All I Said Was True by Imran Mahmood

The title of the book indicates the main theme in the story, and that is truth and its many layers. From assumptions and interpretations to perceptions, time and place, this tale of a woman accused of a murder she says she did not commit also considers how individual truth is created from memories and fabrications.

The story is simple enough: a woman is found on a rooftop with a dead woman, who has been stabbed. Nobody else is there but she claims a man killed her and then ran away. There is no evidence of this man ever having been there - or anywhere else. The police then have to find out whether she is telling the truth although the circumstantial evidence strongly points at her.

The book is from the accused point of view and starts in the interview room at the police station. The chapters alternate between 'Then' and 'Now' as the events and the questioning draw together. In her own search for truth she has to come to terms with betrayal from both her parents, husband, friend and colleague. It is a well written tale with sensory and almost mystical details that certainly make this unlike the run-of-the-mill police procedural novel. 

A clever and unique work, unpredictable and profound, worthy of reading.

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​Also by Imran Mahmood: You Don't Know Me andI Know What I Saw

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing Raven Books on 21 July 2022.
​Advanced review copy supplied by the publisher.