Nothing But The Truth by The Secret Barrister

 Nothing But the Truth by The Secret Barrister is their third book which goes through their adventure from being a Law student at the end of their degree to being a fully qualified Barrister. We learn about the Apprentice-style Bar School and the everlasting danger of the dreaded red light. We then go through the frustrations and failures and limited success of pupillage applications then the journeys through the first and second six. Then their whole career comes crumbling down as they are exposed to the budget cuts and daily injustices which leads to a broken criminal justice system in England and Wales.

I absolutely loved this book as I have loved all of the Secret Barrister's (SB) previous books. The thing that I love the most about this is it is exactly what the cover says. The contents of this book really is nothing but the truth, and although it can be awfully hard to digest when you are reading about your dream future career and how you may have made the wrong choice, it is extremely valuable advice to receive to ensure the utmost success in one's career. The use of case studies related to SB and their colleagues is another fantastic addition to this book as you can really start to appreciate the kind of cases which go through the criminal courts, especially if you yourself have not sat in the public gallery of a criminal court before. Furthermore, the Secret Barrister is genuinely hilarious and has had me laughing with tears many times whilst I have been reading this book.

One of the biggest things I dislike about this book, which I have disliked about all of the SB's books is the ridiculously long chapters, in this book the longest chapter being around 74 pages. I can just about manage a 50-page chapter but I much prefer short chapters. However, the long chapters are broken down into sections and to be honest I don't know whether it would be appropriate to really reduce the length of the chapters without reducing the overall quality of the book. 

As always, as I am sure many readers have, I have been trying to work out who this SB may be. I accept I will never be able to find out the true identity of this author and so I would just love to know the gender of them. However, they are highly intelligent in concealing their gender as they do not let on the gender of their partner or themselves. What is even more admirable is that at times they write in a male way but other times they write in a female way so I am constantly changing from 'this is a male' to 'this is a female' and so on.

As I have previously mentioned, this book really is nothing but the truth. As an aspiring Barrister, it has definitely made me contemplate my life choices and consider that maybe I am making the wrong decisions, but rather than giving up, I have just adapted my plans. Therefore, don't let SB discourage you from becoming a Barrister as that is not what they intended!

Altogether, I must rate this incredible third book by the Secret Barrister 5 stars as it is a hilarious, down-to-earth and gripping text which all law students and aspiring Barristers must read.  It is full of all the professional and life lessons you will never be taught and so is a valuable read. I am very excited to see what is next on the Secret Barrister's agenda and look forward to reading and reviewing future publications.