Name: Take It Back
ISBN: 9780008314675

Kia Abdullah

A thrilling, brave and explosive novel, perfect for fans of Anatomy of a Scandal and He Said/She Said. `Razor-sharp ... Much more than a courtroom thriller' Christina Dalcher, Sunday Times bestselling author of VOX * * * * * The Victim: A sixteen-year-old girl with facial deformities, neglected by an alcoholic mother. Who accuses the boys of something unthinkable. The Defendants: Four handsome teenage boys from hardworking immigrant families. All with corroborating stories. Whose side would you take? Zara Kaleel, one of London's brightest young legal minds, shattered the expectations placed on her by her family and forged a glittering career at the Bar. All before hanging up her barrister's wig to help the victims who needed her most. Victims like Jodie Wolfe. Jodie's own best friend doesn't even believe her claims that their classmates carried out such a crime. But Zara does. And Zara is determined to fight for her. Jodie and Zara become the centre of the most explosive criminal trial of the year, in which ugly divisions within British society are exposed. As everything around Zara begins to unravel she becomes even more determined to get Jodie the justice she's looking for. But at what price?

Take It Back

Maryam

This book has been a highly cathartic and moving read and one that will stick with me for a long time. The cover and taglines peppered across it do it an injustice, in my opinion as I don't personally see this novel as a courtroom thriller. 

The content covers the intersection of race, culture, gender, sexual assault, and unhealthy coping mechanisms. This is the first book I've read where I felt my own complex relationship with race, assimilation, and cultural expectations (both Eastern and Western) mirrored back at me. This is a great book for everyone, however I particularly think a lot of immigrants or children of them will stand to understand a lot more about their vices and how they see the world after reading this book. 

One of the most powerful things this book does is it envelopes you into the experience of being a woman in a culture that mollycoddles men who project their insecurities and inadequacies onto the women around them. Regardless of your gender or cultural background, you'll likely find yourself clenching your fists and shutting your eyes in frustration at the inequity that exists commonly in well-meaning, hardworking households across the UK and other Western countries. Kia Abdullah does a fantastic job of reflecting real people without vilifying them - despite the fact that we might not agree with specific archaic adages (e.g. Zara's mother saying "Women show their power by ignoring men" instead of asking why men can't help themselves from being cruel to women), the author tempers the scenes well with an analysis of the characters that feels complete and shows intent. Almost every character who we may or may not be drawn to like, gets enough context for us to see the person and not the caricature that makes it easy to sell a good guy/bad guy plot. This is what cemented the book as a show-stopper for me. 

I want to underscore the paragraph above by saying you'll understand when you get to the end of the book how well Kia Abdullah has weaved you into the experience of being a culturally Muslim Brit. Without intending to, you might have found yourself falling prey to the calculated tricks and emotional strums that make the inequities between men and women endemic in our culture today.

I loved this book! I loved the main character and the story line. It was shocking over and over again!

Sarah Perez

chloe ✩‧₊˚✧｡*ﾟ

Maria Luiza

** spoiler alert **
           I felt very uncomfortable reading this book. Everyone was so mean to Jodi to the point of it not being believable. I hate that we were lead to believe that Jodi was lying so many times throughout the book, and in the end Zara is so mean to her only for us to find out that Jodi was not lying at all and that she distorted the story so that the guy that DID NOT rape her could be punish along with the ones that did. This is unbelievable in a myriad of ways and I cannot fathom a person who was abused acting this way. And even at the end she does not come forward to Zara about this, she never says a single things about how she was actually raped. She had evidence that all the boys did this to her and instead she doesn't show it because... she's heartbroken her high school crush didn't defend her? This didn't made any sense. The book is also unnecessarily descriptive of the abuse scenes and very triggering. I don't like the light this book shows on abuse victims because it's very unflattering and although the plot twist was, indeed, a plot twist and I did not see it coming it left a very sour taste afterwards.

Samantha Mochrie 

Alistair James

Lucy 

Leila Smeyatsky

Neva Davies

A shocking, twisting courtroom thriller that keeps you guessing until the last page is turned. The Victim: Jodie Wolfe, a physically flawed 16-year-old girl accuses four boys in her class of something unthinkable. The Defendants: Four handsome teenagers from hard-working immigrant families, all with corroborating stories. The Savior: Zara Kaleel, a former lawyer, one of London's brightest legal minds, takes on this case. She believes her client, even though those closest to her do not. Together, they enter the most exploisve criminal trial of the year, where the only thing that matters is justice for Jodie. But this time justice comes at a devastating cost.