It's the end of the night. You're walking home on your own. Then you hear the sound every woman dreads. Footsteps. Behind you. Getting faster.

You're sure it's him - the man from the bar who wouldn't leave you alone. You make a snap decision. You turn. You push. Your pursuer tumbles down the steps. He lies motionless, face-down on the floor.

Now what?

Call 999
Wait for the police to arrive. For judgement, for justice, whatever that may be. You just hope your husband, family and friends, everyone you love, will stand by you.

OR:

Run
Stay silent. You didn't mean to do it. You were scared, you panicked. And no one saw. No one will ever know. If you leave now. If you keep quiet. For ever.

Which will it be?

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

A real 'sliding doors' novel telling the tale should Jo make either choice above: Reveal or Conceal. Cleverly written and moves to a surprising conclusion. McAllister has rapidly established herself as an accomplished thriller writer, well worthy of the praise she receives. Fast becoming one of my faves. Thoroughly good read.

This story was captivating and really made me think "what would I have done?". Joanna leaves early on a night out after being hassled by a man. As she walks home she hears footsteps behind her...
What follows are alternating chapters to reveal or to conceal the truth.

I knew there was fair bit of hype and love for this book, and so I requested it, but I had completely forgotten what it was about when I started to read it. A clever Sliding Doors between 'conceal' and 'reveal' - protagonist Joanna shoves a bloke she believes is about to sexually assault her down a flight of steps. She hesitates - should she call an ambulance, or leg it? And thus splits the story.

Joanna isn't the most sympathetic of characters, but you do have empathy for her in both plotlines - it's no real spoiler to say that neither by fleeing, nor fessing up, does poor Joanna receive absolution. A great read that gets you thinking - would be perfect for a book club read.

Sliding Doors in book format-tell or hide is the basic format- Joanna is attacked but she fights off the attacker. But she’s left with choice- tell what happened or hide her involvement. It follows these parallel decisions and your left wondering what would you do?

It’s gripping to the end and thought provoking. Left me thinking about it days after.

On a night out something terrible happens, it is a night that could change everything with far-reaching consequences that impacts on the lives of so many.

Told with a dual narrative and two different paths the story follows Jo down both of these paths leading her to separate possible futures. Both start off exactly the same but the different outcomes for the same action couldn’t be more different.

Path One – Conceal and Path Two – Reveal.

What would you do? Truth or lie? Conceal or reveal?

Moving between the two scenarios is seamless and smooth. No confusion or losing track of what’s happening. Its like having two good books in one and both are as good as each other. Sometimes with these dual stories and narratives one tends to resonate more than the other but with this book both are equally as good. Both the Conceal and Reveal stories are so plausible and realistic that it is easy to see that this could actually happen to anyone, which makes it relatable and scary.

Touching on issues like relationships, friendship, trust and lies and an intimate look into one couple’s marriage this book will have you reflecting on your own and you cant help but ask yourself what would I do?

I found it fascinating to see the differences in Joanna’s relationships with friends and colleagues in each timeline, how it effected those relationships, how it changed their lives as well as her own. The characters are all so incredibly well fleshed out and well-rounded that they could so easily be real people making them really easy to relate to.

A really gripping thriller with enough suspense running throughout to keep you glued.

It has been marketed as “Gone Girl meets Sliding Doors” but if you weren’t a massive fan of Gone Girl don’t let that put you off reading this book. Judge it on its own merit as it deserves to be.
It is a book I would defiantly recommend!

Many thanks to the author Gillian McAllister, publishers Penguin UK – Michael Joseph and NetGalley for my copy in exchange for an honest, independent review.
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Should she or shouldn't she ...
That is the dilemma in this clever 'Sliding Doors' alternative style novel.
On a girl's night out with her friend, Joanna receives the unwelcome attentions of a guy in a London bar. On route home, she senses he is following her, fearing attack from her would be assailant she pushes him down a flight of steps.
With him lying motionless, should Joanna call 999 or run?

Anything you do say by Gillian McAllister.
This was a fantastic read. Great story and plot. Couldn't put it down. 5*.

Joanna and Laura are enjoying a Friday night in a bar when Joanna is sexually assaulted by a man who refused to take no for an answer. Once Joanna and Laura leave the bar they both go their separate ways, not long after leaving the bar Joanna gets the feeling that she is being followed, she is convinced that the man from the bar is the person following her and begins to panic. In an extreme state of worry Joanna pushes the man down some steps where he lands face down in a puddle. From herein Joanna has decisions to make. Should she help or should she flee? This is where the book follows two different paths, conceal or reveal.
An extremely fascinating book that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Joanna has always been an avoider. She has spent her adult life hiding bank statements and changing her career aspirations weekly. One night Joanna hears footsteps on her way home, is she being followed? She is sure it is the man from the bar who was giving her unwanted attention. Hearing the steps speed up Joanna turns and pushes with all of her strength, sending her pursuer tumbling down the steps and lying motionless on the floor. Now Joanna has to make a decision. Fight or flight? Truth or lie? Right or wrong?

This starts like a traditional crime read and then we have the Sliding Doors twist, following Joanna as she reveals what she has done and concealed what she has done. Immediately this makes the read unique, exciting and unlike anything I have read before. McAllister clearly defines the different scenarios, leaving the reader free to enjoy the rollercoaster of a ride. Clearly, the two different scenarios are going to have different consequences for Joanna and those around her, McAllister devotes equal time to both and both are realistic, exciting and left me feeling satisfied with the ultimate ending. When reading this, I did prefer one scenario over the other, which I think is natural with a read such as this, however I thoroughly enjoyed both and by the end of the read I loved both scenarios and McAllister does both of them justice.

‘Anything You Do Say’ is a crime read and a half but it is so much more than a crime read, this is crime with morals right at the heart of it. Joanna has a difficult decision to make in a situation where the lines are blurred by what is morally right to do. I loved that throughout this McAllister drops in the different public opinions that arise from Joanna’s situation, the two sides are covered and it is made clear that some people are in agreement with what Joanna did and others are not.

Joanna is the perfect character for this story, in the beginning I recognised a lot of myself in her, meaning I gained an instant connection with her and what she was about to go through. Her relationship with her husband, Reuben is glorious and I adored reading about their sometimes quirky relationship and seeing the impact that fateful night has on them. As well as this, to read about the impact on Joanna’s friends, family and colleagues was powerful, interesting and a massive plus for the book.

‘Anything You Do Say’ is a twisting, enticing crime read that is so different to anything else in this genre. I loved the concept and following through the two scenarios, this really is a very different read and one that is incredibly enjoyable as well as questioning what is morally right or wrong.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin UK for an advance copy.

What seemed like a really well-contsructed book with a fresh approach has turned into a tedious, plodding lump of a thing I cannot finish. I'm a third of the way through and still waiting for the main character Joanna to Do Something. Anything. To explain:

Joanna goes out one night with her best friend Laura; they're in a bar, being chatted up by some guy they don't know, they're taking selfies (how I hate that word!) and drinking and having a great old time, but the guy becomes irritating and so they leave. They split up to go their separate ways but a few minutes later Joanne is convinced the guy Saddiq is following her. She's scared witless and eventually confronts him, pushes him and he falls......

The construction of this book is different, I'll give it that; it's not the tiresome flip-flop time thing, but alternate chapters in which Joanne Conceals what she's done, and Reveal in which she reaps the consequences. It's not so much this particular approach, but the character – or lack thereof – of Joanne. She wanders through life not achieving much of anything, not because she tries and fails but because she doesn't even bother trying. She's a mess, a self-confessed Do Nothing sort of person, who can't make decisions, is unreliable, a liar, and yet her imagination is not lacking. She's married to Reuben, and imagines the future babies they will have – and why the heck would they be playing a glockenspiel together! Yes, a glockenspiel. Well, it's the obvious choice isn't it!

You would be forgiven for thinking that this Joanne creature is in her late teens, early twenties, but no, she's apparently in her 30's. I cannot believe the author has created such a dreadful character and then expects the readers to sympathise with her. The other thing that bothers me is the way the author introduces the subject of racial hate crime by making the victim a young Muslim man.

I surrender - I cannot go any further with this.

My thanks to NetGalley for a complimentary copy to review

What I read of this book did not leave too much of an imprint on my memory. I had no complaints with the writing or the plot it self I thought it was quite good but my head just could not get into there being essentially 2 stories playing out at the same time.

Joanna, lives with her husband Reuben. She is smart, great at crosswords and has a flawless memory. What she does lack is the ability to make decisions, but now she must decide - Reveal or Conceal - a decision that will forever change her life, and of those around her.

Whichever option Joanna chooses, it leads her onto a path with its own challenges.

The characters are so imperfectly perfect and so perfectly imperfect that there is a Joanna and a Reuben and a Laura (Joanna’s best friend) and a Wilf (Joanna’s brother) that we all know. In that sense, this novel is closer to reality than fiction.

The complexity of relationships dictating the decision making is something we have all experienced time and time again. But what happens when that decision becomes a moral choice with serious repecurscsions is a topic that Gillian McAllister has handled not only with finesse of an author but with the mindset of a woman who is sensitive and kind-hearted, independent and thoughtful, strong and weak - She is every woman and every woman is she.

The novel is fast-paced and utterly engaging. The structure of shifting between Conceal and Reveal that comes together in the end adds to the pace and to the interest. To take a topic that can easily be deadly boring and turn into a story that is unputdownable, Gillian McAllister has once again showcased that she is a master of her craft.

A definite must-read.

I was totally enthralled by this book. You get two alternative stories side by side, which sometimes make it a bit confusing to read. Joanna has an evening out with her friend Laura and she is hassled by a man. When she is walking back to the tube station to go home she hears footsteps behind her, and it looks like the man from the pub. She pushes him, and he falls down the steps. Joanna panics when he just lies there, and for a short while does nothing, and in that time the man's fate is sealed, his head is in a puddle of water. The story then divides, an accident or an attempted murder? Her husband Reuben is her staunch supporter, or is he? In these parallel universes they end up separated for two years for different reasons, and their lives are never going to be the same. Both versions are harsh, and thought provoking. The stories are totally absorbing.

Well worth reading.

Totally gripping, Sliding Doors-style book that had me hooked from the start . Thoroughly believable characters that made you ache for their weaknesses and foibles only too aware that one moment in time, one slip, could put you so easily in the untenable positions they find themselves in.

And yet. There is still a message of hope following all of the guilt, punishment and anguish of both stories and an eventual realisation that the deepest love can still survive.

Anything You Do Say by Gillian McAllister is my 14th book of 2018, and my second read from this author, I liked her first book, Everything But The Truth, but I really enjoyed Anything You Say.

Anything You Do Say is “Sliding Doors” style of book. Joanna is out on a night with her best friend when she is hit on by a guy in a bar. Later when they leave the bar and go their separate ways, Joanna hears footsteps behind her, she believes it’s the guy from the bar, when she’s convinced she waits at the top of some stairs and when the owner of the footsteps arrives she pushes him and he ends up falling down the concrete stairs, and there is Joanna’s Sliding Doors moment, does she fight or flight.

The book then splits into two separate stories “Reveal” where she stays and helps and is then arrested for pushing this man and “Conceal” where she runs from the scene and lives waiting for the police to knock at her door and drag her away. I won’t go into too much detail as you need to read it yourself and live Joanna’s two lives.

Gillian’s writing style is easy to pick up and I found the two stories really worked well. I must admit I wasn’t overly enamoured at Joanna’s character, but then I have a feeling that she was written this way on purpose. Joanna is very immature, she prefers to live in Joanna’s world inside her head where her flat is actually ship because of its round kitchen window, or she is a celebrity in traffic, anything other than dealing with real life and it petrified about growing up.

It is so well written, you can really understand how each Joanna feels and develops. There are subtle coincidences across the two stories as they unfold as well as opposite reactions that I picked up on and thought they were really well placed for you to stumble upon. I quite liked that the underlying message of the book was that lies will always find a way of tripping you up or finding their way out.

I have followed Gillian on instagram since reading her first book and seeing her daily stories gives great insight in how she delivers her novels. You can hear her legal voice and her own personality in this novel, and it is another well researched piece to deliver a really gripping pair of stories with good outcomes.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will give this 5/5. @netgalley and @penguinukbooks gave me this copy in exchange for this review.

I really enjoyed this book, set in two halves, the first half what happens if she ran and the second half what happened if she stayed. After a night out she’s convinced she is being followed and as she enters an underpass the man catches up with her and she pushes him down the stairs.

I liked how ‘Anything you do say’ is almost two complete stories in one. The chapters alternating between ‘reveal’ (admitting the crime and facing the consequences) and ‘conceal’ (keeping the secret and dealing with the guilt and paranoia) kept me hooked into Joanna’s story, despite me not finding her to be a particularly likeable character. I wouldn’t say I was rooting for the one way or the other, but I was desperate to know what happened next in both scenarios.

I read this book in less than 24 hours, despite feeling being it a bit emotionally draining at times due to the massive turmoil of Joanna, especially in the ‘conceal’ chapters. I was also slightly disappointed by the ending, perhaps because I wanted an ‘answer’ that wasn’t forthcoming. Overall I really enjoyed reading this book and am glad I had a spare day to dedicate to reading most of it in one sitting!

This review is based on a free copy of the book that I received from NetGalley.

What a weirdly entertaining book! I started reading it, and after a chapter or two I was seriously confused. THEN I caught on - it was written in two different parallel story lines. It made for very entertaining reading and I just had to see what happened if the one was chosen above the other.
Well done!!

I think this was a really interesting concept showing two different scenarios. It did confuse me slightly at time where I had to go back a few pages to check where I was in the story, but I would definitely recommend this book.

I enjoyed this book the story was intriguing and the characters were believable. Jo made a mistake and I liked how the story went through both paths she could take after. Definitely worth reading