The Trial by Rob Rinder
| The Trial by Rob Rinder | |
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| Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: A courtroom drama and a murder mystery that gets under your skin. The characterisation is a little unsubtle but it's still a damned good read. | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 368 | Date: June 2023 |
| Publisher: Century | |
| External links: Author's website | |
| ISBN: 978-1529196382 | |
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Grant Cliveden was a hero: a policeman who stood for all that was good and honest and looked up to by just about everyone, so there was public uproar when he was murdered in plain sight at the Old Bailey. There's just one man in the frame for his murder - Jimmy Knight - and it's not too long before Knight appears in court, charged with Cliveden's murder. Knight was told that the best barrister for him was Jonathan Taylor-Cameron of Stag Court Chambers and it's Taylor-Cameron and his pupil, Adam Green, who eventually represent him. Knight's determined to plead not guilty, despite all Taylor-Cameron's recommendations to the contrary.
The first thing that struck me was that the characterisation isn't exactly subtle. Everything you need to know about a person is displayed immediately - rather like having one of those labels which you hang around the neck of a decanter for all to see. The Pupil Master is an unpleasant, disinterested womaniser. Adam's fellow pupil, Georgina, is snide. His mother is interested only in getting him married off - and she doesn't seem to be too choosy about who she's offering up. I wondered if I was going to enjoy this book.
But... whilst I was wondering about how well the characters had been portrayed, the story snuck under my skin. I went from wondering if I would finish the book to being unable to put it down. Rob Rinder is a criminal barrister and he knows how the bar works and - frequently - why it doesn't work. You understand that something which ought to be black and white might need a little bit of grey shading to get a result. As you would expect, the courtroom scenes are particularly good.
I didn't just read the book, I also listened to the audio version, narrated by Josh Dylan and it was good. The pacing is excellent. Dylan's range of voices is good (I particularly liked his Georgina - so dislikeable!) and the challenge of having a sufficient number of individual, middle-aged, male voices to populate Stag Chambers was met in style.
I bought the audiobook myself but I'd like to thank the publishers for letting Bookbag have a review copy of the book. I can't wait to read what Rinder writes next.
You might also enjoy Innocence by David Hosp.
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