It is rare that i am able to read a book within a day, but 'The Verdict' had me gripped from start to finish. Absolutely enjoyed and even more so that the story is based on an area that i know quite well. Plenty of twists and turns. If you enjoy a good Court room drama, I do suggest you give this book a try. Recommended.

My thanks to Netgalley and the Publishers for my copy. This is my honest review, which i have voluntarily given.

(Awaiting Amazon to publish my review).

The premise of this book is interesting and reels you in. The story is engaging but i think this book gets muddled and confusing with multiple timelines and characters, making it hard to keep everything straight. This is more of "watching" material than reading. A mini series or movie based on this would work wonderfully. Having said that, once you start following the characters and the timelines it is hard to put down. The plot itself is great, the ending is satisfying and the court case is handled with ease, All the characters are not likeable but that makes the plot more interesting. This book is a great read overall, you can feel the tension crackling page after page. This one deserves a read,

The story builds tension and suspense with a bang, then quietly ratchets up to a heck of an ending. Oliva Isaac-Henry has taken a woman who is working through her current problems when she unexpectedly...or she says it's unexpected...finds herself on trial for murder. Her actions lead us to conclusions that we must adjust with every chapter. While I expected a good mystery/thriller, this one exceeded my expectations and left me saying WOW!

"Nineteen ninety-four. Twenty-three years ago. Brandon Wells. Guildford."

Julia Winter, now 48-years-old, had fled London to Guildford after her long-time boyfriend, Christian, had dumped her for another woman. She was then 23 and ended up sharing a grand home with the owner, Genevieve D'Auncey, and 4 other tenants. There was Lucy, Gideon, Brandon and Alan. Tensions are high in the household as the roommates don't get along very well and Genevieve is a bit of a flake and makes Brandon her pet -- probably because he reminds her of her own dead son. Their house-sharing comes to a grand halt and the roomies go their separate ways. Or do they? Now, Julia and two of her former housemates are on trial for murder. NO SPOILERS.

This was sort of slow-moving and the forward pace was bogged by the shift in time between 1994 and present day. At first, it was very hard to keep track of what was going on in each time period. I must say that all of the characters are pretty unlikeable and that made their behavior and relationships hard to understand. Julia is particularly weak and the perfect target for an alpha male. It helped that I read this in one sitting so that I could keep all the characters and the events straight. I admit to geing surprised by the conclusion and I was glad that I had stuck with it after all though I'm not sure that justice was adequately served!

PS - there was no "affair at work" that cost her job. The synopsis provided is quite misleading in some aspects.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Publishers for the e-book ARC to read and review.

This was a super slow burn. It took quite a while to get into the story, but even when I did, I had a really hard time keeping up with the timeline.

I enjoyed the unsavory characters, because it was easy to hate them, but I do wish I could have cared for at least one of them.

That said, I really enjoyed most of the second half of the book. It really picked up the pace and became a story I didn’t want to end.

I will leave a review on Amazon or B&N Oct 31,, 2019

I received the ARC of The Verdict from NetGalley and the publisher and this is my fair and honest review.

I love suspense/thrillers so I tend to read those quite often. I have never read this author before yet the blurb for the book caught my attention. I was pleasantly surprise with the book, I found it to be well written I was drawn in from the first couple pages. I was drawn to Julia, and I felt bad for her during the reading of the book. The way the book was written I didnt even realize that she was married to one of the other main characters until later in the book. There were lots of twists and turns in the book, and I would definitely recommend it to others.

Julia, along with two previous male housemates, have been arrested for the murder of a body that had been found on the North Downs. The ody had been there for twenty three years. The first half of the book alternates between 2017 and 1994. The second half of the book tells us about her time in Bronzefield prison in 2018 while awaiting her trial. We are given "the verdict" in 2019.

I found this story a little slow and confusing for the first few chapters. It does jump back and forth I time a lot, but the chapters do have the years printed on the so we know where we are. The characters are realistic. I liked that Julia seemed a little unhinged. There is a couple of really good twists that I never saw coming. This is a well written book with a more than satisfactory ending.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Harper Impulse and Killer Reads and the author Olivia Isaac-Henry for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The only mystery here is due to the author withholding information from us, as the main character knows what happened. We are not following the police in their investigation, we're following the person who knows, and so the most impressive is how it's possible to write a full size novel with so little actual content. The writing in itself is good, but jumping around in time and changing the main character between first and third person will never sit right with me.

This was such an amazing read that I couldn’t put it down. It went everywhere with me. To the doctors office, the dentist, the eye doctor. IT WENT ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE. I was so sad when it ended that I immediately went and bought more books from this author!

I liked the sound of this story as it seems to be set in the court room. Well it does eventually. Theres 2 timelines in the story, the 1990s and more recent times. I thought one would explain the other but I thought they weren't matching up or was explaining what I thought it would.

I did enjoy the court room drama when it came and is something to look forward to. There is a shock around about chapter 51 which I didn't see coming. Enjoyed that.

I stayed up until 4:30am to get this finished and then there was a good ending.

"Someone We Know" also by Olivia was a good read so have a read of that one too if you haven't already

A body is found on the North Downs and Julia Winter, along with two of her housemates in the past, are arrested for his murder.
The way the story starts did have me taking a break from this book as it seemed to stall a bit but once I returned to it, I was totally enthralled. It moves between time periods as the body is only discovered 23 years after the person died and is full of intrigue between the characters who all shared a house together. It's also a courtroom drama as the reader is drawn back to the past through Julia's eyes and into the present as the trial proceeds. Additionally there is a twist at the end which I didn't exactly see coming but it had crossed my mind.
A thoroughly enjoyable read.

A courtroom trial based book has to be done well, really well or else it fails, this book does it very well!
The book is based around a house share in Guildford, a fascinatingly bizarre landlady, her Sister and the 5 tenants, 3 men, 2 women who live there...but only 4 of them get to leave the house, 1 doesn’t, he is killed and buried nearby
The other 4 carry on with their lives, the secret 3 of them share staying a secret
Years later, remains are found, DNA is sought and the secret that was hidden is no longer a secret but newsworthy and ‘out in the open’
Enquiries are made, arrests happen and it all ends up in Guilford Crown Court in a mesmerising trial full of drama
Wonderfully set betwixt the past, the intermediate and the present ( the court case ) the book guides you through this involving story of the tenants and what led up to the killing and why it happened and who was to blame
The court case is so well done, the descriptions of everyone involved flawless and the fickleness of the jury fascinating to read
The ‘verdict’, well thats not for me
to say but it was a surprise and what led to it even more of a surprise, great ending
Wonderful ‘love to hate’ characters,
and not a filler page to be found I loved the writing style, the story and everything about this clever and unusual book
A moot point but the cover, for me, could have shown much much more
of what the book is about and not simply a woman in a red coat
Excellent reading, loved it
10/10
5 Stars

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed reading this book. I enjoyed it so much that I want to read the author’s first book. I needed to know what happened and I was very pleased with the turn the story took and how it ended. I will definitely recommend this book to others! Thank you again to NetGalley!

I enjoy courtroom thrillers, but this one just didn’t hit the mark for me.

There are multiple timelines, which I’m usually okay with. But in this one, it just became extremely confusing to follow, making the book feel like it was jumping all over the place with little direction. I expected a suspense factor, and that was lacking. I had a hard time caring about the characters, and that, with the other issues mentioned, made it difficult for me to stay engaged.

Thank you to @netgalley and the author/publishers for giving me a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. This novel is a standard whodunnit storyline with all the expected hints and jumps in timeline laced throughout. I liked the main character, she felt very honest when discussing her emotions and mistakes. I also like the difference between the personalities in the sideline characters, especially Genevieve who I found to be a lot more in depth and misunderstood as the story went on. However I did find the jumps in time quite disjointed, throwing you back and forth in no real pattern so you had to keep double checking which part the writer was referring to. I also found this book quite predictable, nothing was hugely jumping out as original or shocking with no real twists and turns that truly make a book like this for me. Overall it was a good read but not one I'd choose to read again and I wouldn't think I'd read a sequel either if that were an option, it just didn't grab me by the throat like I wanted. A 3.5/5 ⭐ for me.

My Synopsis: Julia is a recently separated mum, estranged from her son after being caught cheating on her husband. To make matters worse she has just been arrested on suspicion of murder of a former housemate from 23 years ago as his body has just been found. This story takes us simultaneously through her arrest and trial as well as dipping back into the past and building up to discovering what actually happened 23 years ago.

I’d like to thank Harper Impulse & Killer Reads and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Verdict’ by Olivia Isaac-Henry in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
A body is found buried on the North Downs which is believed to be that of Brandon, a backpacker who went missing in 1994. Julia shared a house at that time with Brandon and three others, Gideon, Alan and Lucy, and the police are questioning everybody who knew Brandon.
The description of ‘The Verdict’ sounded intriguing and my sort of book but I didn’t warm to any of the characters and I became increasingly confused as to which character was involved with which year. I had to keep referring to my notes which interrupted my concentration and made it hard for me to get involved in the story. I guessed from the prologue that Julia was caught up with disposing of a man’s body (Brandon?) but I wasn’t concerned enough to find out who. Generally this book didn’t hold my attention enough to want to find out more and I gave up halfway through. I enjoyed Isaac-Henry’s previous novel ‘Someone You Know’ which I thought much more exciting but despite not getting on with this one I’ll look out for her next.

3-4 stars. Found this book to be a quick intriguing read, that definitely kept my attention and made sure to give the needed thrills and chills us thriller lovers love. Well written, quick paced, original and fun to read. Highly recommend to those who enjoy the books I do!
Will make sure I let others know about this book!

The Verdict by Olivia Isaacs-Henry

Julia had an affair at work. She lost her husband.
She lost her job. She is estranged from her son.

A body is found and Julia finds herself on trial for the murder of her previous housemate.

Usually I am a fan of different timelines, but here it didn't really work for me. I had a hard time keeping the different times straight.

I couldn't get past the timeline confusion so just trudged through the rest of the book...

Thank you to NetGalley for a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

#theverdict #oliviaisaacshenry #netgalley

A fantastic court room drama that was absolutely brilliant and suspenseful. I loved it. Highly recommended for court room/ thriller fans xx

This was an enjoyable book and the twist did surprise me, but the flashback to alternate times was not my favorite style. Even though we thought Julia was involved somehow with Brandon’s disappearance, I was worried about her and cheering her on throughout the book.