Bloodhound Books| 5 January 2024| 413 pages| E-book review copy| 3*

Synopsis from Amazon UK

A lawyer crosses a dangerous line with a former client and discovers that some decisions are indefensible…

Daniel, a criminal barrister, is working all hours on a sensational trial, defending a client he believes is wrongfully accused of a grisly murder. Determined to keep Rod out of prison, he begins to neglect his wife—and soon suspects she’s having an affair.

After Daniel triumphs in court, the bond with his newly acquitted client grows even stronger. And when Rod offers Daniel a favour that he really shouldn’t accept, things take a catastrophic turn.

Daniel realises the lethal consequence of his actions and now his dream case threatens to become his worst nightmare…

My thoughts

I received a copy of Indefensible from the author, James Woolf for review. It’s his debut novel, although 30 of his short stories have appeared in magazines and books, including four in the longstanding arts magazine Ambit. James also writes stage plays (about 15 have been professionally produced) and has written radio plays for Radio 4 and LBC. He has worked in professional ethics within the law for 20 years, including taking calls from barristers when they have a question about their code of conduct. So his book explores the consequences of not following the code of conduct.

After a dramatic opening it took me a while to settle into this book. I couldn’t warm to Daniel at first, a barrister, recently appointed as a QC. He is a complex character who comes across as very needy, insecure and vulnerable, having left his wife on acrimonious terms. This has knocked his confidence and he finds personal relationships difficult. He is disappointed as his clerk is not getting him the cases he wants. But then he gets his first major case defending Rod, accused of a particularly grisly murder. During the course of the trial he meets Michaela, who is a crime reporter, and the two develop a relationship. I was never sure about the characters, were they telling the truth, and were they really what they seemed.

I enjoyed the setting – London in the 1990s with reference to real court cases, such as the trial of Fred and Rosemary West. For me the strength of this book is the court case, keeping me guessing about the outcome and eager to find out who was telling the truth. But as Daniel says the trial process is about testing the evidence – it’s the test that is important and not the truth. As the trial continued I began to fear the worst, that the truth was being obscured. What happened afterwards was not quite what I expected, as Daniel’s decisions and subsequent choices proved to be indefensible.

After a slow start I found this book compelling reading and I’ll be looking out for more books by James Woolf.

My thanks to James Woolf and Bloodhound Books, the publishers, for sending me the Kindle edition for review.