I really liked the cover. It is very appealing designed. The writing style is pleasant and very fluently to read. The characters are very well described and look well thought out and consistently interesting. The tension is always present. The descriptions of surroundings, feelings and scenes were also very good. The story is told pleasant and it succeeds from the first pages to dive directly into the story. The storyline as a whole is very coherent and it seems very understandable and authentic. A very fascinating story that you won't like to stop reading.

The Verdict by Olivia Isaac Henry is full of twists and turns revealing the crime slowly throughout the story. As the story goes back and forth between timelines it keeps you wanting to keep reading one more chapter to find out what happened. Be prepared to stay up late finishing this book! Thank you to Net Galley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest review.

This is one of those books that you'll find akin to a slow burn. The Verdict begins with a prologue that is dark, and sinister enough to keep you hooked. However, a few chapters in, just as I thought that this plot could not be any different from many books out there, the tension picks up and we get back to the gripping and fast-paced thrill of this thriller.

When a body is discovered on the North Downs, Julia Winters living her otherwise average life receives a text with the news link warning her. Julia immediately knows that someone knows the secret she's buried so long ago when she was just starting out. Soon the body is identified as one of her former housemates from over twenty years ago. Julia is caught in a web of deception, lies, and greed. She's cheated on her husband and been an estranged mother to her son. Will this paint a darker picture of her in the eyes of the jury? With overwhelming evidence mounting against her, will the jury buy Julia's story?

Set in three timelines, its a bit confusing to understand the sequence of events at the start, but eventually I got the hang of the story. The plot is well done and I really liked how the events from all three timelines made sense in the end. While I loved the last chapter and the connotations it held, I felt that the sequence of events leading to the ending was just based on a highly chanceable event and not legally realistic given that there is a lot of legal/courtroom drama in this book. I started off indifferent to Julia Winter, then somewhere midway disliked her, but in the end I really really liked her. Even the supporting characters of Audrey, Pearl and Andre were great. However, the character I found most entertaining was that of Genevieve! Her relationship and interactions with Julia and the other tenants were highly amusing in this otherwise dark read. Full marks for this highly colorful characterization.
In all, I'd say this was a really good read. I did stumble with making sense of the events during the earlier chapters, something that corrected itself quick enough. And then when the pace picks up in the second half and this book became unputdownable!

Thank You, NetGalley, HarperReads, and Olivia Issac-Henry for an arc!

An affair at work has cost Julia Winter her job and her marriage. There’s no denying she has let her family down. When a body is discovered on the North Downs, it hits local headlines. But for Julia, the news is doubly shocking because the body was buried just opposite the house she lived in over twenty years ago. And it is one of her former housemates. Up on the stand, Julia’s not the only person to have secrets that are unearthed during the trial. But the evidence against her is overwhelming. Yet one question remains: is she the murderer, or the victim?

What an exhilarating read this is, I was hooked and adored reading this! This is written in 2017 with flashbacks to 1994 and 1995. We know someone has dies but who is the culprit? Well that is what we slowly find out.
This starts out fairly slow but there was still something that hooked me. I was obsessed with this and could not bear to put it down. The plot is fairly simple but incredibly addictive.

Then we have the twist! What a twist it was. I was in no way expecting it and it came at a very unexpected moment to flip the plot. I love when a thriller can truly shock me with a twist so of course I adored this.

The chapters being set in different years works really well and heightens the intensity and excitement of the read. The reader gets to play at being detective and it ensures for breath-taking reading.

The characters are fantastic as well. They are all very different people and as you will see, they all have their own secrets that we soon discover. I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them, flaws and all, and they were great people to follow.

'The Verdict' is an exhilarating, intense read with a twist that will shock. This is very powerful reading and I highly recommend this addictive thriller.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Impulse for an advance copy.

The original premise of this book really intrigued and excited me but I found myself skimming through after the first few chapters, it just never seemed to bran my attention at any given time.

Part of me thinks there was just too much detail and places and maybe not enough in others so boredom started to set in.

I didnt engage or sympathise with any of the characters which is never a good starting point for me and I found the four different time lines confused me, maybe if it had grabbed my full attention it would have been fine!

On a positive note the twist was a big shock and came from nowhere which has upped my rating slightly to a 2.5*.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for the ARC. I would recommend on to anyone who enjoys more of a law/courtroom drama.

Superb book. The twists were totally unexpected. Keeps us reading into the night. Initially the timeline is confusing, but clears up as we progress.

Review made possible through NetGalley:
This was my first time reading Olivia Isaac-Henry's work. She has also published Someone You Know by the same publisher. If you are looking for a lot of twists and surprising reveals, The Verdict is for you.

Julia Winters is a main character you can root for. She makes the worst life choices, but she's not unlikable. The rest of the cast features other women who are unique and also likable; plus one gay BFF who is a tertiary character in the London scenes; but, as for the rest of the male characters, there's not a single one with redeeming qualities except Julia's teenage son, Sam, who is visible often in her scenes, but he doesn't have any active scenes himself.

Isaac-Henry threw me for a loop for the first several chapters because of the time-hopping from 1994 to 2017. Chapter one is in central London and told in the first person point of view. From there almost every chapter flip-flops ahead and then back. What didn't seem to make sense was why half the book is first POV and the rest told in third person. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the plot and the depth of characters, I still don't understand the choice to continuously switching perspectives in this way. I've enjoyed plenty of books where it changes POV based on character starring in that scene, but this style is a first for me. After a while, I got used to it and mentally kept myself inside Julia's headspace.

The story revolves around one specific murder mystery, but there are other characters who do end up dead before the end. All of the deaths that are mentioned could be suspicious. Readers don't have to accept what the local police detectives rule. There's enough there in what is said or isn't said to have you questioning them.

The title leads one to believe there's a court case involved and we're taken into it with ease by the midpoint. It's not a story completely set inside a boring courtroom. The Guildford Crown Court is where Julia, Gideon, and Alan end up as co-defendants in the murder trial of their former housemate Brandon Wells.

This group of unlikely co-lodgers in a large suburban house answer to the landlady. She calls herself Genevieve D'Auncey, a former acting star; in reality she's merely an eccentric batty woman named Jenny Pike. Genevieve refused to have any grasp of reality at all even when she was young. When her son Dominic disappeared in the Alps, her eccentricity pivoted into alcoholism and pill dependency. Her sister, the completely opposite salt-of-the-earth woman, Ruth Fletcher keeps an eye on her and the lodgers. Ruth doesn't seem important as a figure until the third act in the climax of the courtroom scenes and the final chapter.

Another tertiary character who isn't quite consistent is Pearl, Julia's other best friend along with Andre. There are times when Pearl believes they should enjoy their young lives, sleeping with whomever they please, and drinking all weekend; but then she counters her own advice. This could be a matter of the timeline hopping where the characters have two decades to mature. It's nothing that makes or breaks any of the story arcs.

As for Julia's husband -- he's last month's putrefied garbage in a fitted suit. His infidelities don't matter, only hers. It's never called abuse nor domestic violence when he takes control of all the finances, buys himself multiple luxury vehicles, gets a house at their maximum budget which only Julia's income pays, or his stalking. There's so much stalking in The Verdict! At least three of the men do it, perhaps more, I lost count. It absolutely is abuse to prohibit a spouse from having any say in the marital finances. Forcing Julia to take a bus or train to work (okay, that's not abuse in itself as millions do this adequately), while having his own luxury vehicles is definitely an abusive power dynamic. Her husband can con everyone into thinking he's merely "taking care of Julia" because she's been frail and has sketchy mental health with a suicide attempt in her history. Nonetheless, the author never says the word abuse when it most certainly was. It always come back to, "Did he ever punch you?" and as a Content Note, I'll spell this part out:
Julia's husband does grip her arm tightly in one scene and frequently scares the hell out of her by forcing her to do as he says.

The courtroom drama brings up another tactic still used today: boys will be boys. Or in this case, it's just male banter, nothing meant by it.

As previously stated, all the men in this book are trash. All of them expect Julia to do what they want even if that means forcing her to compromise her own morals. Sam is a rage-filled teenager, so he kind of gets a pass since all teens are generally awful unless they're the protagonists.
I loved Julia Winters and Ruth Fletcher. Olivia Isaac-Henry delivers story arcs that twist and turn as well as Agatha Christie. There's a constant sense of dread with monstrously bad mistakes made by the hero.

Content Notes:
-abusive situations M/F multiple relationships
-suicide attempt and aftermath (character isn't allowed to go to the toilet alone)
-stalking M/F

# The Verdict # Netgalley
I really good interesting book. Although a tad slow for my liking. However I can not deny that the storyline was good, and I can not deny I enjoyed it. Because I did. Just because I thought it was a tad slow, does not mean others would agree. This just is my own personal opinion. I would definitely say to anyone it would be a shame for you not to read this book. I would recommend it. It’s such a good storyline. I do suggest you read it. Otherwise overall you would be missing a good book

I enjoyed this book, although I did find the different time chapters a little irritating albeit necessary for the plot. The characters I thought were a little flat and could have been better explored. Still a good story with a great twist. A recommended read.

First, thank you Netgalley and Harper Impulse for this eARC. The Verdict by Olivia Isaac-Henry was a great courtroom drama with twists and turns galore. It was a little confusing with the multiple timelines and going between past and present even with the years being the chapter titles.

Julia, the main character, is described as plain and un-noteworthy, which is very true, but she didn't need to be over the top because there is enough drama in the book already. Also, there are other characters who are eccentric enough.

I will say that majority of this book lacked suspense. Also, I was a little upset about Julia and her mother's relationship and how they became "all good" after one little phrase.

I thoroughly enjoyed the back and forth during the trial and that is what kept me reading. This is where majority of the action is. It makes up for the lack of excitement in the past chapters of the novel.

Overall, I enjoyed this story. If you enjoy courtroom dramas/mysteries, then you should definitely read this book.

3 stars - For my thriller loving friends, I’d recommend them to get this book on their shelves. It stands up to The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl.

The Verdict by Olivia Isaac-Henry drops the reader into the middle of Julia Winter’s life.

Twenty years have passed since Brandon Wells disappeared, but now that his body is unearthed on the hillside near his last home, Julia Winter, his former roommate, is on trial for his murder. The questions abound and accusations take the reader through the malay of Julia’s already disheveled life. She’s living in a dingy apartment; her son won’t speak to her after she begins an affair with his rugby coach; and to top it all off, she is getting strange texts from an unknown sender that warn her to...“get ready.”

Along with the jury, the reader is forced to contemplate her guilt or innocence as the plot flips back and forth from the early 1990s to the present day. The narrative is one of a resigned woman, with a fatalist’s perspective. The reader gets the sense that even if the jury hasn’t yet sentenced her, that perhaps she already condemned herself.

Julia’s guilt or innocence is the central thrust of the novel, and here’s where it may have landed a little flat at some points along the way. Isaac-Henry elects to delve into the past to find causes for Julia’s station in life.

For me, I got distracted by the writing style that changed points of view from the past to the present. In the present, Julia tells her own story of defeat. In the past, the story shows her life at Downsview Villa with the chaos of roommates and an eccentric landlady, Genevieve. This shift in tone seemed an odd choice since both were focused only on Julia. The interruption of Julia’s authentic voice to view her from an outsider’s perspective in the 90s, was distracting from the plot.

Thank you to NetGalley for the Advanced Reader Copy.

London 2017, Julia lives a normal life, working in an office when one day she receives a text from an unknown sender, alerting her to headline re a news report about a body found buried on north downs, human remains found while taking soil samples. The past catching up, her nightmare comes to life.
2017, Julia feels like she's being watched. It then progresses to a call on her home line, until the day police come knocking at her door.... the worst has happened.

The first half of the book alternates between 2017 and 1994/1995, before and after it all happened.

Second half of the book, based alternately between time in custody/the trial and previous years. 2018, Julia is being held in Bronzefield Prison whilst awaiting trial, the trial, finally 2019 'the verdict'.

It's a good read, but a lot of jumping back and forth in time, second half seems to change more soo. First, 2017 then 19.. alternating; second more changeable.

I love courtroom drama and I certainly got my fix with this book. Julia was not a very likeable character in the beginning but I warmed up to her after I learned of her past. Genevieve was my favorite as I loved her spirit of flamboyancy. I loved the twist that the author presented us with. This was a new author for me and I will be seeking more of her work.
Many thanks to Harper Impulse and Killer Reads, the author, and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, had me hooked from the first page and I devoured it in one sitting. A great read, will certainly be looking out for more by this author.

Julia Winters receives a text she hopes never to receive. A former housemate is found dead many years after they lived together. Now someone is threatening her, thinking she was involved. How can she prove her innocence?

The story alternates between the past and the present, giving a unique view of the story. As we learn more about Julia we are more intrigued as to what really happened. I loved the character development and how clues ‘clicked’ later in the story.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Julia stands trial for the murder of a housemate 24 years ago after his body is found nearby the house where they both lived. Her life is already unraveling, as she has been caught by her son, having an affair with his rugby coach. He isn't talking to her and she is separated from her husband and living in a one bedroom flat by herself.

This book alternated between 1994, when Julia rented a room in a house with a very odd landlady and several other young single boarders, and 2017-8 when the body is found and she stands trial. I thought this book was very entertaining and when I put it down, I was eager to pick it back up, which to me is a sign of a good book. I had no issue with the alternating timeline as the chapter headings made everything clear. There were some twists and turns, one in particular at 75% that I did NOT see coming, and I thought it all wrapped up well. I enjoyed this and would read more from this author.

This is a book that keeps you guessing but leads you to the answers. Julie is a woman who has had a hard life and now she is on trial. But did she commit the crime?

An enjoyable well written read.

The book was good and always kept you guessing .You never really know the truth about the main character till the end. The story goes back and forth between the past and the present weaving a story of murder, theft , manipulation and youthful ignorance.

From beginning to end this book will keep you working overtime to solve the mystery. Initially I wasn't sure whether the transition between present and past would work but it really did help make sense of this intriging multi-layered story allowing it to unfold one morsel at a time. The main character, Julia's journey through this book is rewarding and exciting. It moves with fluency and gentle hints that keep the reader turning page after page. The writing is honest and even raw at times.. It is nice to be reminded of the subtle behaviour that make us all human and vulnerable. It is truly a great read and a wonderful.

Julia Winter never thought she would find herself in front of a jury. Now she is fighting for her chance of freedom. Years ago she was attacked. She was able to get away. The events of that night have followed her throughout her life. Now her life rests in the hands of the jury. Will she have freedom and finish raising her son or will she pay the price of keeping secrets.
A journey through a women's life and the decisions she makes. How these decisions effect her life.
Intriguing, entertaining. Excellent read.