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Beyond Reasonable Doubt

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Beyond Reasonable Doubt

By: Gary Bell
Narrated by: Hugh Kermode
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Bloomsbury presents Beyond Reasonable Doubt by Gary Bell, read by Hugh Kermode.

LONGLISTED FOR THE CWA GOLD DAGGER AWARD 2020

The start of a thrilling new legal series, perfect for fans of Robert Galbraith and The Secret Barrister, written by an acclaimed QC.

Elliot Rook QC is one of the greatest barristers of his generation.

He is also a complete fraud.

Elliot Rook is the epitome of a highly successful, old Etonian QC. Or so everyone believes. In fact, he is an ex-petty criminal with a past that he has spent decades keeping secret. Until now…

An unidentified young woman of Middle Eastern origin has been found murdered on the outskirts of Rook’s home town. Billy Barber – a violent football hooligan and white-supremacist – is accused of her murder. Barber insists that Rook must defend him. If Rook refuses, Barber will expose him, bringing crashing to the ground the life and career that Rook has spent his life building.

The truth is there for the finding. But at what cost? Crime Fiction Political Spies & Politics Thriller & Suspense Espionage Law Crime Thriller Fiction Exciting Mystery
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Critic reviews

[A] thriller I found hard to put down – a seemingly respected barrister who has it all is, in fact, an utter fraud (Summer Reading)
A brilliant read … I really loved this one. Both life in the London chambers and the Nottingham background of the crimes and QC himself are very well researched and the characters brilliantly drawn (A.N Wilson)
The start of a very promising new legal series
Slick and wonderfully paced, I was hooked from the opening pages. One of the best legal thrillers I have read recently, it reminded me of early Grisham
All stars
Most relevant
This is a vey enjoyable listen.. clever, complex and funny. The authors have a dry sense of humour, not to mention great knowledge of the British legal system! Very Interesting bits of legal history are also sprinkled throughout the story. The developing relationship between the “silk” and the “junior “ is being established slowly and steadily, which lends the characters even more credibility I think and a joy to listen to. A definite must for lovers of British thrillers.

Excellent!

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Really enjoyed it
Great story and plot unfolds in interesting way
Well narrated
Hope more by these writers

Brilliant

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It’s rare to read a good detective novel written from the barrister’s perspective. This book was penned by a real-life QC who has his own tale to tell about his background before being called to the Bar and there’s a bit of that in the book. A well-crafted story which contains excellent and unexpected twists and turns. Well worth five stars.

I wish I could be so enthusiastic about the audiobook. Yes, the narrative is well-paced but WHY OH WHY hasn’t the reader got the foggiest idea of how they speak in Nottingk Ham??? St Anne’s is always pronounced to rhyme with taint or paint with a good gap between the words. The Notts characters all sound too Brummie for my ears.

Gripping

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The protagonist is a bit arsy but the narrator’s voice held much more disdain than needed. Also not much different for female voices. The writing was a bit overdrawn, like someone following class notes on how to write a story. In all, okay but not great.

Good story but narration grated a bit

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The main character seems implausible, till you find out it is based on the writer’s real life story. The secondary character is also fantastic. Pacy storyline with lots of twists and excellent narration (I don’t think I have listened to High Kermode before) - for me a narrator makes or breaks an audiobook. I don’t normally listen to legal crime fiction, preferring police procedurals, but immediately downloaded the second (even better, Gary Bell replied to my tweet saying how much I enjoyed this one!). Hoping there will be more than just two.

Brilliant debut, excellent narration

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