Take it back was one of those books I read a little at a time as the chapters were fairly long. So many emotions in this book. Between race, truth, culture, and then right and wrong. Zara former barrister is now a rape victim therapist meets Jodie a 16 year old who lacks family support and has facial deformities. Good heavy read as both characters work through life's issues.

Thank you netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book all opinions are my own.

Wow. Powerful. This is not so much a story about he said/she said but more about race relations in England. This is more about a brilliant Muslim Lawyer defending a white (deformed) girl accusing four Muslim teens of rape. As the story unfolds, the reader believes or doesn't believe Jodie, a teenage girl with a horrific deformity that makes her appearance ugly. But still, a teenage girl is just that, with a facial deformity or not, and teenage boys are teenage boys. This is an ugly story of racial tensions and man's inhumanity to man. I'm not going to give away anything in the story but I am going to say that this story certainly makes you think about man's inhumanity to man based on race and religion. I would definitely recommend this.

**4.5-stars rounded up**

As I read the final scene, I was blushing and looking around, thinking to myself, she got me. Kia Abdullah got me good! This provocative legal thriller was a non-stop guessing game. My head was reeling the entire way through trying to decipher who to believe. I hate to say that, but I have to be honest. The reason I don't like to say that is because the case central to this story is that of a sexual assault.

This would be an enticing book club read. I can see a lot of great discussions stemming from the deep content of this book that was expertly crafted for maximum impact by Abdullah. Zara Kaleel, a former lawyer, is now a sexual assault counselor. When 16-year old, Jodie Wolfe, arrives in her office, Zara is stunned to hear her tale of assault by four male classmates.

Jodie has a genetic abnormality that has given her severe facial deformities, which makes her difficult to understand at times. In spite of any slight communication issues, Jodie's pain is pouring off of her. She is traumatized and Zara vows to help. We follow the investigation into the case through multiple perspectives and then get front row seats to the subsequent trial.

The four young men accused are Muslims, from immigrant families, while Jodie is a white girl. As you can imagine, this adds an incredible amount of tension to public reception of the case. It all becomes a bit of a circus, with even Zara beginning to fear for her safety. As a Muslim woman herself, also from an immigrant family, she is branded a traitor and must push really hard, both personally and professionally, to continue with Jodie's case.

I really loved how Abdullah chose to tell this story. The pace was spot on and the little reveals and clues along the way left me constantly guessing at the truth. I had no idea what the final outcome would be until it was on page.

Additionally, I loved the cultural elements that were included through Zara's perspective, and a few of the accused boys. I thought those aspects made this one stand out in comparison with other books in the genre and will make this story, overall, more memorable for me. I loved this. Very compelling, suspenseful and thoughtful. I will definitely be picking up more books from Kia Abdullah in the future.

Thank you so much to the publisher, St. Martin's Press, for providing me with a copy of this to read and review. I love discovering new authors to enjoy, so thanks for adding another to my auto-buy list!

About:

Thirty-year-old Zara Kaleel, a former barrister, exchanged her high profile career for a job at a sexual assault center, Artemis House, helping victims of rape who need her the most. Victims like Jodie Wolfe, a sixteen-year-old girl with a facial deformity, accuses four boys in her class, teenagers of hard-working immigrant families, of an unthinkable crime that ultimately tears the community apart.

Even Jodie's best friend doesn't believe her.

But Zara does.


My Thoughts:

As a sexual violence advisor, Zara finds herself stuck in the middle as she advocates for Jodie and stays by her side throughout the trial. As a result, Zara is labeled a traitor by some people within the Muslim community, is treated with disdain by a family member, and is continuously stocked by the media, who are bent on exposing every aspect of her personal life.

I like that Zara is depicted as a vulnerable and strong woman, so befitting the moniker, Zara the Brave.

Author, Kia Abdullah, created characters that I genuinely care about, each given enough backstory that I found myself empathizing with both the victim and the accused, positions that seem to alternate throughout the narrative as more is revealed to the reader, keeping you guessing as to who is telling the truth.

TAKE IT BACK is an intense courtroom thriller that had me riding an emotional rollercoaster until the very end. Highly Recommend!

Thank you, NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press, for loaning me an eGalley of TAKE IT BACK in exchange for an honest review.

Zara is an attorney who has given up her high powered job to help victims of sexual assault. One day, a victim called Jodie Wolfe arrived at the center. She has severe facial deformities due to a disease. But, she has accused 4 Muslim boys of rape. Did I mention Zara is Muslim? Well, this sends the whole city into turmoil.

Wow! This book grabbed you by the throat at the beginning and never let go. I swear…I didn’t know who was telling the truth and who was lying. At the end, I had to actually put the book down a minute and breathe. There are so many aspects to this novel. It is very complex and not for the faint of heart. Between Jodie and her terrible situation, Zara and her Muslim ties, and the 4 teenage boys accused of this crime, my mind was racing and I could not read it fast enough.

Now, this book is not for everyone. I read another review (and I NEVER DO THAT!). She hated this book for various reasons. The reasons she hated it are the reasons I enjoyed it. The intensity, the way the author manipulated the reader, the twists and turns…but the subject matter is tough! So be aware.

I found this book fantastically complex and heart wrenching!

I received this novel from the publisher for a honest review.

Thank you to St Martins press for the E copy for review.

I’m on the fence about this one.
While I was totally engrossed, the writing was great, and our main character was so interesting and real.

I cannot shake how upset and uncomfortable this story made me.
Now, don’t get me wrong. That is probably by design.
The subject matter is so heavy and heartbreaking. I think for me (and others may disagree) it just leaned a little to much towards shock value. This just wasn’t the story I needed right now.

Take It Back is one of the best books that I've read in 2020 and more than deserving of 5 stars! I'm just blown away by this book, especially by its cliffhanger, jaw-dropping ending--one that made me want to scream and throw things!

Kia Abdullah has brilliantly written not only a courtroom drama but a book that explores race, rape, victim's rights, gender, religion, and more in such a compelling and thought-provoking way. The protagonist, Zara Kaleel, is a British Muslim who now works as a sexual violence counselor after quitting her job as a very successful barrister. As a counselor, she meets Jodie Wolfe, a sixteen-year-old white teen who has severe facial deformities, which have led to her being bullied her entire life. Jodie says four Muslim teenage boys raped her while she was leaving a party, but no one, not even her mother or best friend, believes her.

Zara represents Jodie in her rape case, which just adds fuel to the fire because she's a Muslim woman representing a white girl against Muslim boys-in the eyes of her culture, she's should put her religion first not a girl who is accusing boys of her own race.

Is Jodie telling the truth? Or are the four boys? It was often hard to know, which made it more realistic until the ending was revealed. And what an ending! But in between, the story and sensationalized trial really highlighted racial tensions, hatred of other religions, misperceptions against victims, malice against those with a disability, and so many other horrors that humans do to each other. Abdullah really showed the reality of these things without exaggerating anything, and it was hard to read because unlike a lot of thrillers, this is the reality of how people treat each other in today's society.

A very intense, heartbreaking, slow burn of a book that will blow your mind and leave you thinking about the character"s actions and motivations. I can't wait to read the next book by Abdullah! If you love a good mystery or courtroom thriller, then I highly recommend Take It Back.

Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin’s Press for a DRC of this book All opinions are my own.

I'm a fan of legal thrillers, particularly those with a bit of a social/political focus, a few surprises, realistic characters…Scott Turow, SOME Grisham, Connelly…and William Landay’s Defending Jacob is still one of my all-time faves (what happened to him, anyway?). So when I read about Take It Back by Kia Abdullah, I was eagerly anticipating the copy that I received thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley in exchange for this honest review. And now that I have finished it, I keep thinking about it…

The protagonist is Zara Kaleel, a bright young attorney in London, who has abandoned her lucrative, high profile legal career to work at a sexual assault center, a career choice her Muslim family does NOT understand. She is especially aggravated by her brother and, at a family gathering, she finds herself “…wishing she had the words to explain why she couldn’t “just ignore him,” why she couldn’t just be okay with another man controlling the women around her. Perhaps her mother would never understand. After a lifetime of outsourcing her choices, could she appreciate the value of making her own?”

Zara is at a stage where she is not particularly happy: “Smart people are never happy. Their expectations are too high.” She is finding her own way as a “civilian, but retains sensitivity to the opinions of her community: “She no longer wore the headscarf but the censure linked to free-flowing hair still bubbled beneath her skin…”

Zara wants to help young women like Jodie Wolfe, a sixteen-year-old non-Muslim (white) girl with facial deformities, who has come to the center to accuse four of her classmates, teenage Muslim boys, of raping her after a party to which she had gone with her best friend, knowing she was not likely to be desirable to any of the boys at the party but desperately lonely and wanting to belong. Abdullah writes beautifully, and Jodie’s pain really comes through as her accusations begin to have an effect on many people.

Jodie’s best friend doesn’t believe her story, and neither does her mother, an abusive alcoholic who is clearly unbalanced. It’s somewhat miraculous that Jodie has the strength to stand up to her and to speak out. And the alleged rapists? They are handsome young men from hard-working immigrant families, who seem to have a bright future ahead…until Jodie’s accusation comes to light.

The boys all say that Jodie is a liar, just seeking attention, that she had a crush on one of the boys and will do anything to be noticed. Their story is that they didn’t touch her, and that since they could have any girl they wanted, why would they want a girl like her? It seems that Zara is the only one who truly believes Jodie, and although things get a little bit crazy when Jodie’s identity is revealed and a media circus unfolds, everything really goes off the rails when Zara becomes fodder for the relentless tabloid media, who delight in outing her as a Muslim who clearly hates her own community, exposing her personal life and calling her a slut and a whore.

Zara wants to prove that this is not an issue of religion, racial identity, or personal beliefs. Her own history of family strife (exacerbated by her disdain for an arranged marriage opportunity and future as an obedient Musim wife) complicates things, but it seems she truly does want to do the right thing, even if it happens to coincide with dealing with her own demons and family dynamic.

So, of course we go to court, and it’s the word of the four boys against Jodie. There are some rather big surprises, a tragedy, and lots of juicy details about Zara’s life, past and present. It’s definitely a page-turner, and I loved it. Five stars.

Thank you to Netgalley for allowing me to read this book.

Jodie, a disfigured teen, accuses 4 Muslim boys of rape. She enlists the help of a Muslim lawyer whom befriends Jodie and wants to help at all costs. The help she is giving Jodie creates a strain with her family and the Muslim community. Everyone pretty much turns against her for helping the “white girl” and disrespecting her religion. The book follows the trial of the boys. The outcome is shocking.

Somber and complex, this is a story about assault, prejudice, racism and rage. Jodie, a disfigured young white woman whose accusation of rape committed by four immigrant boys is the catalyst for an explosive series of events. Even the victims advocate, a brave Muslim attorney has her life torn apart by a community who consider her a traitor.
There is a lot to unpack here and I found it necessary to step away at times to digest everything read. Just watching how everyone behaves and reacts is gut wrenching. You will find yourself guessing the outcome until the very end. Beware of triggers(sexual assault and bullying) still a timely and necessary book. Thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an eGalley of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Soooo good!! Take It Back was an excellent courtroom drama, with a strong lead character, Zara. Full of twists and turns, this suspenseful novel, taking place in London, of a disabled teenager accusing 4 Asian teens of raping her. Flawed and complicated persons in this book, going through extraordinary turmoil, with a surprising outcome. I really loved this book. Thank you NetGalley, author and publisher for the e-reader for review. All opinions are my own.

What a story. I was committed to the writing and story from the first page. The twists, turns, characters - in fact everything - held my attention and made me want to read, read, read.

“One victim.
Four accused.
Who is telling the truth?”

Review of Take It Back by Kia Abdullah:
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨

Trigger Warning: rape, murder, physical assault

This is the story of one White girl born with facial deformities who accuses four Muslim boys of raping her.  Four boys who deny all accusations against them.  It's the story of Zara Kaleel who works as an advisor with sexual assault victims and is now being called a traitor against the Muslim community.  And a court case that explodes, creating a divide between race and class.  Who is telling the truth in this he said/she said courtroom thriller; and who will get justice in the end?

I thought I knew where this story was going but turns out I didn't.  This is one story that will sit with me for a long time.  It's one that will have you feeling uncomfortable.  It both enraged and saddened me and the conclusion rocked me to my core yet it was brilliant and powerful.  I found myself believing and sympathizing with both sides: the victim and the accused.  The beginning starts with a very descriptive and deeply unsettling rape scene that nearly turned me away but I had to see the book through and I'm happy I did.  This book is tense, complicated and full of depth.  It addresses themes of race, class, religion, gender and is a call for social justice.  Written with strong female leads, I applaud the author for integrating these themes into a storyline in such a masterful way.  Well done!

Thank you @StMartinsPress and @Netgalley {#partner} for gifting me with an advanced readers e-copy in exchange for an independent and honest review!  This book is available now!

Take It Back by Kia Abdullah is a story that you won't soon forget. The author has created characters that you'll feel great pity and anger towards. Jodie is a 16-year-old who has accused four Muslim boys of raping her. The story covers the arrest and trial of the accused and has you waffling about who exactly is telling the truth. Fans of legal thrillers will be enthralled by this tale. I'm already recommending it to many fellow readers. Read and enjoy!

Take it Back was a gripping legal thriller with multiple twists and turns and a lot of layers. It covered a multitude of issues with a surprising amount of depth.

A white, physically disabled daughter of an alcoholic accuses her four Muslim schoolmates (boys of Pakistani and Bangladeshi descent) of rape. Former barrister-turned-rape-crisis worker Zara, herself a lapsed Muslim, becomes the girl’s advocate. The community explodes as everyone takes sides, putting Zara into even more conflict with her family and worsening her Valium addiction.

I really enjoyed Take it Back. While the tortured/addict protagonist is a common trope in the police procedural and legal thriller genres, this book featured a character I hadn’t seen before. Zara’s backstory, which included fleeing an arranged marriage, alienating her Muslim family, and being hooked on Valium, was multi-layered and well-developed. The public reaction to the rape case pitted advocates for victims of sexual assault against members of the British South Asian community, men against women, and student against student.

Told in multiple POVs, Take it Back managed to develop a large cast of characters. All the twists and turns kept me guessing who was telling the truth until the very last page.

Highly recommend for fans of twisty books, legal drama, and police procedurals.

"You want life in neat and predictable boxes when it's actually a river of shit." (Abdullah)
Basically sums it up for Zara, one of the main characters in this book, for her personal life and work life described by a friend. Take it Back grabbed my attention from the beginning but I didn't love the book because I didn't understand the ending of the story, with the new information Zara was given and that's frustrating to me.
See how the quoted line speaks to me also, true story for me in life as well I guess - I need predictable boxes in the books I read … especially the endings..

Thank you to #NetGalley and #St.Martin'sPress for providing me with a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review - the book released on #12/08/2020.

I loved this book. It was uncomfortable and shocking. After I finished, I felt like I couldn’t breathe for a few minutes.

DNF.

Tried repeatedly over a period of months to read this, but the style is just too florid. So many adjectives and adverbs! I felt manipulated.

Wow! I did not see this book coming. It was a great legal thriller, mystery, drama, and social drama. A non-practicing Muslim female lawyer-turned-sexual-violence-victim's-advocate takes on a case of a disfigured white teen alleging rape by four Muslim teens. The case is bound to cause community tension in the London community in which the case is taking place.

As is the case with most rapes, the allegations are he said/she said. In this instance, it is she said/they said, as all four young men charged deny the allegations and back each others' stories up.

The young woman at the center of the case, Jodie, is doubted by everyone in her life: Her mother, her best friend, and the community at large. After all, she is so hideously disfigured (apparently) that no one believes four respectable, nice looking young men from good families would have any sexual interest in her. (That is so difficult to believe, even though I am sure that mentality is accurate. But even people who have never had personal experience with rape know it is about more than just sexual attraction!) Only Jodie's advocate, Zara, seems to believe her. Zara's confidence is enough to get dogged legal representation for Jodie.

As the case begins, we, the readers, do not know if the rape happened. We are basically in the same position as the community, having to choose whether to believe the victim or the accused based on the story each presents. Without any unbelievable twists, I was very pleased to find myself waffling back and forth in my belief based on evidence as it was presented throughout the book. I was very pleased at how this incident messed with my head throughout the book until its conclusion.

What really made this book standout was watching the culture war that inevitably ensued as the case progressed. Zara is already mostly estranged from her devout Muslim family for her refusal to conform to the expectations the faith places on women. When she supports a white woman over four Muslim's, she is considered a traitor of her people and violent threats are hurled at her. Jodie is threatened with rape and other violence for "false-allegations" against Muslim boys. I was on the edge of my seat worrying about their well-being, as well as wondering how the community was going to handle either outcome. This unfolded and resolved in a very believable way.

The ONLY complaint I have about the book is the self-destructive nature of one of the women in the book. She takes prescription drugs, is promiscuous, refuses to allow "feelings" to come into play in her relationships. She and another female character in the book take a lot of verbal abuse from their families, but in Zara's case, I could find no compelling reason why she would continue to go around hers.

This review can't cover all my thoughts about the book, but I will say, with a few minor gripes aside, this was a very good book. I was so compelling, I struggled to put it down between reading sessions. I would recommend it to lovers of thrillers, legal thrillers, and psychological thrillers....especially those who are looking for something different about those genres.

3.5 stars

If youths in your minority ethnoreligious group are accused of raping a girl, do you support the boys no matter what? That's the problem faced by Zara Kaleel, a Muslim lawyer who volunteers as a rape victim advocate at a London rape crisis center.

Zara is assigned the case of 16-year-old Jodie Wolfe, a girl with a severely deformed face.who accuses four Muslim schoolmates of raping her. Jodie and the boys agree that they were together in an abandoned warehouse after a party, but how they all came to be there, and what happened in the building, is in dispute. Jodie says the boys violently assaulted her; the boys say they didn't.

Zara chooses to believe Jodie, helps the girl report the incident to the police, and advises her afterwards. Jodie REALLY needs Zara because her own mother is a lazy alcoholic who can't be bothered with her daughter's problems. And Jodie's best friend - who has a crush on one of the boys - refuses to believe her.

The incident incites furor on both sides of the ethnic divide: the Caucasian community raises hell about Muslim boys raping a disabled white girl; and Muslims claim the girl is lying.

As for Zara, she's between a rock and a hard place. The advocate feels obligated to help Jodie - who's come to rely on her - but the Muslim community calls Zara a traitor. Moreover, Zara's own mother advises her to drop the case and let someone else handle it.

Zara's already on the outs with her family for flouting Muslim traditions about women being subservient to men, and for leaving her arranged marriage after a couple of weeks. Unfortunately, Zara furthering Jodie's case just makes things worse.

The book highlights the culture clash between the Muslim and non-Muslim community. The Muslims, who already face discrimination because of their religion and skin color, are livid about 'good Muslim boys' - from hard-working immigrant families - being accused of a heinous sexual crime.

And Jodie's supporters, who cite a newspaper article about a gang rape of a Bolton woman by Asian men - claim Muslim perpetrators purposely target white women.

On top of all that, the issue of Jodie being 'ugly' adds fuel to the fire. The boys' advocates insist the teenagers wouldn't have relations with 'a dog' and rape experts assert that sexual assault is a crime of violence, not sex.

The hoopla surrounding the accusations, stoked by online agitators and poster-carrying demonstrators, eventually leads to violence.

The book is compelling and suspenseful, and though the subject matter is disturbing, well worth reading.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Kia Abdullah), and the publisher (HarperCollins Publishers) for a copy of the book.