A review by damianwayne
Anything You Do Say by Gillian McAllister

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Do not take the fact that I read this in a day to mean it was particularly grabbing or enjoyable, just that I’d rather get it out the way today. I would not recommend. I think the way this book is marketed and what it actually is are two quite different things. It’s so much about her failing marriage that you forget this is meant to be a crime thriller. The crime should seemingly be centrefold, but is not, and thrillers should thrill, but reading this felt like a job to complete. 

The characters are divinely uninspired. Joanna is nothing but selfish and extremely unlikeable in my opinion. If the only way I care about a character is to feel sympathetic because they were the victim of predatory behaviour then that is not a good character. She is seemingly implied to be racist which is never addressed by anyone but her husband, to which she is offended he would be concerned about that. She continuously lies to the point it pains me to read. 

Also, the fact that this book is labelled as focussing on a moral dilemma, when the version of her who ran got away with it is ridiculous. I don’t care about her plight as a deeply paranoid woman when she killed a seventeen year old boy. It’s ridiculous to posit this as some feminist think piece. The idea that she ended up in the same position no matter what she did is poor writing. If this were truly about morality, there would be some punishment. I hate the rhetoric multiple characters spin that her isolating herself is enough atonement on her part— except maybe the sheer amount of suffering caused by moving to Birmingham of all places.