You Don’t Know Me – Imran Mahmood

An unnamed defendant stands accused of murder. Just before the Closing Speeches, the young man sacks his lawyer, and decides to give his own defence speech.

He tells us that his barrister told him to leave some things out. Sometimes, the truth can be too difficult to explain, or believe. But he thinks that if he’s going to go down for life, he might as well go down telling the truth.

There are eight pieces of evidence against him. As he talks us through them one by one, his life is in our hands. We, the reader – member of the jury – must keep an open mind till we hear the end of his story. His defence raises many questions… but at the end of the speeches, only one matters:

Did he do it?

My Review:  Once in a while you read a book that not only gets under your skin, but it leaves your breathless and gasping out loud.  You Don’t Know Me is an incredible debut novel.  Told entirely through Court Transcripts – a young man charged with murder sacks his lawyer and tells his defence story in his own voice to the jury over a period of ten days.  Covering gang culture and social issues, our young narrator breathes life in his story and brings it vividly into the readers imagination.  Keeping the reader interested for over 400 pages highlights the skill of this author.  A truly fascinating, enthralling, thought provoking book which will stay in my thoughts for a long time.  My thanks to the publisher Michael Joseph and Netgalley for the ARC.

About The Author:  Imran Mahmood is a Criminal defence barrister with over twenty years’ experience in the Crown Court and Court of Appeal. He specialises in Legal Aid cases involving crimes such as murder and other serious violence as well as fraud and sexual offences. He was born in Liverpool and now lives in London with his wife and daughter.

Genre: Legal / Mystery / Thriller – Read 27th February 2017 – Published May 4th 2017 by Michael Joseph.

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