Anything You Do Say

ANYTHING YOU DO SAY

by Gillian McAllister 

*My thanks to the publisher for an advance copy of this novel via NetGalley* 

I am so late to the party with this novel - don't let the same happen to you! I have been hearing so much about this book and wanted to read it for so long that then I had that dreadful fear it wouldn't live up to my expectations... 

Well, what was I worrying about? This is a brilliant book!

This story is being widely referred to as a 'sliding doors' story - the main character has a moment to make a decision which will change the rest of her life. One chapter follows one choice, the alternate chapter follows the alternative choice. It's clever and a great premise for a thriller. However, I do think the 'sliding doors' label slightly undersells this novel. Anything You Do Say is so much more complex, intelligent, emotional and insightful than just watching two different scenarios from the one same moment play out. This book is very affecting and has a colossal emotional impact on the reader. It is a gripping thriller but it is also a thoughtful and thorough reflection on the psychological impact of decisions and choices. 

One night Joanna is walking home from the pub and hears footsteps. Is she being followed? Is it the creep from the pub that was bothering her earlier? As the steps speed up behind her, she spins around and pushes the man with all her might. He falls down the flight of steps and does not move. Standing at the top of the steps she takes a moment before deciding what to do. Fight or flight? Truth or lie? Right or wrong? 

As you must know by now, I am a huge fan of a 'what if' question and here McAllister takes this to the extreme. She not only explores, but examines, exposes and rips apart every single avenue and no aspect of the decision made by Joanna is left untouched or forgotten. At times the writing is raw, sometimes sad, sometimes painful but always full of insight, meaning and depth. Joanna's character is incredibly well written. McAllister has had to create two Joanna's and both have to react differently but with consistency and conviction. It is never confusing which character we are with and never at any point does McAllister lose the narrator's voice, over play the tormented feelings or emotional struggles. The reader has sympathy for both Joanna's and is caught up in each storyline as much as the other. McAllister avoids cliche and predicability and has produced a book that can only be described as captivating. 

I also enjoyed the characterisation of Reuben, Joanna's husband. We see his pain through a slight gesture, a judgemental silence or an inability to know what to say. His presence is always there and although we never hear from him directly, his conflict, turmoil and both weakness, strength and bravery is conveyed through carefully depicted detail. 

What also makes this book stand out is that the plot doesn't do what you might expect it to. McAllister catches the reader out with different twists and turns, complications and obstacles that the reader won't see coming. Her point isn't to shock us though, maybe more to make the book more realistic. McAllister goes beyond the obvious and really delves into the lasting impact of deciding to tell a lie or to stay and face the consequences. There are deeper moral and ethical questions at stake in this novel and she makes them hard to answer, filling them full of grey areas and showing the reader the numerous unforeseeable consequences and repercussions that are triggered from Joanna's decision. 

Like Emma Donoghue's Room, McAllister is interested in what happens after the immediate aftermath. I enjoyed was how McAllister follows the story line to the furthest possible moment. She wants to explore not just the moment of the crime and the investigation by the police - the bit we all know is coming - but what happens further along the line. This is a novel that continues to place the character under more and more pressure. This is a novel looking at the impact one decision has on all future decisions, how one lie can quickly come to mean much more that you realised it would - more than you can cope with. Or it is a novel that shows just how much you can handle, just how strong you can be and just what you can build out of a situation that felt so hopeless. Anything You Do Say continues to deliver until the last page. It starts with a hugely compelling sliding doors moment and maintains this tension, suspense, interest and engagement consistently until the very last word. 

The last third of the novel is bleak. It is devastatingly good. This atmosphere is reflected through the language as it becomes more sparse, more hopeless, more distant. It's bold for McAllister to take the story to this extreme but it is utterly rewarding for the reader and I found it really fascinating. I loved how each version of the character is changed in a way the reader could never have foreseen.

The court scenes are very convincing and I was touched by the small details. It was these that caused more impact and created more intensity than anything else. McAllister makes you life and breathe every moment with Joanna. The scenes are powerful and the her characterisation is incredibly impressive. The tiny details, acute and candid observations make it more raw, more psychological and highly emotive. 

This is a great book. There is so much to discuss; dilemma, choice, consequences but also fallibility, judgement, the harm we do ourselves, guilt and atonement. It was a much more sophisticated read than I was prepared for and I have struggled to forget it. So vivid was the story and so caught up in Joanna's mind, I found myself wanting to talk about it to everyone - catching myself daydreaming about a specific scene or moment that had struck a cord with me. I highly recommend you grab a copy of Anything You Do Say as soon as you can.  

Anything You Do Say is published by Penguin on 25th January 2018.