Anything You Do Say cover art

Anything You Do Say

THE ADDICTIVE psychological thriller from the Sunday Times bestselling author

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Anything You Do Say

By: Gillian McAllister
Narrated by: Katie Clarkson-Hill
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Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Anything You Do Say by Gillian McAllister, read by Katie Clarkson-Hill.

'A Sliding Doors thriller with a moral dilemma at its heart. Brilliant' Claire Doulas, bestselling author of Last Seen Alive

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. Coming fast.

You're sure it's him - the man from the bar who wouldn'tleave you alone.

You make a snap decision. You turn. You push. Your pursuertumbles 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 you husband, family and friends, everyoneyou love, will stand by you.

Run
Stay silent. You didn't mean to do it. You were scared, youpanicked. And no one saw. No one will ever know. If you leave now. If you keepquiet. Forever.

Which is it to be?


Praise for Anything You Do Say

'The novel is ingenious . . . a beautiful and original book'Claire Kendal bestselling author of The Book of You

'An expertly crafted novel full of drama and tension. . . Animpossible feat accomplished with great skill. Bravo' Imran Mahmood author of You Don't Know Me

'An addictive, exciting and devilishly clever book . . .exceptional' Holly Seddon author of Try Not To Breathe

 Crime Crime Thrillers Fiction Psychological Suspense Thriller Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction Law Exciting Scary
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Critic reviews

Praise for Anything You Do Say
A terrific premise, delivered with panache (Clare Mackintosh)
Dark and intense . . . An exhilarating hold-your-breath read!
I loved Gillian's latest book. Another winner. One of the most inventive and original thrillers I've read in recent memory. The Sliding Doors structure kept me turning page after page to discover Joanna's destiny. I devoured this book in one sitting. It's official! Gillian McAllister is fast becoming one of my favourite authors! (Hollie Overton)
An addictive, exciting and devilishly clever book . . . exceptional (Holly Seddon)
A Sliding Doors thriller with a moral dilemma at its heart. Brilliant (Claire Douglas)
A smartly conceived psychological thriller
This gripping thriller will make you wonder: What would I do? We couldn't put this book down!
This clever novel reminds me of Sliding Doors - it will challenge every belief you have
Joanna has two choices: does she call 999 or run? Ingeniously, the novel's alternating chapters depict both riveting options
All stars
Most relevant
I really enjoyed this book once I realised that two stories ran concurrently duh! Not my usual sort of thriller but still worth a read/listen.

Really enjoyed

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A premise many could easily imagine happening. A lot of artistic licence on the justice system which results in a thought provoking read. I did want to slap the main character a few times (ironically). A great conversation starter, ideal for any book club.

Thought provoking fiction

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Firstly, Katie-Clarkson Hill’s narration is questionable. Her narration of the main character, Joanna Oliva, is good, often brilliant, but when it comes to other characters, her accents are mainly unconvincing and quite awful on occasion, for example Ed, Joanna’s co-worker. But much worse were the edits. I have about eighty audiobooks and on no other have I noticed any edits.

This isn’t a plug for my own audiobooks (honestly!) but when the narrator sends you the chapters, if any edits are too noticeable then you request that they re-do them. In this instance, particularly at the outset, there are numerous edits that are vastly different in volume and tone, that take you out of the moment and ruin the tension. These could be the fault of Katie-Clarkson Hill or Gillian McAllister or both, but they certainly should not have passed Audible’s quality control.

Secondly, story-wise, well if someone in a bar had been menacing and you thought they were following you subsequently, would you really opt to walk along a deserted canal towpath when there were other routes, far more public, available? I think not. That aside, the story is gripping, and at times edge-of-seat stuff, as well as giving information about the police, prison and justice systems that is revealing and shocking.

However, the main characters are quite unsympathetic, one really doesn’t care what happens to them – not what is recommended by teachers of writing. And personally I grew thoroughly sick of the narrator’s constant thoughts about her husband, Reuben, someone whom I grew to dislike quite quickly, as I did with all the other main characters, with the possible exception of Ed.

The ending section was not gripping in the slightest and more or less ‘degenerates’ into a love story. So disappointing when the author could have given detail of prison life, no doubt something she knows about, based on her police procedure knowledge.

There is so much superfluous ‘detail’ in the story – long descriptions of coffee stains, someone’s eyelashes, kitchen surfaces etc. etc. Most seemed to be there for ‘literary effect,’ rather than advancing the story in any way, shape or form, and most should have been edited out. I’m sure Sol Stein would have had a field day!

So, although the writing is generally very good, brilliant at times, I personally felt let down by the weak ending and I’d hesitate to recommend either the book or the recording. Half way through I thought, ‘I must get Gillian McAllister’s other audiobooks.’ Now I think I won’t bother.



anticlimactic

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This was good! Following a night out, Joanna Oliva believes she is being stalked by a man who hassled her in a bar. One push later and the man lies motionless at the bottom of some stairs. Should Jo help him or should she leave? The sliding doors theme of this story was really clever with two alternative scenarios playing out at the same time. Intriguing and gripping, I devoured this audiobook!

One negative though....

The sound quality of this audiobook is below what I expect from Audible. There are obvious patches in the recording where the narrator has re-recorded parts and they had been added in. They sounded completely different from the original recording in tone and volume. A shame because the book itself is so good.

A great suspense thriller

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A very moving story read beautifully. The narration really made the story for me. Not a murder mystery but a story of love and loss.

Loved this story

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