‘A compelling legal thriller – I loved it’ Katerina Diamond, Sunday Times bestseller‘Timely, anger-inducing and very powerful – it’s excellent’ Harriet Tyce, author of Blood OrangeWhen you read this book, you will think you know every twist in the tale.Maria is on trial for attempted murder.She has confessed to the crime and wanted her husband dead.Lottie is on the jury, trying to decide her fate. the crime and wanted her husband dead.
Lottie is on the jury, trying to decide her fate.
She embarks on an illicit affair with a stranger, and her husband can never find out.
You will think you know who is guilty and who is innocent.
You will be wrong.
A gripping, sexy and twisty novel for readers who devoured ANATOMY OF A SCANDAL, APPLE TREE YARD and HE SAID/SHE SAID.
‘Deliciously devious, propulsive and compulsive, Degrees of Guilt grabs you from the first chilling chapter and refuses to let go.’ Neil Broadfoot
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The opening scene couldn’t be clearer or more shocking: Maria has just brutally attacked her husband and pauses to admire the flowers in the garden before calling the police. When they inform her that he has survived, she faints.
The action then moves to the courtroom, where she is on trial for attempted murder. It’s there that the straightforward case slowly morphs, until nothing is as it seems. Watching it play out are the jury, including Lottie, a bored stay-at-home mum who welcomes the opportunity to meet new people and be a little less – or sometimes a little more– self-absorbed. The last thing she expects is to find disturbing parallels between her world and that of the accused.
This is a clever, thought-provoking book of smoke and mirrors. It tackles subjects that are sadly both very much of-the-moment and yet also timeless. It is deliberately frustrating to read at times as manipulation in the home, within friendships, relationships, and even in the court room are at play here. The subplot is used to particular effect here, as it holds up a cunning mirror to the main plot, both reflecting and distorting, signposting and misdirecting.
I read it so quickly that time passed in a blur – as did the pages!
Degrees of Guilt was so gripping that I didn’t want to stop reading. The story of Maria, who was on trial for attempting to murder her husband, was fascinating. This book is a British courtroom drama with an interesting cast of characters and so much going on behind the scenes that I was drawn in quickly.
The story of Lottie, a member of the jury, and her life was just an intriguing and the way the story would focus on part of the trial and then on the jury members kept things interesting and me more anxious for the next change of focus.
This review seems vague I know, but much of this story is based on secrets, misrepresentations and newly discovered awareness of things by different characters that it’s difficult to say much without including spoilers. Suffice it to say that if you like courtroom dramas you will most likely love this book.
Thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley or approving me for an ARC at my request. Thoughts in this review are my own and happily given.
My thoughts:
This debut legal thriller deserves more than 5 ’s!
Just as the book blurb stated, I thought I knew what was going to happen. I was wrong! Even if I’d been correct, it would have been an interesting read. But wow, with all the unpredicted twists, it was amazing.
I enjoyed every page of this courtroom drama! A gruesome murder at the start pulled me right in…except it wasn’t a murder. Maria is calm when she calls emergency services after bashing in the head of her husband—Edward—with a chair leg. She tells them that she’s just killed her husband. But she learns he’s still alive. Now…Maria is on trial for attempted murder.
Lottie is on the jury, against her husband’s wishes. She’s a housewife with a 3-year-old son she adores. She spends her days cooking, cleaning and being the perfect wife to her husband—Zain. She’s excited to get a time-out from her predictable and mundane life.
Cameron is another member of the jury. He’s good-looking, charming and exciting. And he’s showering Lottie with attention, something her husband no longer has time for. It doesn’t take long before their innocent flirtations turn into more. Lottie crossed a line she never dreamed she was capable of and now she needs it to end before her husband finds out.
One of the things that made this book so riveting, was that it was horrifyingly believable. It’s terrifying to think a man can be so charming and normal to the outside world, and an actual monster capable of such mental and psychological abuse in private, if Maria’s claims are true.
I highly recommend this suspenseful thriller, but beware
of sensitive content!
My Rating: 5 ’s
Published: May 16th 2019 by Trapeze
Pages: 368
Recommend: YES!
Thank you to NetGalley / Trapeze and H.S. Chandler for a copy of this digital ARC, in exchange for my honest review!
#DegreesOfGuilt #NetGalley
Well written courtroom drama. Characters are well developed. Story is intriguing, compelling this book to be a real page turner.
Omigahhhhh….this book is the definition of a twisty-turny thriller.
You think you know but you don’t, so you start theorizing and feeling smug and then you get slapped into place by the ending. So.much.fun!
Degrees of Guilt tells the story of Maria, on trial for murdering her jerk husband and Lottie, a juror who pulls some jerk moves of her own. No one is perfect, everyone is keeping secrets, everyone is telling their own versions of the truth and everyone is playing fast and loose with morals and ethics.
It’s a completely entertaining read, except that neither attorney is awesome at voir dire.
Once again I have my GR buddy, Michelle, to thank for this winner. Mwah!
Thank you to HS Chandler, Orion Publishing Group, Trapeze and NetGalley for giving me this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.
First off, do not read the spoilers that others have written into their reviews. You need to just pick up this book and be drawn into the characters and their lives, learn all the secrets as they unfold in the story.
This book opens with Maria calling the police to report that she has just killed her husband. She is standing over him in the kitchen, his head split open and brain matter and hair clinging to the murder weapon, a table leg. She is quite matter-of-fact about it, and this is the hook. What was so wrong in her life that she would do this? I won’t give you any spoilers, but it is a pretty miserable and wretched existence.
On to the trial, where we meet Lottie, who can’t wait for jury duty so she can get out of the house and away from her toddler for a few days. Again, no spoilers, so I’ll just say Lottie is a naughty girl who ends up staking her marriage and her future on a fling.
The writing is good, but I thought that the dialogue in the last quarter of the book was weak. However, the courtroom scenes will keep you riveted and secret after secret coming pouring out of Maria. There are a few plot twists along the way, and the conclusion is definitely a twist I didn’t see coming. Overall, I would say this is more of a drama than a thriller, but it will hold your attention and make you want to keep reading to see what happens next.
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Wow !
What a cast of characters !!
Maria admits trying to kill her husband and now she is on trial. Quite the story she has to tell !
Lottie is one of the members of the jury !! What are you thinking Lottie as she has an affair with another member.
My head is spinning from the twists and turns.
Oh I had it figured out ; I thought !
Don’t want to give anything else away but DO NOT MISS THIS ONE !! ( I also have read all the authors books under Helen Fields and loved them)
Thanks Dita for making me aware of this book
My type of book !!
On starting the book I went to see if Chandler had written others; by the end I didn’t think I’d read more. Somehow this title lost momentum before the climax.