Access Today Truth Be Told (Zara Kaleel, #2) Designed By Kia Abdullah Made Available In Hardcover

is the first book I have read by author Kia Abdullah and it certainly won't be the last, This legal thriller had me hooked early on and held me to the very end with me finishing it in one sitting,  

Kamran Hadid comes from a wealthy family and attends Hampton the select boys boarding school in London, With a position already secured at Oxford next year the future couldn't look much better and the world his he's oyster, But everything is about to change for Kamran when an incident occurs after a drunken night out and things will never be the same again,

This is an excellent court room thriller that is very thought provoking but more importantly a very good novel, Great characters and a story superbly told that will keep you gripped and second guessing what is going to happen,

Very impressed by this author and I now plan to read her other novels hoping that the she maintains this standard,

I would like to thank both Net Galley and HQ for supplying a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review, This is a powerful, thoughtprovoking, and important book, It is an intense character study that examines problems in presentday society, It focuses on the culture and traditions within the Moslem community, and pressure on males in both the White and Moslem communities to encompass a stereotype of the Alphamale.
This pressure may end up as toxic masculinity in both groups, What follows, may result in animosity towards gay and transgendered people,

The thin line between nonconsensual sex and a mistaken drunken encounter and the legal consequences is explored, In court, the verdict often relies on the perceived credibility of the victim of the rape versus the accused, As there are rarely witnesses, justice may not be served, The trial can cause emotional damage on both sides,

Seventeenyearold Kamran and his brother Adam attend an elite, exclusive, allboys boarding school in London, They come from a privileged, wealthy Moslem family, Kamran had it enforced in him what is required to be a man by his strict, overbearing father, He has been accepted into Oxford and an entitled, successful future seems secure,

One night, after an alcohol fueled student party, Kamran is asleep in his bed, A popular student and athlete, Finn, stumbles drunkenly into Kamran's room under the mistaken impression that he had consent for sex, A drunken exhausted Kamran only had a vague, fleeting impression of what was happening and failed to protest, In the morning he is horrified and embarrassed that he had been raped,

A distraught Kamran approaches Zara Kaleel for counselling, wanting to talk about what happened to him, Zara also grew up in a strict, traditional household and still carries scars from her upbringing, Kamran files a lawsuit against Finn, During the trial, he experiences panic attacks, anger, and fear that his classmates, and especially his father, will regard him as homosexual, His father advises him to fight Finn on returning to school to regain his friends' respect, Both boys testify and the verdict leads to a shocking, explosive series of events, and Zara hears an unexpected, secret revelation,

This was a gritty, tense story, sensitively told, It examines probelems in presentday society and the difficulty of obtaining justice in similar cases, Kia Abdullahs second novel featuring Zara Kaleel has been deservedly praised as an engaging legal thriller that addresses the controversial topic of male rape, It explores issues of class and culture and examines the meaning of consent in relationships, Beyond these themes the novel gains intrigue through its exploration of the unspoken constraints society creates for individuals and the way each individual internalizes these constraints,

Kamran Hadid is a seventeen year old Muslim man who has been cocooned in a life of wealth and privilege, He and his younger brother Adam attend an elite boys boarding school in London and his place in Oxford is assured, After an alcohol infused year end party, Kamran is involved in a hazy sexual encounter with another male student, His recollections of the event are confused and he struggles to come to terms with the possibility that he has been raped, Fearful of confiding in his tradition bound Muslim family, he seeks guidance from Zara Kaleel,a Muslim woman who is a high profile assault counselor,

The assault and subsequent visit to Zara provide the thread that propels the narrative, resulting in a tension filled legal drama, The legal ramifications of the difference between consensual and non consensual sex are explored, Kamran and his alleged attacker are both well drawn characters who elicit sympathy as their internal vulnerabilities become apparent, The emotional complexity of the young mens psychological conflicts blends seamlessly with the ongoing legal battle imparting feelings of sympathy for both,

The emotional landscape of the novel gains additional depth through the portrayal of the influence of family and cultural expectations on individual self definition, The relationship between Kamran and Zara is central to this theme, Both individuals feel adrift in relation to their cultural traditions, Kamrans career path seemed preordained and the assault has made him fearful of the stigma that can derail his social ascent and standing in his family, Zara had previously rejected an arranged marriage, causing an unresolved rift with family and tradition, As a result, both Kamran and Zara have an unarticulated symbiotic affinity stemming from their individual traumas that mark them as outsiders, Their responses to each other change as the legal process proceeds and provide a lens into the limitations placed upon individuals based on race, gender and culture.


The blend of legal drama and nuanced family dynamics creates a sophisticated novel that encompasses many viewpoints, Kia Abdullah raises a number of questions about attitudes towards masculinity, assimilation, privilege and cultural norms, She does not offer any definitive answers, Instead, we are left to contemplate the role of familial support as a mediating factor in the conflict between societal expectations and self perception, I finished reading Kia Abdullah's Truth Be Told and I am a bit dazed by it,
I haven't yet read another book that manages to pull off what this one does,

That is to frame the important subject of rape and rape culture within a scenario that allows an exploration of it without cause to refer to the usual tropes of writing this kind of story and also managing to get in much wider family themes within it that speak to so many other issues in a totally non judgmental and thought provoking way.


She manages to create a realistic perspective wherein the outcome, the truth of it is well, . I'll leave that for you to discover, Find me another author that can do this and I will read them,

Highly recommending this one, These are the books that need to be read, the talent of this particular author in entertaining you whilst making you think and assess our society on every basic level is second to none.
.Powerful Stars

This is a powerful story! It focuses on some tough subjects and the author does an amazing job with all the details,

We connect again with sexual assault counselor, Zara Kaleel, and I find her to be such a strong and flawed character, I do recommend reading “Taking it Back” which introduces the character before reading this book,

This time the story focuses on maletomale

sexual assault/rape charges at an elite boarding school in London, Kamran Hadid seems to be on top of the world when an encounter one drunken night causes him to question everything in his life,

One technique the author used was conversations with between Zara and her family and friends as they learned about the case, I found this to be a great way to explore every angle of this issue, Is it just drunk boys experimenting Is it rape If you dont say no, is that giving consent Can you be Muslim and gay As Zara fights to find justice for Kamran, her beliefs and thoughts are challenged as well.


There are some courtroom scenes in this one and the lives of both boys and their families are altered as the testimony is delivered in court.
The boarding school has an important role to play in this one too, Should issues like this be resolved at the school or should charges be reported to the police

This one did not end how I expected and Im still thinking about it, this one will stay with me!

This made for a compelling buddy read with Jayme and Mary Beth.
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Kamran Hadid feels invincible, He attends Hampton school, an elite allboys boarding school in London, he comes from a wealthy family, and he has a place at Oxford next year, The world is at his feet, And then a night of revelry leads to a drunken encounter and he must ask himself a horrific question,

With the help of assault counsellor, Zara Kaleel, Kamran reports the incident in the hopes that will be the end of it, But its only the beginning

Powerful, explosive and important, Truth Be Told is a contemporary courtroom drama that vividly captures todays society, You will not stop thinking about it for a long time to come, Seventeen year old Kamran Hadid has a great future ahead of him, he comes from a wealthy family, attends prestigious Hampton College where he boards and he has a place at Oxford.
On the eve of an exeat a weekend away he joins enthusiastically in the pre exeat party where he, like many others, becomes very drunk and hazy.
What happens that night with Finn Andersen becomes a court case after which nothing will ever be the same for Kamran and his family, Zara Kaleel becomes involved and helps fellow Muslim Kamran to the best of her ability,

This is an exceptional book and I think it will stay with me for a long time, I found it a profoundly moving reading experience and deeply thought provoking, The impact on Kamran is very emotional, his feelings are depicted very strongly and he feels the whole range from guilt to shame, embarrassment, anger and so on.
Hes a boiling cauldron of emotion, He is pulled in different directions by the expectations of a conservative and very privileged school environment and also by the demands of his father Mack Mustaque who is the product of his upbringing and whose influence in his family is stifling and demanding.
This book examines the taboo of homosexuality in the Muslim Faith and also what masculinity means, The author shows how this can be a cage and how the desire to be an alpha male can have toxic effects, The court case is excellent and you feel the tension as both sides of the argument are presented, There are a lot of shocks and things you dont see coming that it jolts you like an electric shock, especially after the verdict, The characters are brilliantly portrayed and I really like Zara, she is fascinating and her background adds another dimension to the storytelling,

Overall, an outstanding book that covers relevant issues in a way that draws you into the narrative and makes you feel something, Its hard to put down, its skilfully written and I am definitely a fan of Kia Abdullah,

With thanks to NetGalley and especially to HQ for the ARC, .