The Cut Throat Trial
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 First edition cover | |
| Author | "The Secret Barrister", writing as S. J. Fleet |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Legal thriller |
| Publisher | Picador (imprint of Pan Macmillan)[1] |
Publication date | 2025 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 426[1] |
The Cut Throat Trial is a 2025 legal thriller by the anonymous author "The Secret Barrister", writing as S. J. Fleet. It is the author's first novel.
S. J. FLeet is the pen name of "The Secret Barrister", a junior barrister practising criminal law before the courts of England and Wales.[2] Other books by the same author include The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken, Fake Law, and Nothing But The Truth.
Plot
The story follows the trial of three seventeen-year-old boys in the English Crown Court, charged with the brutal murder of an older man. Each of the defendants, Craig, Arron and Jamal, advances a "cut-throat defence", namely that the murder was carried out by the other two. The trial is depicted through the perspectives and private reflections of the judge, the prosecuting counsel, one of the defence counsel, and two of the defendants.