live up to my expectations - yes, it went above and beyond. Way beyond. The author has woven an intricate story here with family drama and family dynamics around a tragic event. She writes very eloquently and describes her characters feelings, thoughts and emotions so well. I was drawn immediately into the story, and read it in one day. I found this to be an engaging, heart breaking, poignant and sad read and the author doesn’t hold anything back. I think she excels when writing the court scenes which were absolutely compelling to read. I expected twists towards the end and the author definitely delivered here. Just when I’d got my head around one twist another one was cleverly thrown in. And the ending .... wow. This is one of those books that I know will be on my mind for a while afterwards. It was thought provoking and flowed together so well. I can’t praise Kia Abdullah highly enough here, this was a cracker of a read.

*4.5 stars *

Probably one of the most intense, distressing, and tragic opening chapters that I’ve ever read. This is a true scenario from hell.

When Leila Syed takes a call from her brother in law Andrew, asking why she didn’t drop his three year old son Max off at nursery that morning, the panic and realisation of what she has just done hits her, and it means their lives are about to come crashing down in the most unimaginable and tragic way.

During the journey to the nursery, Leila is distracted by an urgent call from her workplace (she is a busy professional, a partner in a successful architectural company). Though she has an exceptionally busy life, she still helps her sister Yasmin and her husband Andrew out, by looking after Max, and today she was meant to drop the toddler off at nursery, but the phone call meant that she forgot that the quietly sleeping Max, was in the back of the car - he was left there for hours on the hottest day of the year. A tragedy that results in Leila facing a negligent manslaughter charge in this excellent courtroom drama.

Though handled with sensitivity, this is a really heart wrenching storyline that brings to the surface, sibling rivalry, jealousy and resentment that goes back years. As the story unfolds, the tension is, at times, unbearable, but author Kia Abdullah, is adept at keeping the reader on the edge of their seat, with some unforeseen twists and turns that makes one draw breath. Another winner for this author, and highly recommended.

Three year old Max has been left asleep in the back of his aunt Leila’s car in her office car park on a very hot day.
A thriller with interesting characters and many twists and turns.
This is the first book I have read by this author and I will be looking out for more of her work.
Thank you to NetGalley and HQ for my e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

A really tough read because the subject matter is so heartbreaking. It’s well written and full of twists that keep you locked into the story until the end, but personally it was too upsetting for me.

Totally enthralled by this! it was so much better than I had expected, and the plot developed so unexpectedly. Lots of thought provoking themes to make you consider what would you do...

4.5⭐️

I was keen to read this as I am a big fan of this authors work.

Leila regularly helps out her sister Yasmin with Max, but on this particular morning she gets an unexpected call to help out by dropping Max at nursery as her brother in law Andrew has a work emergency.
On her normal route to work she gets a panicked call from a colleague due to do an important presentation, she is needed at the office. She calls in the office to sort the problem and carries on her work day, until she gets a call from Andrew saying that the nursery have contacted him as Max hadn’t turned up.
Max died from hyperthermia from being left in the hot car for 3 hours.
This is the beginning of the story.
DI Christopher Shepard ( Shep) is in charge of the ensuing police investigation.

The raw visceral pain of all of the parties is excellently portrayed. It’s easy to feel for all of the family members and get drawn into their sense of loss and despair. Although we see the court case it feels more character driven than courtroom thriller. The girls back story is poignant too. The characterisation is really well done.

The pace is slow though, which is always a drawback for me, plus there is repetition of various facts throughout the trial that the reader is already privy to.
The ending is brilliant, and lifts my rating score. A great read which I recommend.

Kia Abdullah, Next of Kin

Kia Abdullah’s Next of Kin is a suspenseful, well-written, sharply observed legal thriller. On a hectic and exceptionally hot morning, high-flying architect Leila Syed is asked to drop Max, her three-year old nephew, at nursery on her way to work. A few hours later, her brother-in-law phones to ask where Max is, and when she runs to her sweltering car, the toddler is dead in his car seat.

DS Chris Shepherd, investigating, begins the process of trying to bring systematic judgment to bear on an event that seems to defy understanding:

“There, in the neat black lines of his A4 pad were the makings of a tragedy. But what really happened? And who was to blame? He turned a page and wrote the name Leila Syed in his angular scrawl. Beneath it, he listed his first impressions of her. Calm, logical, practical, he wrote. Then, next to it, cold, distant, inscrutable.”

What unfolds is a tangled and emotionally fraught family drama, framed by the “neat black lines” of the official investigation and of Leila’s trial for negligent manslaughter. To understand what happened we need to penetrate the complex relationships that bind Leila, her younger sister Yasmin and their husbands together in a disturbing web of love, misunderstanding, resentment, sibling rivalry and jealousy.

Abdullah is extremely skilled at managing both the tensions and surprises of a good courtroom drama and at probing the emotional and psychological conflicts within the family itself. When the reader thinks the answers are almost clear, there is more to come – the sort of final twists that make sure we remain on the edge of our seats until the very end.

WOW !! Just wow. Thanks #netgalley for my e-arc of #nextofkin in exchange for my honest review.

I honestly don’t remember requesting a copy of Next Of Kin but I really am glad that I did.

This was such a poignant and filled with so much emotion, allowing me to really connect with the whole story.

I was really intrigued by the title of this novel and was really interested it finding out the meaning to this.

What I particularly enjoyed about this novel was how factual and accurate Kia Abdullah managed to keep the whole story, in regards to the workings of a trial whilst still delivering such emotional scenes through only words.

It took me exactly one week to finish this novel. Not because I didn’t enjoy it, far from it. It was because I became so involved and the who novel and I felt that I really needed to take my time with it.

I was also taken aback by how original the ending was. As I read so many books within this same genre, I often have already figured out how it’s going to end. This was not the case here. And it was not until the end that the title actually made sense, making it a very refreshing read.

This is my first book that I've read by Kia Abdullah and I've just downloaded her other 2!! I was blown away by the story and the writing. Kia is clearly a writer that's not afraid to handle difficult topics.

The opening chapter totally gripped and moved me. Leila is asked by her brother in law to take her nephew, Max, to nursery that morning and it's only when she's called later on by him that she realises her actions led to the death of her 3 year old nephew.

This book pulled my heart into so many directions!!

"How tragic it was, she thought. They were children without a mother. And now, they were mothers without children"

Wow. One of the best courtroom dramas I've read in a long, long while! Next of Kin is a gripping and original family drama, exploring the bonds between siblings and spouses and how far you'll go to protect people you love, even without all the facts... (I won't say any more for fear of spoiling the plot, needless to say the twists really were heart-stopping in their tragic timing!)

Leila Syed is a driven, ambitious woman running her own architectural firm. She's raised her younger sister Yasmin since they were orphaned when Leila was 18 and Yasmin only 11. It would be fair to say Leila has always looked out for Yasmin and been keen to protect her from harm and heartbreak, to her own detriment.

Leila has been unable to have her own children with her husband Will, and so helps out Yasmin and her husband Andrew with their three-year-old, Max, whenever she can. One morning, Andrew calls in a fluster, asking if Leila can drop Max to nursery on her way to the office, as he has a work emergency. Leila of course agrees, she adores her nephew and is always happy to help.

Later that morning, Andrew rings Leila in a panic. Max was never dropped off at nursery that morning. Where is he?

Leila is horrified to realise that Max has been locked in the backseat of her car for hours, on the hottest day of the year. She forgot to drop him off.

Or did she....?

Leila's life as she knew it is over as her family is torn apart and she is put on trial for killing her beloved nephew.

As the story unfolds, it gets more and more complicated as there is far more to this case than meets the eye.

I could barely put this down and found it gripping from beginning to end. If you enjoy a courtroom drama with twists and turns, and a surprise ending, I would highly recommend picking this up. I'm now very keen to read Kia Abdullah's other books, if Next of Kin is anything to go by!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC.

I’m not entirely where to start with this review, but just WOW!!

This book raises so many questions! Which are hard to talk about, without risking spoilers.

Throughout the book, I really felt for the characters and couldn’t imagine being in any of their situation. The courtroom sections were my favourite, I could just envisage Leila sitting there with the jury/ judge around her.

The twists are outstanding and this is a must read for anyone who enjoys courtroom dramas. My first book by the author, but it won’t be my last.

Thank you to Netgalley and the author for this advanced readers copy in exchange for any honest review.
#nextofkin #kiaabdullah
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I've two other books by Kia Abdullah which I really enjoyed. I'm a sucker for court room dramas and I loved the main character!
This one I was less enamoured with. It had the same pacy plot and short chapters but I didn't really engage with the characters and I found the plot a bit of a stretch. I knew from early on that things were clearly not how they seemed. I had reached my own conclusions, which turned out to only be partially correct, but the actual twists left me feeling quite uncomfortable. Maybe it's because a child was involved.
I will probably read more by this author but this one wasn't really for me.

Thank you to Netgalley, HQ and Kia Abdullah for this ARC in return for my honest review. Having read Kia's first two novels, I was delighted to get my hands on this one. It's definitely my favourite of the three and a must-read. Gripping from the opening pages. The subject matter was a tough one but dealt with with such sensitivity. An emotional and compelling family legal drama. Now the problem is having to wait for Kia's next book.

Firstly I would like to thank Kia Abdulla and NetGalley for the E-Arc and secondly to say this is my first book I’ve read by Kia and it will most definitely not be my last.
Lelia Syed is a busy professional with a striving business, from the outside she looks like she has it all but a closer look tells a different story.
Leila from a young age took on the care of her younger sister and has alway gone above and beyond for her, including dutifully helping care for her nephew Max but one last minute request leads to a tragic accident for the family.
Wow this has got to be one of my favourite books I have read this year. I found the story to be intriguing and very different to any book I’ve read previously. There were many twists and turns which kept me on the edge of my seat and I could not believe what I was reading.
I enjoyed each and every character, with each of them pulling me further and further into the story.
An absolute gem of a read and I would highly recommend.

This was a gripping drama examining family relationships which are strained to breaking point by tragedy. But what first seems a desperate mistake unravels to reveal much more below the surface. We are kept intrigued until the very last pages.

Thank you to the author, publishers HQ and NetGalley UK for access to this as an advance reader’s ebook. This is an honest and voluntary review.

Kia Abdullah has done it again. She has a particular skill for exploring the different perspectives of everyone involved in a terrible situation and showing how no one is wholly innocent and yet neither are they wholly to blame. Unlike her previous two books Next of Kin doesn’t feature Zara Kaleel, the former lawyer turned counsellor. However, it similarly takes a very sensitive situation and cleverly peels back all of the reader’s prejudices.

Leila Syed is a busy professional, running her own architectural firm. But, she always makes time to help her younger sister and her husband with childcare for their son Max. But, when a last minute request interrupts her usual morning routine it ends in tragedy. Now Leila has to fight to keep her family and defend herself in court for a tragic accident.

A well-rounded courtroom drama plays out in front of the jury, in the media and behind the scenes as social judgements on what it takes for a woman to be successful take centre stage.
A great drama and a gripping plot. I particularly appreciate that as a reader, and unlike in real life, we do get to find out what really happened and why.

Having read Kia Abdullah's two previous novels and thoroughly enjoyed them both I couldn't wait to read Next of Kin. What can I say...? I think this may be her best book yet! Once again Kia has taken a highly emotional and sensitive subject and turned it into a well written, hard hitting courtroom drama. Her writing kept me gripped and my emotions were all over the place as I empathised with, railed against and supported each main character in turn. Definitely not an easy read in parts, but always dealt with sensitively. I think Next of Kin is the best novel I've read this year and well worth 5 stars. I highly recommend it.
Thanks to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an arc of this book.

Well written but the story is extremely similar to an episode of CSI called 'Feeling The Heat' (without some of the relationship twists) so I was a bit disappointed with the resolution. If I hadn't seen the show I would have enjoyed it much more as it's a great plot.