The Cut Throat Trial

As you would hope from someone actually practising the trade this is an intimate and detailed exploration of the inner and outer lives of barristers involved in an imaginary trial.

This is a court room drama that almost entirely takes place inside the court buildings, so we see things almost as if we are a member of the legal team; outside events are largely reported after the fact.

We have all the expected legal tropes, a gruesome murder, competent police, unreliable witnesses and hidden motives. There is the obligatory twist at the end, hinging on the not entirely convincing habit of the abbreviations used for defendants in a defendant’s phone, but for me the twist was not actually necessary. What was most interesting was the back and forth of legal argument and the inner thoughts of the barristers and judge that are revealed to us with all their frailties and hang ups, and to see how the trial process actually works.

I read this in a couple of days so it was clearly compelling and I did look forward to reading it. I’ve read the Secret Barrister’s non-fiction so I did have some expectations, but I think it is fair to say that this to some extent did exceed them.