The Evidence Against You - Gillian McAllister

Reading Challenge Category: Book club March read

Official Blurb:

17 years after being convicted of murder, Izzy's father is finally released from prison.
She wants nothing to do with him - but he claims to be innocent.
She's always believed he killed her mother, but now doubts are creeping in.
Because if he's telling the truth, then someone else has been lying all this time . . .

My Thoughts:

This was the first book chosen by a book club I have just joined. After reading Gillian McAllister in the past, I was more than happy for this to be the selected book. However, it was a big disappointment for me, and I didn’t really enjoy it. If I hadn’t have had to read it, would I have given up on it? Most probably as there wasn’t anything really to keep me gripped, and the pace throughout was way too slow and morose.
I felt like the whole story was pulling teeth; a lot of nothing happens throughout while Izzy is trying to see whether her father was innocent or not. I needed something more from it to keep me turning the pages, and I just wasn’t getting it. Thinking back on it, the whole story just makes me feel very sleepy. The tales retold by Gabe were too far and in-between. In these sections, we should have been able to start piecing together what had happened. However, nothing really moved forwards or was discovered. Izzy didn’t make the most of these sessions; she just passively listened and then unemotionally recalled her version of events.
I stuck with it, obviously having to so I could discuss it at my book club, but it certainly wasn’t worth it. I knew something had to be uncovered, but I felt it was all a bit too easy when it was. It was very anti-climatic.
I found it hard to engage with the characters, they were very one dimensional, and nothing about them made me care what the outcome was going to be. Her mother seemed a little interesting, but we get nothing from her point of view. The characters on the periphery were annoying as they just kept shutting Izzy down and didn’t want to discuss anything. This contributed to the book being quite boring as nothing was being said or done.
I found the whole story very unrealistic. Why had Izzy not looked into anything before now? It had been 18 years! I know it sort of explains at the beginning that she liked to ignore important matters, but when it came to it, by not looking into it before hers and her dad’s lives had been ruined. It was all such a waste of time. She gave up on her dreams, and he became so institutionalised that he couldn’t function in the real world properly. He, too, had lost everything dear to him. So along with the book being dull, it was frustrating as there is nothing I hate more than wasted time and opportunities.
This book was very much a let-down compared to the other books that I have read by this author. Only a two-star read from me!