This legal thriller is full of unlikeable characters but I still enjoyed it. Like all good books it has brilliant observations on life and some good literary quotes. It’s author, Julian Ruck, has also worked as a lawyer so he knows what he is talking about. This book draws you in and also shows both sides of infidelity.
It has very good twists, some that I really did not see coming. My only complaint is that the main character, Edwin Hillyard is quite crude. Something that I don’t like. He is not a likable chap either, and is quite sexist, but the story still works. He is amusing even if you don’t like him.
Edwin Hillyard, a disillusioned Suffolk-based lawyer, spends his life dealing with inadequate clients who are constantly moaning about their self-esteem, or his even more inadequate ex-air stewardess wife, Claire, who believes life is all about make-up, mobile phones, trips to the shops – and of course Coronation Street. Feeling frustrated and abused, Hillyard finds diversion in the pursuit of a beautiful Sikh doctor, Jaspreet, whom he meets when called to the scene of a suicide in the London Underground. It is an inauspicious start to the relationship. But Hillyard is not the only one seeking a diversion; his wife Claire has fallen hopelessly in love with an old friend from her flying days, Jessica Howard, an ambitious sexual predator. As their affairs entwine and jealousy and resentment build on both sides, the ensuing hell starts to blow Hillyard’s life to pieces. When Claire is found dead in their bedroom, Hillyard finds himself on trial for murder. Was Jessica involved? Will Jaspreet stand by him? Did he kill her? It’s down to the defence and prosecution barristers to battle it out in court and readers will be on the edge of their seats until the very end to find out the truth.
Worth a read. Especially if you like legal dramas. The Bent Brief is very well-written.
