Truth Be Told is a courtroom drama, it’s also much, much more.

It tells the tale of Kamran, a victim of male rape.

Kamran was an outstanding student in an exclusive boarding school, but after the assault his life begins to change drastically. He goes for specialist counselling with Zara and soon the court case begins.

I found this to be incredibly moving, it deals with the issues of faith, of consent, male rape and mental health, all in a compassionate and realistic way. An outstanding read.

Thank you to The publishers and NetGalley for an eARC of Truth Be Told. This is my honest and unbiased review.

This is the first book that I have read by Kia Abdullah, I enjoyed it enough to say that I would look out for further titles in future.

This is a novel that has some well crafted characters. I also like the pace of the story.

The setting in a privileged London Public School then leads to a complex courtroom story based on the theme of an alleged rape allegation.

The tension builds steadily as the book progresses. mix an interesting twist at the end.

I give my thanks to Netgalley and HQ Digital for a copy in exchange for this review.

I read and loved Take it back or I might not have chosen this book so it was a case of author lead request rather than subject matter.
Kia Abdullah is a remarkable writer with I am certain lots more offerings to come and whilst I’m glad I read this I didn’t enjoy it as much as I was hoping. . It seemed that all the information that was in the telling of the deed was more or less repeated with embellishments during the trial and it wasn’t easy reading once let alone twice. Then the twist which I was completely blindsided by and proved once again the skill of this writer.
Thank you to HQ and Netgalley for the ARC.

Kia Abdullah's second book, Truth Be Told once again features Zara Kaleel, a former barrister who now works as a counsellor at a crisis centre, supporting victims of sexual assault. It can be read as a standalone but there are several mentions of the case she worked on in the previous novel, Take It Back, including some spoilers so if you are considering reading both books then I would strongly advise you to do so in order.
Although rape is probably most often thought of as being perpetrated by a dangerous stranger, statistics show that most sexual assault victims know their attacker and that proving consent - or lack of - is a contentious and difficult issue. It's no wonder that many victims don't report their attack and male victims are frequently even more reluctant to come forward but when seventeen year-old Kamran Hadid begins to piece together his fragmented, drink-fuelled memories of the previous night, he isn't able to just try to forget what happened and so goes to see Zara to report the incident. Several topics are explored in Truth Be Told but perhaps one of the most important is that of consent and how vital it is that people (perhaps especially young people) understand enthusiastic, continuous consent. The accused attacker isn't a devious sexual predator and while no sexual attack should ever be excused, the scenes that are written to give an insight into his feelings ensures it's impossible not to feel some sympathy for the boy who reacts with confusion and horror when he realises what he stands accused of.
The first part of the novel follows events leading up to the alleged attack and the immediate aftermath, as Kamran has to decide how he wants to proceed. His elite all-boys school would prefer to keep the investigation within their control rather than it being dealt with in court; although they are arguably thinking more of the adverse publicity rather than Kamran's welfare, he faces a harrowing ordeal if he does go ahead with a legal prosecution and Kia Abdullah conveys his confused state of mind with perceptive empathy. The second half of the book is even more compelling and thought-provoking as it follows what happens in court and as the case hits the headlines, opinions are divided; the antagonistic demonstrations by men's rights groups are intimidating though not surprising but Zara is shocked to discover that even those with more liberal sensibilities still have doubts regarding continuous consent, especially when alcohol is involved.
The repercussions of the night in question extend beyond the two boys of course and though Truth Be Told is a gripping courtroom drama, it is also a fascinating examination of identity and family. Societal prejudice faced by male victims of rape and the complexities of attitudes towards gay men in the Muslim community are addressed here with Kamran's experiences within his family juxtaposed by Zara's own issues as she confronts her Diazepam addiction at Narcotics Anonymous meetings. As an independent, strong-willed Asian woman her own actions have led to conflict in the past with the more devout members of her family and her father's terrible last words to her prior to his death continue to torment her. There are a number of men who behave badly in the book but it's too simplistic just to condemn them and this sensitively nuanced novel understands that society too often traps men across generations and cultures in an idealised, narrow view of masculinity.
The intense courtroom scenes are beautifully written, hard-hitting and emotional and although I believed throughout that Kamran was convinced that he had been raped, I was never sure what the outcome would be. This is not an easy book to read and there are some truly heart-rending scenes but my goodness, Kia Abdullah knows how to write characters and stories that stay with you long after you finish the last page. Truth Be Told is an exceptionally good novel and deserves every plaudit that will surely come its way. Very highly recommended.

After reading Take It Back by Kia Abdullah, which was my top read of 2019 I just knew I had to read this book. Truth Be Told is yet another powerful read. Zara Kaleel , a former lawyer, once again takes on a case of rape, only this time it is the rape of a male. This is an emotional and tense read.

WOW! Kia Abdullah is a really powerful writer and I loved this book. I really like courtroom dramas anyway, but this one is something special. Zara Kaleel, a qualified solicitor, is now working as a women’s sexual violence counsellor following a difficult case which profoundly impacted her life – as narrated in Abdullah’s first book, Take It Back.

When Kamran Hadid comes to see her, she feels strongly that this 17 year old boy really needs her help. Despite the fact that she is working in a women only space, Zara takes leave of absence to help Kamran, who sought her out because she is Muslim.

Kamran is a bright young man, destined for the glittering spires of Oxford and thereafter to a substantial job, where he is expected to excel. His family are affluent. They live in a pristine house in Belsize Park and his mother is associated with many charitable works while his father, a real traditionalist likes women to know their place and enjoys the recreational slaughter of wild animals from time to time.

Kamran and his brother Adam (his parents are traditionalists but also aware of the status they want for their sons, so their names have been chosen to blend in) attend the same male only London Hampton boarding school, where the pupils all share that blend of money and power in their backgrounds. They’re the Tom Ford boxer-clad class.

Then one night, everything changes for Kamran when, after a party where he has drunk too much, he finds himself in a position he would not ever have contemplated.

When he decides to seek help from Zara, he sets his life on a course that is going to turn the world he lives in upside down.

With sensitivity and forensic skill, Abdullah sets out to show us how this confident, privileged young man is persuaded to go to the law and what happens to him thereafter. Around that, however, she examines the whole culture of toxic masculinity, how pervasive it is, how it is exploited by those with power and the devastating impact it can have on people’s lives.

By bringing Kamran’s family circumstances in, we can see where and how his values are formed and how those values are perpetuated by the school he attends and the classmates he mixes with. She explores the transgressive nature of sexual assault and the stigma of male rape and shows us its impact on everything Kamran does and on his family.

The school wants it dealt with internally – kept quiet, indeed. And Kamran will have to face a trial that will question the issue of consent.

Abdullah’s exploration of these issues is deep and impactful whilst being sensitive and carefully done. There’s a deal of compassion here alongside an absolutely riveting storyline that avoids the stereotypical approaches and considers, family, faith and upbringing.

Its an emotive and highly charged read which also shows us the impact of this trial on Zara, whose own history suggests that taking this case might not have been her wisest course of action.

Verdict: An intelligent, powerful, emotive and intense read that absolutely blew me away. Kia Abdullah’s writing is absolutely on point. I felt for all the well-drawn key characters and her careful de-layering of all the issues is skilfully done. There are shocks and surprises to keep the reader engaged on a visceral level at the same time as we marvel at the sheer power of the dissection of the impact of toxic masculinity on this family and Kamran in particular. A must read.

Another great moral dilemma from this author. But it is more than that - it's a heartbreaking tale, wrapped up in prejudice and stifling traditions, patriarchal families and the secrets of the upper echelons of society. Again we meet Zara, the rape counsellor, but this time it's a male who has been raped at a public school. We hear both sides of the story, get involved in working out what we think is right, then the court makes a devastating ruling that sets events spinning out of control.

Having read this authors last book I had high hopes for this one and it didn’t disappoint. The story unfolds of a young male at a private school, who’s life changes one morning after a night of drinking. He wakes up to another male in his bed and claims he has been raped.
This unique court room drama is not just a male rape, its a look into the meaning of consent, the impact it can have on victim and the way it’s seen by society and different cultures.
I really warmed to Kamran and as in the last book, I really loved the character of Zara. To really feel for the characters takes a brilliant writer and this author has it spot on.

I had read Kia Abdullah's debut novel last year, Take It Back, and really enjoyed it so was keen to read Truth Be Told too.

Once again, it was a hard-hitting taboo subject and following on from the #metoo movement, something that should be discussed more. We need to teach younger generations about consent, that not saying no doesn't mean you are saying yes.

I found this such a well written book, covering deeper topics that need to be addressed. I thought Kamran gentle and was routing for him throughout the book, and I found especially interesting him being a modern young 17 year old dealing with the conflict of a traditional Muslim family and values. There are just so many layers to this court room drama.

I highly recommend!

Kia Abdullah writes about Kamran, a teenage boy, who attends an elite private school in London. After a night of drunken fun, he is violated.

Zara Kaleel, a sexual assault councillor, takes on his case.

What follows is a gripping courtroom drama that addresses toxic masculinity, male on male assault and a dash of homophobia. As if that wasn't enough, this is all happening within the South East Asian community so added to that already heavy mix is family and cultural pressure and expectations.

Abdullah's writing kept me up into the wee hours of the early morning because I had to read just one more page and I'm so glad I did because the twists kept coming right until the very end.

Because of the topics, this is an important book for everyone to read, but I particularly recommend this book to people from the South East Asian community as there are some very important (breaking down the barriers type) conversations between the characters that should also be taking place at home.

If you're interested in reading something relevant and something thought provoking, then read this book. What are you waiting for?

I really enjoyed this court room drama. Abdullah has created a story with many different layers and subtle nuances: in the wake of #MeToo, how do we teach young people about consent and relationships and how do we help them when things go wrong? When does a drunken encounter become an unwanted sexual assault? These issues are explored sensitively and take into account other areas such as toxic masculinity and gender politics against a backdrop of religion and race.

I found myself caring for Kamran and sympathised with his conflict between being a modern 17-year-old living in London with his family's conservative Muslim values at home. I liked the character of Zara, the assault victim counsellor (and fellow Muslim) and I would like to read more about her. I think that her back story (addiction to Diazepam and estrangement from her more conservative father, plus her 'friendship' with Safran) has the potential to be explored further in future novels, should Abdullah want to pursue this!

The story was gripping and I was surprised by the twist at the end. Ultimately, I thought this was a story about the appearance that we share with the world, what we think we need to be and how we only end up fooling ourselves.

Kamran Hadid has the world at his feet – he comes from a wealthy background with loving (if not overbearing parents), a privileged lifestyle, a place at an exclusive school and a place at Oxford University awaits for him – promising him more of the same in his future.
Until one night, an incident shatters everything he thinks he is, everything he's known and everything that he was looking forward to in the future.
This incident is Kamran's 'Cut' – a life-changing event that marks a point when everything changes and will forever be filed as 'before the event/after the event'.
With the help of assault counsellor, Zara Kaleel, Kamran tries to put his life back into order and regain the upper hand. But this is something that a privileged upbringing cannot alter.
This is an intensely powerful book, dealing with male rape, class, culture, religion and family dynamics. It addresses the contentious issue of consent in a thought-provoking way and is, at times, emotionally overwhelming.
There are a couple of huge twists towards the end of the book – one turn in particular that I didn't see coming, and had me gasping out loud in shock and surprise.
There are several elements that make this a five star book for me – the storyline, the pacing, the characters, the quality of writing, the depth to which it made me question the subject matter. I thought a lot about this book after I'd finished reading it.
As soon as I finished, I instantly went and bought a copy of Kia Abdullah's first book and will be avidly looking out for anything else that she writes. One of the best books of this year for sure.

Thank you to HQ and Netgalley for the ARC.

Kamran is a confident 17 year old boy from a good Muslim family attending a prestigious boarding school. After a night of partying and drinking, Kamran wakes up and realises there is someone else in his bed. The experience haunts him and Kamran decides to report the rape in order to get a closure he desperately needs. However, by doing so he disrupts the successful path his father projected for him and the perfect world he used to live in comes crumbling down.The book features the assault counsellor Zara Kaleel from the first book who herself is an interesting character with a bumpy past who doesn't easily conform to her culture traditions and family expectations.

An intense and emotional read dealing with the very difficult subject of male rape.
Kamran Hadid attends an exclusive public school and is set to go to Oxford when he is assaulted at a party.
The story follows the court case and the impact of the assault on Kamran, his family and those around him. The impact of this on his Muslim beliefs and his family are intense.
This is another challenging book, extremely well written and with some real surprises. really enjoyed this book. The story is told through different characters which I liked, and the author writes of a difficult subject very sensitively. I love the main character Zara, she is troubled, flawed, feisty and very likeable. Kamran and Adam were likeable characters and Kamran’s feelings, thoughts and emotions were heartbreaking to read and I had much empathy with him, especially when reading of his relationship with his parents, their high expectations of him and lack of support and understanding when he needed it most and, how for them, appearances mean everything. The courtroom scenes were realistic and believable.

I liked the different groups for support and factions against were represented, as the case drew closer to the end verdict conflicting views were argued which I was thinking myself.
The family life Kamran has, the social pressures on men, would the ending have been different had the men and women guiding him through his teenage years for a moment put themselves in his position, taken a firmer stance against the image the case was projecting and listened to what he was saying?

Books like this are the reason why I thoroughly enjoy being a @netgalley reviewer! This beautifully written book makes us feel we are part of Kamran’s journey through suspected rape, his experiences of giving evidence in court and the impact of the final verdict. Kamaran appears to have it all with his lavish lifestyle funded by his wealthy parents but in fact this leads only to further pressures and cultural taboos from their strict following of the Muslim religion. This book certainly had an ending I didn’t see coming. Definitely recommend. Thanks to @ netgalley for letting me have access to this arc in return for an honest review

# Truth Be Told #
A hard hitting book, also heartbreaking.
When Kamran after getting drunk with a few of his friends. A encounter he felt he was dreaming actually he realised it was not a dream the following morning. It’s a really good cleverly written book that I think still speaks volumes of society still of today. My heart really went out to Kamran when he plucked up the courage to see a councillor Zara. She is so gentle with him and doesn’t make him feel in anyway that he was responsible. It’s not just a storyline and court room drama about Kamran it’s about how it affects 2 cultures trying to make sense of it all. It’s a heartbreaking story, that still reflects on society today. Zara the councillor how gentle she was with all the people who went to see her characters in the story are bloody brilliantly I felt I was watching the actual trial. I vaguely remember someone writing you do not fully enjoy a story until you are in it. That to me is a very very true statement. I wish I could remember who said it. Well I definitely was in this one of the most heartbreaking legal dram I have read in a long time. I really felt so much pain for kamran. I can not emphasis how much you should read this story, Kia Abduilha as literally wrote a mesmerising book of pure reality and true. Although it’s a fictional book on a touchy topic. Bloody awesome writer. This is my first book by this author. Trust me it most definitely will not be my last

Oh my word this book isn’t good it is flipping fantastic. I literally read this book in one sitting as truly I was not able to put it down. An absolutely gripping court room drama that had me on the edge of my seat at times. The whole story had me gripped right from the start . I recommend this book 100% to fans of legal thrillers. Just amazing.

I am sitting here open mouthed after having been through a whole rollercoaster of emotions. This story is about male rape. It talks about the emotions of the two boys involved and how they are treated by those around them. The ending was a total shock. The whole story is thought provoking and emotional. The writing is brilliant and feels raw and emotional. This is a book that I will remember for a long time.

Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

*TRIGGER WARNING* Racism, bullying, violence, Male rape, parental abuse, intimidation and family dynamics.

Kamran is seventeen and comes from a wealthy Muslim family, he attends private school and his future is looking promising. Kamran and his brother, Adam both attend the same Private school. Before breaking up for the holidays, the brothers attend a party on campus. Kamran has too much to drink. Kamran wakes up beside another student. But Kamran knows he's had sex but he also knows he didn't consent to it.

This is a cleverly crafted courtroom drama. I was hooked from the beginning. Zara Kaleel, is an assault counselor, is back as Kamran needs her help to get his life back on track. The story flows along at a steady pace. The trial has started and there's times when it's not easy to read. A thought provoking read that will have you thinking outside the box.

The authors previous book ‘Take It Back’ ( Aug 2019 ) had me transfixed, and as many others still comes to mind now, it is then a massive thing for an author to reproduce this with the next book, the expectations are set and they are set high
‘Truth Be Told’ again follows the story of Zara and her counselling of a rape victim, this time male, and as before Zara as a Muslim ( and not a conservative one ) is helping a fellow Muslim and as last time he faces untold prejudice and multiple
hurdles to cross
The story is emotive and on the whole fair in its arguement/fact finding to each side, at times a bit repetitive and you do start to wonder where the book is leading, is this to be a simple reenacting of a ‘he said’ ‘he said’ court case and a detailed ( and not simple ) look at how male victims of rape and also males accused of raping another man cope with all aspects of this
I have to say the glimpse into Muslim life ( as the author tells it re the accusers family) is fascinating re the hierarchy and how the families interact and the various social graces and perfomances they go through, however in this book the look into Zara herself and her problems, her family and her lack of romance felt stilted and lacked any real bonus to the story
The court case was deftly described and we got a verdict, various reactions to this and then a massive reaction to it from one of the characters, I thought ‘fair enough, this is unexpected but will run with this’ but then, almost out of the blue at 88% the whole story changed, literally on it’s head and was a real WOW moment, pleased there was still a good 10% of the book to go I was more than disappointed it ended at 90%, 1. Because it didn’t follow through on the game changer and left more unanswered than answered and 2. Because we then had 10% of the last book, this gave the reader at the crux of it all at 88% a false sense of ‘ good, lets see what happens’, only to finish much quicker than expected, a poor idea imo
No one can fault this authors boundary pushing, her ability to tell a controversial story and with vigour and although I favour her first book and it seems like I criticise this one a lot it is still a worthy read
7/10
3.5 Stars

This book should be compulsory reading!

It is fabulously written and a gripping story in itself. However the underlying messages are powerful and need to be heard by everyone.

Kia Abdullah looks at the issue of toxic masculinity, how it is created, how it is allowed and how it ruins lives. Kia raises the very valid point that, in order to further help women’s rights, we need to change the way society treats and grooms men.

This book also looks at this from an Asian, Muslim perspective. It looks at the dangers of the traditional view and role of men. It also looks at the issues of young men coming out as gay within this community.

The book also covers rape culture and provides an emotional dilemma of at what point rape is rape...a subject that appears black and white until you see it from different points of view and different facts emerge.

The book has a twist at the end, which I had an inkling about but had not guessed in full.

So many issues are dealt with, but it is so worth the read. Beautifully written, heart breaking and so powerful.