Take It Back is an intense legal/crime thriller and the first in a two-part series, preceeded by the book Truth be Told (which I rated 5 glittering stars btw!). This book is scathing and distressing, with an unabated message.

tw: gang rape, bullying, violent abuse, racism, gaslighting, drug addiction

The story follows 16-year-old Jodie Wolfe, a low-class white girl from East London whose disability means that she has a limp when she walks, a speech impediment and most noticeably, a malformed face. Jodie is gang raped by a group of Bengali and Pakistani Muslim teenage boys whom she goes to school with. She seeks the help of former barrister-turned-sexual victims support worker, Zara Kaleel, who is also of Pakistani Asian descent.

Zara agrees to help Jodie pursue justice in court despite the heart-breaking abuse she suffers from her family and community for standing with a white girl over 'her own people.'

I thought Take it Back was an incredible legal thriller, it had the steely grit of realist contemporary that I love and succeeded in making me feel unbridled indignation at the many injustices that took place. This book addresses anti-Muslim sentiment in the UK, ableist discrimination and misogyny. It also ponders the conflict between having a tribal sense of community and loyalty to one's own people even in the face of wrongdoing, and the knowledge that the criminal actions of a few people from a marginalised group is a reflection of the entire community.