The Suspect by Rob Rinder

 The Suspect by Rob Rinder follows a young Barrister on his legal journey with two big high-risk cases, on which he has been placed while also being there to support his friends Georgina and Libby. The first case concerns a television personality who is savagely murdered on live TV by the chef who is cooking that morning. Everyone thinks all the blame lies with him, but is this the case? The second high-profile case concerns Alexi, whose family have encouraged him to lie about weapons found under his bed to protect his brother. Ultimately, Alexi is encouraged to tell the truth, but is this the safest option? This book indicates what life as a Barrister is like while interweaving the topic of mental health.

I enjoyed this book because it was very gripping and always came with a twist and turn. I really enjoyed the relatively short chapters, which also gave the book some pace and helped increase the story's excitement and flow. This is also a very British book, not entirely because of the British Criminal Justice System being featured but because of the love of morning television and cooking segments in the United Kingdom. It was great how Rinder spoke about mental health and supporting one's friends as although this is important in all aspects of life, it is particularly important with a career in the law and particularly at the bar due to the high pressure, workloads and stress Barristers can be put under. It is believed that not many people know much about the Criminal Justice System in England and Wales so it was really good to see Rinder educate the reader about trial processes and the law of evidence in this book in a fun and exciting way interspersed within the fiction. 

There is not much I can critique about the book itself, as it is generally well-written and very entertaining. The book is of good length and not too complex in terms of the law for the layperson for whom this book is inevitably written. However, I will critique some of the wrong laws and trial processes in this book. There were a few examples of the law being incorrectly referenced in this book; I will consider just two of them. Firstly, when the parties are in court, and they come across a point they do not agree with, the Barristers in this book stand up and exclaim, "Objection!". However, this does not happen in England and Wales, and the legal counsel just stands up to show that they don't agree with a point. Shouting out "objection!" is what happens in the American courts! 

Secondly, when addressing the crown court judge sitting at the Old Bailey in this book, the legal counsel was referring to the judge as "My Lord". However, in the crown courts, the judge is addressed as "Your Honour", and it is only at the Court of Appeal or Supreme Court where judges are referred to as My Lord or My Lady, or My Lordship or My Ladyship, and so on. It is important to raise these points as the public often doesn't have too good of a knowledge of the criminal justice system, so it is important we make sure that when we portray our criminal justice system, it is accurate information.

Altogether, I rate this book 4 stars, making it a very good book as it was very gripping and very interesting, shadowing the life of a Barrister both in Chambers and Court, giving the reader an idea of what a career as a Barrister entails. I also enjoyed the public legal education element of this book as well. I would, therefore, definitely recommend this book, particularly to those interested in the legal system. I would like to thank NetGalley and Random House UK for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book in return for an honest review.