A quiet English town is left reeling when twelve-year-old Daniel Blake is discovered to have brutally murdered his schoolmate Felicity Forbes. For provincial solicitor Leo Curtice, the case promises to be the most high profile - and morally challenging - of his career. But as he begins his defence Leo is unprepared for the impact the public fury surrounding Felicity's death will have on his family - and his teenage daughter Ellie, above all. While Leo struggles to get Daniel to open up, hoping to unearth the reasons for the boy's terrible crime, the build-up of pressure on Leo's family intensifies. As the case nears its climax, events will take their darkest turn. For Leo, nothing will ever be the same again . . .

When this story started it had me both totally hooked & feeling such conflicting emotions, initially some surprise sympathy for the young murderer but mainly shock & disgust at the treatment his legal representative...AND his family....received from the general public - I thought I was in for really gripping rollercoaster of a read. Sadly, I didn't feel the momentum was maintained. The story swapped between past & present events but it chopped & changed in a way I found confusing at times.

The ending was a disappointment for me, never mind leaving me with a lot of unanswered questions, although overall it was certainly thought provoking with regard to young criminals. I'd still class it as a good read (mainly due to the early chapters) which is a shame as I feel it had the potential to be a really good read.

Added to my Crime/Thriller Bookbox

Taken from Plum-crazy's Crime/Thriller bookbox.

Left on the charity book table in Outpatients 2.