The Truth of it All: A Novel

Julia Geary is a widow, a mother, and a public defender. Her husband Michael had enlisted in the Army and died in Iraq, leaving her and their four-year-old son living with Michael’s mother Beverly, an overpowering yet all-knowing force in their lives. Julia is assigned a case defending a young Muslim boy who is accused of sexually assaulting a classmate in the girls’ locker room. As a refugee, Sami has run into his share of problems fitting in with the other boys at his school. As his defender, Julia finds herself a target as the townspeople threaten her for defending Sami.

The Truth of It All has a great storyline to begin with, but it falls flat due to the amount of unnecessary filler in the book, which makes the story long and overly drawn out. The story is actually quite predictable with its stereotypical rich white kids and the new refugee kid. The writing falls short and becomes boring, and there are no surprises or twists. The main character is very wishy-washy and depends on other people to hold her up while the evidence falls in her lap. I’d say skip this one and you won’t be missing anything.