Unconvicted

Book Blurb: In a razor-sharp legal thriller, Jack Kowalski must win two challenging trials to save his reputation and his career

Junior barrister Jack Kowalski is crushed. His client Timothy Smart appears to have committed a monstrous crime while on bail – a bail application Jack fought hard to win.

When a high-profile Polish footballer is charged with rape and demands a fellow countryman represent him, Jack must overcome his guilt and get back to work. Before long he takes on a second case, a GBH for instructing solicitor Lara Panassai, who Jack remains desperate to impress. But neither case is what it seems, and Jack will face an extraordinary uphill battle to see that justice is done…

The second Jack Kowalski novel, Unconvicted is a gripping courtroom drama written with the expert insight of a practicing criminal barrister, perfect for fans of William L. Myers, Deborah Hawkins, and Scott Turow.

Links to Book:

Amazon (UK)

Google Books (UK)

Apple Books (UK)

Author Bio:

Olly Jarvis is a writer and criminal defence barrister, originally from London but now working in Manchester. Drawing on his experiences, he writes both fiction and non-fiction with a particular understanding of the pressures and excitement of life in the courtroom. He wrote the highly acclaimed Radio 4 drama Judgement, and wrote and presented the BBC documentary Mum Knows Best. He is also the author of Death by Dangerous. Olly has two children and lives in Cheshire.

Twitter: @OllyJarviso

Olly Jarvis is a writer and criminal defence barrister, originally from London but now based in Manchester.

Drawing on his experiences he writes both fiction and non-fiction with a particular understanding of the pressures and excitement of life in the English courtroom. He wrote highly acclaimed Radio 4 drama Judgement exploring a barrister’s thought processes whilst cross-examining a rape victim. His first novel, Death By Dangerous was long listed for the CWA Debut Dagger.

After leaving University, Olly travelled the world, teaching English, with stays in Paris, Singapore and Indonesia.

Years later, using his knowledge of the Indonesian language he returned to Sumatra where he wrote and presented a BBC documentary entitled Mum Knows Best, which compared two neighbouring tribes, one of which has a matrilineal system of inheritance.


My Review

Interesting book especially if you like Courtroom drama/ Police procedurals. This book has an added extra in that the protagonist is of Polish extraction so as a backdrop there is his relationship to those around him and the prejudice he receives from his peers. There are really three stories in this book and a fascinating insight into what goes on behind the scenes. The cases are obviously not clear cut so there are plenty of surprises along the way. The most important fact that the book deals with is not so much whether the person is guilty or not but that each defendant deserves the best defence until he has been found guilty. Our hero is quite naive and finds this concept difficult to deal with at first. I like the fact that he really is one of the good guys, which is borne out at the end.