Back of the book :
Lee Mitchell is a young barrister from a working-class Caribbean background: in the cut-throat environment of the courtroom, everything is stacked against her.
On her doorstep in South London the 15-year-old son of the pastor at the local Black church is shot, and the local community is shattered. All evidence is pointing to infamously corrupt, racist police officer Sergeant Jack Lambert as the irredeemable suspect. His own boss – rebel-turned-copper Danny Wallace – is certain he is guilty.
Against her will, Lee is strong-armed into defending him. With cries of ‘Black Lives Matter!’ echoing in the streets, Lee is at the centre of the turmoil as lies, anger, and mistrust spiral out of control.
With the line between her personal and professional life becoming increasingly blurred, Lee keeps asking herself the same question: How can she defend the indefensible?
What I think :
Lee (Leanne) is a young barrister from a normal working class family with Caribbean background. She has a lot to prove.
When the 15 year old son of her local pastor is shot, the word is that a local racist and dirty police officer Sgt Jack Lambert is guilty, even his boss thinks so. As do the local community.
Lee has no choice but to defend this corrupt officer, something even her own family don’t want her to do.
But how can she defend him ?
I’m really not a fan of police procedurals or books depicting racism in any form, BUT, I was certainly intrigued from the start to see where this story would go, I was pleasantly surprised that it kept me interested throughout, which is a first because as I mentioned before I find courtroom dramas a little boring. This one seemed to have a little ‘more’ than usual
Brilliant Characters and a interesting story with a theme that sadly is all too real in this day and age.
This is the second book to feature the character of Lee Williams written by this author. I haven’t read the first one ‘Without Prejudice’ I think it is a bonus if you have read the first but its not necessary. I will definitely be reading the next book.
As I mentioned before I did enjoy this book and give it 7/10 (4 stars )
Published by Hamish Hamilton on 16/03/2023
The BIGGEST Thank you to Jasmin Lindemeir from Viking Books (Penguin Random House) for the review copy of the book in return for an honest review.
Candys BookCase 