A traumatic male rape tests a family’s bonds and their individual values on law, justice and retribution. It’s a powerful page-turner that starts with a cop in 2019 who was on the investigation and wants to know the real truth and confess, before he dies of cancer, and the unfolding case in 2015/16. The characters are very believable and the topic of male rape is handled with sensitivity and awareness of the issues. It also maintains a fine balance between family drama and thriller that feels worthy of John Grisham at times.

I quite enjoyed this book but found it a bit slow in places . On the whole though it was well worth reading . I enjoyed the family dynamics and the love between the brothers. Quite hard to read with the assault but it’s what happens in real life . I didn’t predict the end which is unusual and I will recommend this book . Only four star as it was a bit slow at times

This is a brilliantly written story, told from several points of view. Nick, Tony, Julia and Detective Rice. It’s quite a tough story at times to read but handled so well. About assault, but not that on a woman this is sexual assault on Nick, and you really feel for him, the trauma he endured and what he went through afterwards was really tough. You feel like you just want to reach out to him. Julia is married to Tony she is a strong woman, and she knows what she wants, she is Nicks sister in law. Tony snaps very easily but he has a very caring nature, but I get why he would snap his brother has been assaulted so he has a lot of anger and frustration, how do you deal with your brother being assaulted. Especially when you learn that Tony has practically raised Nick as their father was too drunk and emotionally abusive to actually be a father. This is basically a mystery/family drama looking at the aftermath of a sexual assault, but not just looking at the impact on Nick the victim but also on the rest of the family. This is something that could change lives forever. There are times it’s hard to read the pain that Nick goes through, but it’s equally gripping and you become engrossed in it. The characters come alive on the pages. As each characters point of view is told, each voice is so distinguished and recognisable, meaning you could follow the story, never getting confused which can sometimes happen when something is told through numerous points of view. This is a very well written story that really is difficult but equally relevant, it makes you wonder how many men actually report being assaulted, and how many are too ashamed to report it as I am sure that happens. I would like to thank #netgalley and #PenguinMichaelJosephUk for an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest, fair and unbiased review.

I'm sorry that I can't rave about this book which in my opinion was just an okay read, It was slow and I didn't particularly gel with any of the characters. I felt sorry for Nick and what he was going through although it was a change from having young women as victims it never seemed to take off. I have no idea what goes on in the US legal system but it certainly didn't seem to be on the side of the victim, allowing speculation to be aired in the press was something I found irritating. All in all not for me.

Rather a good read with quite a few twists and turns that will almost certainly keep you guessing as to who did what to whom and did they really! Yet another book that loses a star as it has far too many expletives (55 varieties of the "F word") and I have yet to understand why authors feel such things "improve" their narrative. Having said that, if you can manage to ignore such things (if only we did not have to), this really is a book worth reading as it has a really good plot. An Advanced Reader Copy review - free books never buy my opinion!