Viewing entries in
Book review

Comment

Skin and Blister

Skin and Blister is the third instalment in solicitor Victoria Blake’s detective thrillers based around Private Investigator Sam Falconer. In this, when a student is found dead in his rooms at St Barnabas College, Oxford, it looks like nothing more than an unfortunate suicide. A week later, when Sam's brother disappears, she finally begins to put two and two together and recognises the disturbing connection between the events. Then her mother receives a Catholic mass card, announcing that a funeral mass is to be said for her son. Sam embarks on a race against time from Oxford to Iraq and back to the troubles in Ireland, in an attempt to save her brother. A course not aided by the revelation that her father a former SAS officer had killed forty republicans in the province and someone is out for retribution.

Whilst the story is entertaining and enjoyable, it is unfortunately somewhat predictable. The plot will not strain your intellect too much over festive period. The characters are rather one dimensional and predictable. As such you fail to find that much affinity with the leading character; but that said its easy going and quite engaging.

Skin and Blister by Victoria Blake Orion - Price £18.99 -  ISBN: 0752874594

 

Comment

1 Comment

Rumpole and the Reign of Terror - By John Mortimer

Rumpole and the Reign of Terror

Rumpole of the Bailey is as a much an English institution as tea and scones, warm beer and discussions about the weather. Over thirty years the author John Mortimer has attempted to keep Rumpole’s short stories as up-to-date and as relevant as possible. As such over the years he has struggled with official secrets; feminist politics, the internet and the countryside alliance. Keeping to such an agenda in Reign of Terror, Rumpole challenges the new anti-terrorism laws, political corruption and racism. In many ways the story is traditional Rumpole; not only does he defend another member of the infamous Timson family, but he gets to defend a Pakistani born doctor Mahmoud Khan who has been arrested on suspicion of terrorism. Not only is Mahmoud imprisoned but the authorities rather unhelpfully refuse to disclose the reasons why, making it rather difficult to say the least, for a defence to be advanced. This also brings Rumpole face to face with a Home Secretary who has allowed power to change his priorities in life.

Shocked by the apparent infringement on human rights Rumpole takes on the case, the law and the government.

In a rather novel departure from his normal formula for these books, Mortimer allows Hilda, she of “she who must be obeyed” fame to share a large amount of the limelight with her husband. As such we see the first extracts of the memoirs of Hilda Rumpole who it would seem is on the verge of an affair with one of Rumpole’s arch-enemies and frequent sparring partner his Honour Judge Bullingham (the Old Bull).

I have been an enormous fan of the light comedy attached to the Rumpole series of books, and it is with a tinge of sadness that I must criticise the novel. It is clear that Mortimer is not only disappointed with New Labour, but disgusted with some of its recent policy decisions on how best to deal with terrorism whilst maintaining a natural balance with the rights of the individual. It may well be that Mortimer has a point, from a defence barrister’s perspective recent legislation does appear to alter the basic principle that a person is innocent until proven guilty, especially where “terrorists” are involved. However, reading this novel you get the feeling that Mortimer has rather over-egged the pudding. The novel for the first time in the series appears more Mortimer than Rumpole and in that way is rather over-indulgent. Far too much anti-New Labour language and if you excuse the pun somewhat laboured in its telling.

Whilst this is not perhaps Rumpole at his best, it is a fun, easy to read yarn; to be read over a glass or two of Pommeroy’s Chateau Thames Embankment of course.  

 Rumpole and the Reign of Terror is published by Viking for the price of £18.99

ISBN 0-670-91621-8

 

1 Comment

Inside the Whale by Jennie Rooney

Jenny Rooney’s debut novel is a revelation. Finally a well written and thoroughly entertaining novel written by an English lawyer that does not revolve around law, crime or a dodgy solicitor. Instead the story deals with that other, seemingly insurmountable challenge, what makes love?

In 1939 Stephanie and Michael fall head over heels in love with one another. A love destined to last for forever. But then War comes and Michael joins the Royal Signals goes, off to fight for his country and refuses to return as a result of an incident in the trenches in war torn Africa. Kenya has an unforeseen effect which will change their lives and destinies.  The novel in many ways follows

Michael is in hospital and can no longer speak and so must communicate with a pad attached with a cord beside his bed. Stevie is mourning the death of her husband. We learn that they were once lovers and that the events of the war have kept them apart. They are ordinary people who, like many others, have regrets and now look on the world differently from when they were young. It was quite a sad story, because you hear both sides (alternate chapters were written in the voice of the two key characters) you see all the pitfalls coming and wish it could be different for the two of them. It's this wishing that shows what a good book it is.

Think Love in the Time of Cholera meets 84 Charing Cross Road and you will not be too disappointed.

age old problemconcernstwo lovers looking back on their relationship, their lives apart and the decisions which we make and how

Five stars

Inside the Whale by Jennie Rooney is published by Chatto and Windus and is available at all good bookshops for £12.99 ISBN 978-0-701-18273-1

John Grisham’s The Innocent Man

John Grisham’s The Innocent Man

John Grisham’s latest legal thriller is unlike anything he has written before. Gone are the fictional characters and the larger by life stories; of the twists, intrigue and court room drama. In there place he provides a real life tale of corruption, incompetence and injustice. Grisham’s first work of non-fiction is nevertheless a hard-hitting white-knuckle ride through the inadequacies of the American legal system. It is regrettably a story we have heard all too often in recent years of a system stifled by the almost desperate need to convict someone, anyone!

In Grisham’s work he recalls the shocking rape and murder of a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in a town in Oklahoma. For five years the police were unable to solve the crime yet based on gut feeling they determined that the murderers were Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The only problem was that they did not have any evidence or real basis for such a determination. That was not however to stop them. With the assistance of junk science and the ever “reliable” testimonies of jailhouse snitches and convicts the two were charged. Both were found guilty. Fritz to life imprisonment and Williamson to death row. It is beyond comprehension to believe for one moment that these two men had anything whatsoever to do with the crime, but unfortunately in the American legal system that is not always enough.

Whilst this book is centred on the story of Williamson and Fritz other tales of incompetence and complacency in the US legal system are touched upon; be it the police, the scientists or even the courts themselves. Allowing controversial confessions; the wanton disregard to justice; to evidence tampering and to police brutality. This is a horrifying examination of a system in decay.

Whilst Grisham should be praised for writing such a book and giving his “celebrity” support to the on-going debate in the US about its legal system; he must however be criticised on this occasion for his style of writing. The book is written in a narrative almost statement-esque fashion. Grisham had the opportunity to interview most of the leading characters and read the crime reports, yet you get that feeling that perhaps as he was writing a non-fiction novel for the first time he felt somewhat restricted from writing with any passion or feeling. The prose is thus much more matter of fact; distant, almost unnecessarily objective in its style.  As such it is sometimes difficult to feel the genuine emotion for the characters as we might expect in such a real life tale. We are left wanting to understand Williamson and Fritz: their pain; their hopelessness and rather disappointing Grisham does not oblige us with this insight.

Nevertheless this is a terrifying tale which reminds us once more that the maxim that you are innocent until proven guilty in America only applies if you have either money or mental solitude.

The Innocent Man by John Grisham is published by Century for £18.99 – ISBN 978-1 8441-3790-9

Doreen Lawrence: - And Still I Rise

On the 22nd April 1993 Stephen Lawrence, an eighteen year old boy, who as it happened was black, was stabbed twice by a large kitchen knife in what was subsequently described as a "swift, merciless and vicious attack". His murder, by a group of young white men on a street in south-east London, was to cause shock waves that continue to reverberate throughout British society, the criminal justice system and the Lawrence family.

Doreen Lawrence’s hard hitting autobiography should in truth be a seminal text for all criminal lawyers. The story of Stephen Lawrence is one we all know far too well. His name is now synonymous with race crime, arrogance and police incompetence. The fact that no one was ever convicted of the crime is a tragedy for justice and society in Britain. The irony of course is that we all know who killed Stephen. The Daily Mail even went to the unprecedented step of naming the murderers and suggesting that they should sue if they were innocent. To date they have not accepted this offer.  Tragically, however, the Police failed to do their job to such an extent that Sir William Macpherson’s Report in 1999 was to conclude that the Metropolitan Police had been “institutionally racist”.

But Doreen Lawrence’s story is more than just a fight for justice. It is a raw, honest and at times almost intrusive look into her life.

“The second life that ended was the life I thought was mine. Since my son Stephen was killed with such arrogance and contempt I’ve had a different life, one that I can hardly recognise as my own.”

Doreen Lawrence talks openly of the breakdown of her relationship with her husband Neville after the death of Stephen; of her early loveless childhood in Jamaica and of her struggle for justice. For many she is a civil rights heroine. She took on the police and the establishment and to many she appears victorious. But in truth this book shows that Doreen is simply a mother trying to find justice for her son and a form of closure for herself. She is remarkably candid in her dislike of her new life: her constant struggle to balance a high profile campaign with a hatred of being termed “public property”.

“Many a time I have felt like giving up. There were days, weeks or months when I felt I’d had enough, that I was bashing me head against a brick wall, that no one was listening or taking any notice.”3

Whilst this is clearly not a literary masterpiece it is a heart-wrenching and honest account of her struggle against extraordinary odds to find some form of justice. Her candid bitterness and emotion run through the book, and in parts the book appears without natural balance. But Doreen Lawrence is a remarkable woman. Her courage, energy and dynamism are without recourse. Justice has thus far eluded her in her fight, but in her struggle she has undoubtedly made a difference to race relations and policing in this country. For Doreen Lawrence one feels that this is small comfort whilst her son’s murderers continue to walk free.

And Still I Rise – Seeking Justice for Stephen by Doreen Lawrence with Margaret Busby is published by Faber and Faber £16.99 hardback ISBN: 0-571-22754-6. Available in all good bookshops.

What’s Truth Got To Do With It? By David Crigman QC

What’s Truth Got To Do With It? By David Crigman QC

David Crigman QC is the latest in a long line of lawyers to turn their hand to fiction writing and in so doing introduces us to his heroine “beautiful Junior Counsel” Naomi Nicholas. It is perhaps ironical that they are never simply plain Jane. Crigman’s world is full of murder, blackmail and caricature. At the heart of his tale is his apparent conviction that everyone involved in the law has a secret past and ulterior motives for their actions. As such the concepts of truth and justice are simply hostages to fortune. The novel welcomes the reader into the grudges and game playing of QCs and their clerks in the criminal bar. Whilst Crigman clearly has an exceptional knowledge of the law, his characters become little more than one dimensional and somewhat stereotypical. The novel is not helped by his decision to scatter the prose with witness statements, medical reports and long dialogues of cross-examination. Whilst the final few chapters provide the reader with twists and turns, you are rather left wondering whether they really added anything to the story or were merely there because the writer believed them to be a requirement to this genre. That said this is an easy to read, entertaining yarn. .

What’s Truth Got To Do With It? Is written by David Crigman QC and published by Librario Books in paperback from all good bookshops under ISBN 1-904440-80-0

Boozers, bail and ballcocks.

The one thing all non-criminal solicitors (that is to say solicitors not practicing criminal law) have in common, is the vague sense of envy, that your given practice area just does not seem to produce the kind of sexy, violent, racy stories that you get from criminal work.  Somehow the criminal lawyers always have some wonderful anecdote to dine out on and Steve Smith is no exception.   Set in the early eighties, this is the story of how he and a friend set up together in practice, and his subsequent attendance on the criminal fraternity of Rotherham.   Mixed in with his court appearances are cameos from his social life often set in the local pub, as well of course as the not infrequent appearance of the infamous escaping ballcock.  Whilst the author certainly comes across as a larger than life character and his client experiences range from the tragic to the laughable somehow the whole does not quite equal the sum of its parts.  At times the book leaves you feeling like the new person stuck listening to a group of friends reminisce about the “good old times”, sitting through the descriptive equivalent of someone else’s photos.    At the time you imagine it would have been hilarious, but somehow something seems to get lost in the telling.  The characters themselves seem almost less than substantial, as if parts of their tales have been left out to protect the innocent, or then again the guilty; which perhaps stems from the author’s desire for this to be the first in a lengthy series.

Boozers, Ballcocks & Bail is written by Stephen D Smith and published by Neville Douglas Publishing at £10.99 – ISBN 1-901853-67-5

Angela Canning (with Megan Lloyd Davies) Against All Odds: A mother’s fight to prove her innocence

“One sudden infant death is a tragedy, two is suspicious and three is murder until proved otherwise”.

This was the infamous verdict of Sir Roy Meadow, the paediatrician and former expert witness. Angela Canning was jailed for life in April 2002 for the murder of seven-week-old Jason in 1991 and 18-week-old Matthew in 1999. She denied this, claiming that the boys were victims of cot death, due to a genetic defect.

‘Meadow’s Law’ turned on its head the presumption of innocence. It created an impossible duty on the defendant to come up with a medical explanation as to why her children had died. The simple horrible fact is that there is no medical explanation for why some children die of “cot death”. The fact that neither Angela nor the medical experts could provide any explanation as regards the cot deaths should not of itself have meant that murder was the only option left. Meadow’s reputation and evidence however created an impression that his comments were gospel. They were not. His expert evidence condemned Angela to almost two years in prison.

This remarkable autobiography (co-written with journalist Megan Lloyd Davies) tells that story. The tale of a normal simple unremarkable mother whose life is traumatised after the death of three children within ten years to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (cot death). When her third child Matthew dies sympathy turns to suspicion. The police turned her loss and depression into something more, something more sinister and perverse. She is subsequently charged with murder; convicted and for the next two years imprisoned. She is labelled a child murderer; spat on; mentally abused and assaulted.

Whilst this is clearly not a literary masterpiece it is a heart-wrenching and honest account of Angela surviving not only the loss of her children but the ensuing implosion of her life. This is a very personal and lonely story. It shows a family, Angela, her husband Terry and their daughter Jade trying to survive together as a family. Being split up and then reunited. It provides an insight into how innocent law-abiding people are thrust into the criminal justice system and where that system fails them. But perhaps with some pathos the most original part of their story is the ending. As a reader we form that inevitable presumption that because Angela’s conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal the ending would be one of happiness. It is not. Angela, Terry and Jade are now involved in their biggest struggle - to rebuild a normal family life that has been devastated and shattered to its very core.

Against All Odds - A mother’s fight to prove her innocence by Angela Canning and Megan Lloyd Davies is published by Time Warner Books £16.99 hardback ISBN: 0-316-73304-0. Available in all good bookshops.

 

A Case for Reform: Jeffery Archer

When the annals of history look back over the great prison reformers the names of Elizabeth Fry, John Howard and Jeremy Bentham will all ring true. Yet another name seeks to be added to their number and this somewhat enigmatic character is none other than Lord Weston-super-Mare or as he is more commonly known Jeffery Archer.

From his plush penthouse suite Jeffery Archer holds an almost voyeuristic view of Central London and of the Thames, a far cry from his days in Belmarsh prison where  his opulence accounted for little more than a “cell [which] measured five paces by three..[with] a single bed with a rock hard mattress…a steel washbasin and open lavatory that had no lid and no flush”

It was in July 2001 that the Millionaire novelist Lord Archer was jailed for four years after being found guilty of perjury and perverting the course of justice.  Archer faced dishonesty charges arising from his successful 1987 libel action, in which he won £500,000 damages from the Daily Star over allegations that he slept with a prostitute. He was accused of asking his former friend Mr Francis, 67, to provide him with a false alibi for a night relating to the libel case and of producing fake diary entries to back up his story.

Archer spent the first twenty-two days of his sentence in HMP Belmarsh the double A-category high security prison in South London, which houses some of Britain’s most violent criminals. From there he was moved to HMP Wayland, a category C establishment in Norfolk where he remained for sixty-seven days. Thereafter he was transferred to the North Sea Camp open prison and released on parole in July 2003 after two years in prison.

The sojourn provided Archer, a former Conservative MP with a unique and devastating insight into our prison system and its desperate need for reform. “I believe that there are three changes that the Home Secretary could put in place at little extra cost that would be of great benefit to the public.”

Archer went on “Payment to inmates for all jobs throughout the Prison Service should be universal and standardised, including payment to those who opt to do education” Archer went on “60% of people going into prison are illiterate. If you go into prison then you are offered a job after three weeks, when they have decided whether you are sensible and stable they offer you a job. If you get a job you get £12.50 a week. If you go to education you get £8.00 a week and in some prisons £6.50. This is lunacy.” Archer was certainly clear in his conviction, as he went on “First offenders coming into prison who can not read and write should be paid the full amount a week to go in   to education and write and we should send them out of prison able to read and write. They will never go to education and learn to read and write while they can get £12.50 peeling spuds and £6.50 going to education” His first proposal certainly appeared to be one with a great deal of common sense and would fulfil part of the general definition of rehabilitation? “If the Home Secretary can not see that then he is nuts.” He added.

Archer lent forward and enthusiastically pushed ahead with his next proposal “The second one is that during a trial, defendants should be categorised A, B, C or D. This would allow first offenders with no history of drugs or violence, to be sent directly to an open prison, where they would be less likely to come into contact with professional criminals, violent thugs and drug addicts.”

Warming to the topic Archer explained “Let us say you are 23 and you are not very bright, you can just read and write, but you are not very bright. But you are not violent; you have done shoplifting or something. You go to Belmarsh for three weeks whilst they decide where to send you. I think that you should be categorised during the trial so that immediately you go out you go straight to an open prison. So that you do not mix with murderers, drug dealers or violent behaviour people. So you do not join the school of crime, you have a chance if you are in open prison.”

It is clear that Belmarsh left a lasting impression on Archer. In his controversial A Prison Diary he referred to Belmarsh as “Hell” a place where on his first night there he had contemplated suicide. But as he himself confessed the police had condemned this idea on the basis that such an early categorisation might send the wrong message, that there was a possibility that you are hinting at their guilt? Archer’s riposte? “Balls, absolutely rubbish. Categorise them, every single person that goes in, automatically. Stop them going to Belmarsh. Stop them going to these evil places so that when they get out, they have a chance. At 63 [years old] I can handle being on a wing with 21 murderers, but there was a kid of 19 who was on the floor below, who was in for shoplifting” You could see Archer shaking with almost fury at what saw as the idiocy of the situation “This same young man will now be spending at least a fortnight with murderers, rapists, burglars and drug addicts…Are these the best tutors he can learn from?"
 

Archer continued “Thirdly, the punishment for smoking marijuana in prison should not be the same as for those prisoners who take heroin. This would stop a number of social marijuana smokers turning to heroin” The reason that prisoners appear to turn from marijuana to heroin is that marijuana remains in the bloodstream for twenty-eight days, whilst heroin can be flushed out in twenty-four hours by drinking pints of water.

 “There are a small percentage of people and I have no desire to exaggerate, who have turned from marijuana to crack-cocaine and heroin because they do not want their sentence added to or do not want punishments because they can  wash it out of their system in 24 hours. That is nuts and should be dealt with. Plain bonkers and the Home Secretary should realise this, plain bonkers”

Archer accepted that this may cause difficulties for a government which did not want to be seen to condoning the use of drugs in prisons. “Yes it is, but for all people to go on heroin and crack-cocaine is the other end of that, and that is not an answer”

Archer proved remarkably robust in both force and conviction in is tone “I am not suggesting that any of the three are easy, I am suggesting that they should be dealt with”.

There were however topics that Archer believed should not be dealt with, well certainly not by him at least: His thoughts about the trial? The Judge? What he thought about people calling him a liar? Or a loveable rogue? His thoughts on Michael Crick (his unauthorised biographer and chief provocateur)? Whether it matters whether people like him? Whether he felt contrition for his actions? His answer to all these questions (and more) was simply a resolute “No comment”. For an explanation as to his silence he simply exclaimed “Not interested. Not interested. I am a writer and that is my life.”

But Archer is so much more than just a writer. Perhaps it will be on the subject of penal reforms that he will find a degree of redemption for such a roller coaster of a life “If these three recommendations were to be taken up, I would feel that my two years in prison were not entirely without purpose” Maybe Archer is reinventing himself after all?

A Prison Diary From Hell to Heaven by Jeffery Archer is published by Macmillan Books, £9.99 hardback ISBN: 1-4050-8851-6. Available in all good bookshops.

Taking Liberties Since 1997 by Chris Atkins, Sarah Bee and Fiona Button

Taking Liberties Since 1997 by Chris Atkins, Sarah Bee and Fiona Button

The film Taking Liberties is an exceptional insight into the erosion of our civil liberties during the last ten years of Blair’s New Labour government. British film maker Chris Atkins’ socio-documentary explores how the War on Terror has fundamentally changed both our liberties and our freedoms. How the destruction caused by 9/11 and 7/7 has had greater ramifications for our basic rights and freedoms that we could ever have expected. It questions whether the government has gone too far in its legislation to protect citizens against terrorism at the expense of our basic civil liberties.

New laws having been passed that have restricted our freedom in ways that were not even considered in wartime.

The power to imprison for peaceful protest (2005 Serious Organised Crime and Police Act); the 2005 Prevention of Terrorism Act has given the Home Secretary the power to place any British citizen under house arrest based only on a “reasonable suspicion” and the power of the police to issue fixed penalty notices for dozens of different crimes, which allows the police to decide guilt on the spot.

In researching the film they have sourced quotations from leading lawyers including Michael Mansfield QC, Philippe Sands QC and Shami Chakrabarti together with Boris Johnson and Tony Benn, politicians from both sides of the spectrum. The consensus being that the government has gone too far in breaching the six central pillars of our civil liberties: the Right to Protest, the Right to Freedom of Speech, the Right to Privacy, the Right to be detained without charge, that one is Innocent Until Proven Guilty and the Prohibition from Torture. Taking Liberties mixes shocking footage with moments of incredulous humour.

Genuine tales of an RAF war veteran arrested for wearing an anti-Blair and Bush T-shirt; a man held under house arrest for two years, after being found innocent in court and two teenage sisters detained for 36 hours for a peaceful protest.

There are genuine moments in the movie when you just shake your head or shout “No” at the cinema “this can’t be happening! Not in Britain?” But it is.

This film raises real issues as to what we as lawyers, or perhaps as mere citizens want to do and have to do to protect our freedoms. Or whether apathy rules?

It is not pro Tory or anti New Labour – just a pro human rights piece.

This film will challenge and energise you into doing something – anything – to make a difference.  If you see one film this summer make sure it this one!

In Cinemas nationwide June 8 – www.noliberties.com

Taking Liberties since 1997 is written by Chris Atkins, Sarah Bee and Fiona Button and is published by Revolver books and available from all good bookshops for the price of £7.99 ISBN 978-1-905978-03-8

Beyond Ugly By Constance Briscoe

When Constance Briscoe wrote the first instalment of her autobiography and number one bestseller “Ugly” in 2006 she told a tragic, yet remarkable tale of her childhood abuse at the hands of her mother. This sequel to that story “Beyond Ugly” takes us from where the first left off and explores with her, her time studying law at Newcastle University and thereafter her early years at the Bar under the pupillage of Michael Mansfield QC. What is so inspirational about this story is Constance’s work ethic and dedication. Both at University and at the Bar she takes on several jobs at weekends and during the holidays, including working with the terminally ill in a hospice to subsidise her ambitions. She saves both from work and her student grant so that undertake cosmetic surgery treatments, not as a modern day indulgence but to at least physically deal with her mother’s abusive chants that her daughter is “ugly”.

 Whilst this book is easily readable, it is yet somewhat disappointing. Rather sadly my criticism has more to do with the macabre expectations of the reader, than with the story itself. Whilst with “Ugly” you could sympathise with the horrid treatment of a young child by her cruel and unforgiving mother, in “Beyond Ugly” the problems afforded to Constance are perhaps more common to all of us. Finding acceptance at University, and thereafter her struggle for inclusion within the legal profession. You are left wanting, almost expecting that little bit more crisis and desperation. The relationship with her mother is not mentioned again in this book, or you feel in sufficient detail the difficulties which she experiences as a black barrister in a predominately (certainly at the time) white man’s club.

But these criticisms should not in any way detract from this warm, compelling read. The book particularly comes to life, not as a tragedy but as a solid expose of life at the Bar and her attempts to find acceptance as a young ambitious black woman within a rather stayed profession. This book is at its best when we see the struggles that a pupil has in any high profile chambers; being turned down for any form of financial subsidence and Constance’s struggle with other barristers within the civil rights chambers at Tooks Court in her fight for tenancy. On being turned down for tenancy Constance astonishes both chambers and the reader by writing to each and every single member of chambers asking for their reasons for her rejection. I would be surprised if many pupils these days were politically brave enough to take such a position. Constance not only takes the position but almost revels in the dispute (which must have been particularly trying at the time) with chambers and her fight for justice and understanding. A delightful read.

The Betrayed by Andrew Iyer

In Iyer’s novel we are offered kidnap, murder, extortion and violence tied together in a gritty thriller.  Sadly for the reader the novel is more grit and less thrill. The story sees habitual criminal Eddie Doyle convicted for murder and for stealing a famous painting in 1966. He hides the painting before his arrest and thirty years later on his release  goes in search of the painting. The painting however has been stolen from Doyle’s hiding place and the only suspect is his now deceased lawyer. Whatever happened to the Solicitor’s Code of Conduct? Doyle charges the solicitor’s son with finding the painting or else he will kill his wife and son. A somewhat excessive response, which does not quite add to the realism of the piece. Whilst readable the novel does not quite have that must turn over feel more often found with the likes of Grisham, Paterson, and even Archer.

The author, himself a “successful lawyer” tells the story in a well constructed and thought out fashion, but sadly it rather lacks in passion or belief and a twist for a twist sake leaves the reader rather disappointed.

Two stars
The Betrayed by Andrew Iyer is published by Book Guild for £14.99

Hardback ISBN: 978-1-84624-167-3Available in all good bookshops.