I want to start this review with two quotes, of quotes, from the book.
Are we just to accept you’re either the victim or the killer, and there’s nothing in between
And
A jury consists of twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer
Two paragraphs from early in the book that sum up this story.
There are twist and turns, there are hidden clues, some of which were so obvious, but only with the benefit of hindsight, and there is one hell of an ending
Leila is a Barrister and she is about to defend her client, Jack Millman.
There are a few things that make this a tense situation.
It’s Leila’s first murder trial.
The Victim was a well loved Judge
Perhaps the worst, her Husband is the prosecution Barrister.
Oh, and there’s one other thing. Millman pleads innocent but he won’t give any information to help build his defence.
He was arrested at the scene and has gone given no comment as his answer to every question the police has asked him.
A tactic he continues when he has his first meeting with Leila.
She has defended him before, on an assault case. He was innocent but found guilty.
Why?
Because he gave the police information about the girl he was protecting during the alleged assault. She was going to be his key witness, but she was got at by some powerful people and never gave her evidence in court. Worse still he was labelled a grass for accusing a gang member of assaulting the girl.
This time he’s giving nobody a chance to interfere with what he hopes will be a fair trial.
That is the main thread of the story, but there is also the nice in house soap opera that is the Chambers Laila and her husband work out of.
It’s a hard working law chambers where politics and “relationships” drive the narrative.
I like legs thrillers. The American ones are usually top of the best sellers but the British Legal system is so full of traditions and history; nepotism and old school ties, sex and scandal, that it makes for fascinating reading.
This is one of the best, in this genre, that I’ve read for a long time.
Pages: 416. Publisher: Macmillian. Audiobook Length 11 hours 40 mins. Narrator Joanne Froggart
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