Next of Kin is a thriller and court room drama that is full of unexpected twists. It's written so cleverly, and I particularly liked the court room scenes which had me veering one way to the other as the barristers did their thing. And just when you think the truth has finally been revealed, there is one final twist and it's a biggie.

The story centres around a tragic accident. Or at least, it appears to be an accident, but is there more to it than meets the eye? DS Shepherd is tasked with discovering the truth and he's tenacious.

A story that has tragedy, intrigue and complexity and one that will keep the reader guessing til the last chapters.

I first experienced Kia Abdullah's writing after listening to Take It Back on audiobook last year so knew she writes stories which absolutely punch you in the gut. (Easily one of my favourite audiobooks, listen to it!) I was expecting big things from Next of Kin and wow did she deliver.

The thumping impact of the twists and turns in this book are best felt if you go in blind so I'm not going to go into too much detail., but what Kia achieves in the 326 pages of this book is pure mastery. She visits so many deep, fleshy, hard hitting topics such as the role of the woman in society, child loss, miscarriage and sibling rivalry, yet somehow manages to enmesh them all perfectly to create this heart wrenching, hard-hitting page-turner that I simply couldn't put down. This isn't an easy read either as Abdullah looks at some difficult moral conundrums and I was really left struggling at times to decide would I act similarly in certain situations.

Honestly, absolutely everything from the well developed yet fiercely flawed characters to the compelling and jolting courtroom scenes add up to make this yet another enthralling, intense and twisty courtroom thriller you will not be able to put down.

Kia Abdullah is a wildly underrated author who you need to put on your TBR list NOW!

TW for child death, child illness, miscarriage, suicidal ideation

This book kept me engrossed, so much my husband moaned about me ignoring him!
Such a strong subject matter, which was very upsetting to read, but so well written.
I feel like the Author did a stunning job writing about a subject that most do not, infant death.
And then once you feel like you understand everything, another curveball is thrown your way.
I will be looking for more books by this author in the future.

OH Wow, I have just finished reading this book in one sitting. I have read Kia Abdullah’s previous books and loved them but this one is the absolute best yet. It had me totally gripped throughout, I wasn’t sure which direction it was going to go and never saw what was coming.

But the emotions with the characters. When Leila gets a call from her brother in law Andrew asking her if she could drop her 3 year old nephew Max off at nursery as he had an emergency at work, she happily said yes, but when she gets a call from her work and is distracted what happens next is tragic.

To go through the trial, the whole story is just gripping you have no idea which way the trial will go. The characters are all so believable. This is most definitely one of my top reads of the year. Absolutely brilliant. Such a powerful story every parents nightmare to lose a child.

I highly recommend this to anyone who wants a read that they will not be able to put down. A rollercoaster ride.

I would like to thank #netgalley and #HQ for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

Although I actually read my purchased copy and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

WOWZA!
I honestly have no words. This book did NOT disappoint. 😍 I was gripped from the get go, it’s such an addictive read. I was sure I was going to guess everything that happened as I guessed the incident the story was based around simply from the synopsis, but the twists and turns in part 3 had me shook! 🤯 I’m seriously still reeling from it.

I would actually love this to be made into a series! 📺

This has definitely got to be a 5 ⭐️ read for me! It is easily one of my favourite reads of the year! I honestly recommend it to anyone who loves thrillers, and even if you don’t - I think it’s a very good book to get you into reading thrillers. I will definitely be picking up more books by Kia in the future.

Loved this and devoured it in a day! So easy to read, the storyline was exciting and hooked me right in from the start. I didn't really like any of the characters, thought they were all stuck up but they made a great cast. I wasn't expecting the twist at the end which was quite good....normally thrillers are predictable. Fast paced, exciting and twisty...just what I needed today 😍

Really loved this book
Even though the story starts off sad
It was a good read
Plenty of twists
I didn’t want it to end
Thanks NetGalley

After reading and enjoying Kia Abdullah’s previous two books, Take It Back and Truth Be Told, I knew I wanted to read Next of Kin and I wasn’t disappointed with this excellent courtroom drama.

Leila and Yasmin Syed are sisters. Their parents died when the women were young so they are extremely close and, being nearly eight years older than Yasmin, Leila brought up her sister single handedly and did her best to provide for them both.

Yasmin is an executive personal assistant and married to Andrew Hansson and they have a three-year-old son, Max, and Leila runs her own architecture firm and is separated from her husband, Will Carmichael, and they don’t have any children. Over the years, the couples have been too close at times, living near each other, and the sisters have an intense if rather volatile and emotional relationship.

One Monday morning in July, Yasmin has already left for work when Andrew receives a page to say his company server has gone down, which he needs to attend to immediately. Panicking, he phones sister-in-law, Leila, to ask if she’ll drop off his son, Max, at nursery. She’s a bit annoyed, as the couple regularly ask her to look after her nephew, but she agrees and heads straight round.

After picking up Max, Leila receives a phone call from her assistant. There’s an emergency at her work too and she races to the office to solve the problem, completely forgetting that a sleeping Max is in the car.

It’s only when Leila gets a frantic call at half 11 from Andrew, who has been contacted by nursery, that she realises that Max has been in her car all morning. In shocking scenes, we experience the harrowing aftermath of Leila’s tragic mistake and the subsequent court case that follows as she is accused of deliberately leaving her nephew in the car while attending to her work issue.

Next of Kin was an emotional and thought-provoking read and my allegiance and sympathy for various characters changed as the story progressed and we learnt more about the main protagonists. Such a heart-breaking and traumatic scenario and I felt so sorry for all involved. It was such an intense and dramatic read and I was intrigued to see how everything would be resolved in this painful nightmare.

In his pursuit of a case, the police officer, Detective Sergeant Christopher Shepherd, was really horrible to Leila and I was frustrated and annoyed with him on her behalf. And during the court scenes, I felt so sorry for Leila as she was grilled by the prosecution and her words and actions were twisted to make her seem guilty and it felt like she didn’t have the chance to defend herself properly.

Overall, I really enjoyed this tense, disturbing and emotive novel. It was well written and cleverly plotted and had me gripped from beginning to end – an explosive start, a tense middle and a shocking finish! There were lots of twists and turns and, just when I thought I had everything figured out, the story produced some startling revelations.

Another powerful, compelling and sensitively written legal/courtroom thriller from the author. I’m definitely a big Kia Abdullah fan and looking forward to her next book already!

Next Of Kin is a book I couldn’t quite connect with, I have given 4 stars as it’s written well and has a good few twists but I did struggle.
This book is based around a harrowing accident that should never have happened. Two sisters that have been through hell and back from a young age have married and settled down very near to each other. One has a three year old child, one has tried everything under the sun to conceive but has been unlucky. An accident happens and there are repercussions with their little family group.
This was a great idea for a story but I think because I didn’t like any of the characters and didn’t feel any of their grief come at me from the pages I did struggle. I did finish it and thought the court section was interesting with different things being brought up and twist the outcome. The ending was not one I saw coming and had a couple of twists that changed everything.
I would like to thank Netgalley and HQ for this ARC I received in exchange for an honest review.

This was an utterly fantastic book which i read in one day. Characters were so well developed. The book kept me in suspense throughout and i loved the twist at the end. Did not see that coming.

Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for giving me this arc in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was a rollercoaster of a story about Leila, a successful business owner, who is asked to drop her nephew off at nursery on her way to work but ends up forgetting him in the car which results in his death. It’s not an easy read, but damn it was an excellent one with such heart stopping twists!

There are damning revelations that make the story a seriously gripping one. Kia Abdullah has written another great story for readers.

This was the first book I’ve read by this author and I was intrigued by the unusual premise and a promise of a good quality courtroom thriller. I must admit that I enjoyed the chapters about the trial more than the ones involving relationships and drama, which didn’t always ring true. The harrowing and heartbreaking situation was portrayed with raw realism but handled with sensitivity. Although the characters were quite stereotypical and I didn’t particularly like the writing style, overall, the story was captivating and memorable enough, so I will be interested to read other books by Kia Abdulla.

A fantastic legalise book. I sat and just read for the whole day as I was totally hooked. What an gripping read with a really unexpected ending to boot.
Highly recommend this. It is well worth more than the 5 stars.

OH. WOW !!!!!! This was a book that I could not put down . Brilliant writing and highly recommended
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read an ARC. I loved it

It was the sort of thing that happened every day, although not to Leila Syed. She'd never driven her nephew, Max, to school before but his father, Andrew Hanson, had rung her in a panic. He was supposed to be taking Max to school but he'd been called into work and the delay in getting there could lead to financial losses. As the school was only five minutes out of Leila's way, could she drop him off? Of course, she could and a sleeping Max was duly strapped into the back of her car. On the way Leila took a phone call - there was panic at her work too, with a problem which could put a multi-million-pound contract at risk.

Totally engaged with what needed to be done - this was her business after all - Leila parked her car and dashed into work, completely forgetting that Max was in the back of the car. It was the hottest day of the year and Leila didn't realise what she'd done until Andrew rang to say that Max's school had rung to say that he hadn't arrived. The temperature in the car was such that Max had no chance of surviving.

The police were suspicious: Leila had been her sister's guardian from the time that Yasmin was eleven and Leila was only eighteen. She'd given up her place at St Andrew's and transferred to a course at a London polytechnic and took on three jobs to support them both. Only, one of the jobs required that she go on a three-day residential course and with no childcare available, Leila decided to leave Yasmin at home on her own. Distraught over losing Max, Yasmin told the police about what had happened all those years ago.

If Leila had genuinely forgotten that she had left Max in the back of the car she'd been negligent but not criminally so. If, on the other hand, Leila had decided that she would risk leaving Max in the car whilst she dashed into the office, this would amount to manslaughter. This would be something for the courts to decide.

I first encountered Kia Abdullah when I read Truth Be Told. It was five-star superb. Could Abdullah repeat this? Yes, she could. Before I reached the bottom of the first page I knew that this was going to be a book that I would resent putting down and I finished it over the course of two days during which everything else got scant attention. The characterisation is perfect: Leila Syed is 'perfect'. No one can believe that she could forget that Max was in the back of the car but there was ample evidence of what the boy had meant to her and to her estranged husband, Will Carmichael. Leila had helped Yasmin and Andrew financially as well as practically: why would she risk harming the boy she obviously loved? Her sister, Yasmin, is spoilt, used to getting her own way - and resentful of her sister but there's been sorrow in her background too.

If the characters stay with you, the plotting will blow you away. By the time we get to the end of the court case, you already feel that you've read an excellent book but the best is yet to come. The denouement is one of the best endings I've ever read: completely stunning and totally believable. It's a book to read again to see how Abdullah did it because all the clues are there.

I'd like to thank the publishers for making a copy available to the Bookbag.

A really hard subject matter. Had me crying and gasping. The author portrays these characters really well. Love, hate relationships, jealously and rivalry. Although uncomfortable in places it's very cleverly written, keeping you on your toes as well as thought provoking. Thank you Netgalley.

I loved this book. The plot and emotive descriptions of every scene really pulled on my heartstrings! I have read several Abdullah books and none of them have disappointed thus far.
I have become to expect a twist on the ending, but there were so many twists in this one, I was dizzy! The characters were fantastic, the plot and dialogue kept me gripped throughout, and I LOVE courtroom dramas so I would highly recommend this one.

The family get together on the surface feels normal but you can already start to feel tensions and resentment in the air.

The panic and horror of Andrew's call which leads to Leila realising what she has done and the loss of Max was just utterly gut wrenchingly heartbreaking.

I devoured Next of Kin and was on the edge of my seat with every twist that unravelled the further into the book I read.  

The courtroom scenes are tense but definitely not boring.

There was a couple of big twists at the end of the story that were shocking, and they made the story so much more than it already was. It added so many more layers to an already difficult and complicated situation, and I loved that. 

The complex relationships are brilliantly explored, constantly leaving you with the feeling that there’s more going on.

I was drawn into every character’s perspective – Yasmin as a grieving mother, Leila as the blamed victim, and Andrew as the husband who’s left to pick up the pieces.

The dynamics between the families are so complex and interwoven. I didn’t feel like I really liked any one of them but I was so invested in their stories.

I was absolutely gripped throughout, which is all down to Abdullah’s immensely powerful writing.

This book opened with an intense chapter and I was drawn in right until the end! The story is believable and the characters are relatable.

Kia Abdullah presents the reader with an unmissable courtroom drama in Next of Kin in which Leila Syed leaves her sister, Yasmin and brother-in-law, Andrew's son, Max in her car for six hours on a red hot day. The child is discovered when the nursery Max attends, phones Andrew. This results in a high profile trial when Leila is charged with negligent manslaughter.

In this, nail-biting, suspenseful read, nothing is as it seems. I was completing riveted and greedily sucked up every word as Kia Abdullah fearlessly tackles some controversial and complex subjects. Her characters are exceptional as is her writing and I highly recommend Next of Kin.

I received a complimentary copy of this novel at my request from HQ via NetGalley. This review is my own unbiased opinion.