Liz Loves Books.Com.

Coming February 2014 from Sphere.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the review copy.

Terry Flynt is a struggling legal clerk, desperately trying to get promoted. And then he is given the biggest opportunity of his career: to help defend a millionaire accused of murdering a woman in his hotel suite.

The only problem is that the accused man, Vernon James, turns out to be Terry’s sworn enemy – a man who betrayed him and turned all his friends against him at university. This case could potentially make Terry’s career, but how can he defend a man that he loathes?

So I love a good legal thriller. I like SOME Grisham, depending on how political it is and I used to adore Steve Martini’s Paul Madriani books until they became way too much about government conspiracy theories. About the only legal thrillers I read these days belong to John Lescroart. When I was lucky enough to get an advance copy of “The Verdict” I was very excited, not least because Nick Stone’s Mr Clarinet was a wonderful read so I knew the writing standard would be high.

I loved it. Immediately engrossed I could hardly bear to put it down. Vernon James is accused of murder – he claims innocence but the evidence is overwhelming. Terry knows Vernon of old – way back when, Vernon destroyed his life. When he is put on Vernon’s case, Terry has to hide this old connection. However the past is about to come back to haunt both of them…

So well written and absolutely moving at a perfect pace, with some really terrific characters (I loved Christine, and absolutely adored Terry himself, he is so beautifully flawed in such a normal way) this was a well drawn and compelling mystery thriller. The courtroom scenes are genuinely exciting – and I do love that this is all set within the British legal system. You may not get a “You can’t HANDLE the truth” moment because we British are not nearly so melodramatic, but you do get real sense of urgency and are never sure what is coming.

The resolution is clever and unexpected and I genuinely hope that Nick Stone will write more legal based novels – certainly I would love to see Terry back again to find out how he gets on!

Happy Reading Folks!