The Cut Throat Trial by The Secret Barrister #TheCutThroatTrial @BarristerSecret @picadorbooks @barristersecret.bsky.social #BookReview

 

It is one of the biggest trials of the year. Three seventeen-year-old boys are accused of the brutal murder of an elderly teacher on New Year's Eve.

Each boy denies it.
Each points the finger at the other two.
But they can’t all be innocent.

The three defence barristers have only one job: to persuade the jury that their client is not guilty. But they’re up against a prosecutor who needs to win the case, no matter the cost.

Written with an expert insider’s knowledge, in The Cut Throat Trial a dramatic courtroom drama unfolds.

And you have a front row seat.

The Cut Throat Trial by The Secret Barrister, writing as S J Fleet was published on 28 August by Picador. I bought my copy at the airport when I flew out to Corfu in September. 

There’s something deliciously compulsive about a courtroom drama done well, and The Cut Throat Trial from The Secret Barrister absolutely had me hooked from the opening pages.

With three seventeen-year-old boys accused of the brutal murder of a retired teacher, the novel drops us straight into moral murkiness and never really lets us get comfortable. Each boy denies the charge, they all point the finger elsewhere, and the reader is  left constantly questioning not only who did it, but how justice can possibly emerge from such a tangle of mixed up stories. 

We get to hear from two of the accused in the dock, and are privy to all of their innermost thoughts too. We also listen the judge hearing the case and the barristers doing their utmost to defend their clients. There are flashbacks to the event and we hear witness accounts too. 

What really elevates this book is the insider knowledge. The legal system is laid bare in a way that feels authentic, sharp, and occasionally chilling. The defence barristers aren’t there to find the truth, they’re there to win for their clients, and the their determination to win, whatever the cost mentality adds a real edge. It’s tense, claustrophobic, and often unsettling, with moments that made me pause and reflect on how fragile the idea of 'justice' can be. 

Whilst the plotting is clever and the courtroom scenes are gripping, there were moments where the pacing dipped slightly for me, and I found some characters more fully rounded than others. Still, this is a thoughtful, gripping legal thriller that entertains while also asking some uncomfortable questions. If you enjoy intelligent crime fiction with substance and a strong sense of place, I recommend this, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for what The Secret Barrister does next.

The bestselling author, The Secret Barrister, writes fiction as S. J. Fleet. 

A junior barrister specialising in criminal law, they write for many publications and are the author of the award-winning The Secret Barrister blog. 

Their first book, The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It’s Broken, was a Sunday Times number-one bestseller and spent more than a year in the top-ten bestseller list; it won the Books Are My Bag Non-Fiction Award and was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year and the Specsavers Non-Fiction Book of the Year. 

Fake Law: The Truth About Justice in an Age of Lies and Nothing But the Truth: The Memoir of an Unlikely Lawyer were instant Sunday Times top-ten bestsellers on publication. 

The Cut Throat Trial is their first novel.

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Five By Five by Claire Wilson #FiveByFive @ByClaireWilson @MichaelJBooks @PenguinUKBooks #ScottishCrimeFiction @byclairewilson.bsky.social #BookReview

 

Just because the most dangerous criminals in society are caught and locked up, doesn’t mean they stop committing crime.

That’s where Kennedy Allardyce comes in – monitoring not just the prisoners, but also the staff.

And she’s just stumbled across her most dangerous foe yet – rumours of a corrupt guard with lethal influence. And what’s worst, it seems they’ve already realised Kennedy is on their tail.

At least one thing is giving her joy – a blossoming relationship with Molly, a beautiful, enigmatic new guard.

Wouldn’t it be awful if the killer she’s hunting turned out to be the woman she’s falling for?

Five By Five by Claire Wilson was published on 14 August 2025 by Michael Joseph / Penguin. I was thrilled to meet the author at a crime fiction event in Scotland last year, where she kindly signed a copy for me. 

Claire Wilson works as an Intelligence Analyst within the Scottish prison system. She pitched her debut novel at the Pitch Perfect event during the Bloody Scotland Crime Writing Festival in 2022, and in 2023 she went on to win the Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers Prize. Five by Five was published by Penguin Michael Joseph in 2024.

Five by Five is a fast-paced, gripping thriller set deep inside the Scottish prison system. I was particularly appreciative of the glossary of Scottish prison terminology included at the beginning of the book. These terms add authenticity and depth to the story while also teaching the reader a thing or two, whether we’ll ever need to know them in real life is another matter entirely!

The lead character, Kennedy Allardyce, is a brilliantly crafted protagonist. Flawed and vulnerable at times, she is nonetheless fiercely dedicated to her work as an intelligence analyst and determined not to let the prisoners run the prison. Kennedy is essentially a spy: listening in on prisoners’ phone calls, decoding their coded language, and trying to prevent trouble before it erupts.

Drugs are circulating inside the prison, and Kennedy knows the supplier goes by the name Scout. After a violent incident leaves her both physically and psychologically scarred, she comes to a chilling realisation; Scout is an insider, a fellow officer.

Struggling to trust anyone, Kennedy grows close to officer Molly Rana. There is undeniable attraction between them, but the question lingers: is Kennedy opening herself up to something genuine, or walking straight into a trap? Only time will tell.

Claustrophobic, dark, and brimming with tension, this is the kind of novel that has you holding your breath for pages at a time. A triumph of sharp writing and clever plotting, Five by Five is a compelling, masterfully executed thriller that I highly recommend. Bring on book two!

Claire Wilson is from central Scotland. 

Her debut novel Five by Five was the inaugural winner of the Penguin Michael Joseph Undiscovered Writers' Prize. 

The book is based on her day job as an Intelligence Analyst in a Scottish Prison and has gone on to be shortlisted for the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize, the CrimeFest Specsavers Debut Crime Novel Award, Capital Crime's Debut Award and longlisted for the CWA New Blood Dagger.

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