Harrison has cut a magnificent swathe through the legal jungle. Essential.

A grab-you-by-the-throat page-turner

A fascinating, gripping and at times heart-wrenching story

As an exposition of Wall Street nerdcraft, Dark Pools truly delivers ... Patterson's tales of ingenuity and cunning read like a spy novel

Financial journalist Scott Patterson looks at the real world of AI trading machines and crafts a story equally as riveting

Journalistic in style, nice scary ending ... Any serious CFO, CIO, Chancellor, market regulator or investor should read this

Gruelling and terrifying, Patterson questions the future of the human inquisitive mind

A fascinating and completely terrifying tale … It is a terrific read, both for a history of high frequency trading well told, and for a different kind of perspective on what’s gone so wrong with finance. If you really want to scare yourself, pair it with Robert Harris’ The Fear Index

A work of art...this is a terrible and beautiful book. The terror is in the casual ease with which men, for the meanest of motives, can carelessly condemn another human being to rot from the inside out. The beauty not only lies with Ron Williamson...but also the burning care and respect for his fellow man shown by Grisham, which permeates and warms every page

A blistering attack on corrupt politicians, the death penalty and the failures of the judicial system

Spectacular

Truth really is much more complex and interesting than fiction

Grisham's own indignation and sorrow come through strongly, and there is a sense that this is a book he very much wanted to write.

His prose is lean and fast-paced and his skilful sketches capture all you need to know about the characters. Grisham lets this gripping story tell itself.

A great insight into the human side of law.

Thought-provoking, moving and wise. In Your Defence reminds us that whatever side of the dock we're on, we are bound together by more than what sets us apart.

With masterly insight into the pressures and strains experienced by the family and criminal courts, as well an account of their humanity, Sarah Langford describes with modesty and elegance why she is proud to be a barrister. She should also be very proud of this book.

Riveting, powerful and deeply moving, an insider's account of a little-known world that is well observed, beautifully written and full of heart.

I loved it. Sarah’s focus on her own thoughts and observations made it a refreshing take on life at the Bar and made it distinct from other case memoirs I have read. It was all the better for it.

Sarah Langford shines a light on the hidden world of the criminal and family courts, on the many layers of grey in those who appear, be they defendant, victim, teenage mother or divorcee. She shows how difficult it is to navigate truth and justice, and how the blameless often get the blame. Essential reading for an insiders' insight behind the wigs and gowns.

A thorough, gentle, beautiful interrogation of what the justice system is and should be. Compelling and profound.

Full of vividly drawn characters and subtle twists, this hugely enjoyable and empathetic tour of life as a barrister left me both astonished and moved.

A book about the law that is really about human nature, written with a novelist’s psychological depth and gift for language. Superficially, we are taken inside an alien professional world - into a barrister’s life. In fact, we are being walked around the world we live in.

Compelling, humane and insightful. This book is that rare combination of both gripping and wise, and has something to teach us, not only about the law, but about our relationship with the truth and the meaning of the word justice.

An incredible and beautifully written anthology of the highs and lows of life at the Bar. Moving. Read it!

Unveiling what are all too often mysterious and impenetrable layers of the law, Sarah Langford bares her soul to her readers, enabling us to share with her the harsh realities of defending people who have often been knocked down in the marathon race to survive their troubled lives. She's a terrific writer.

A vivid picture of the courts at work... surprisingly uplifting. A thoughtful, elegant book. Langford weaves the chaos of lives at moments of crisis into a neat and satisfying whole... Each chapter unfolds a set of messy facts where the outcome is unclear, the justice of the case opaque. Is Langford's client guilty? Should he go to prison? Will, or should, the mother keep her children out of the reach of the father? The resolution is often as thrilling as a detective novel. And sometimes it is moving: the last chapter had this reviewer in tears. In its quiet way Langford's book is also a portrait of a particular version of Britain...I hope the lord chancellor reads it, and learns from it.

Sarah Langford's brilliant account of our justice system's inner workings is a compelling, moving and powerful work. Its a gripping series of stories. But also a quietly powerful manifesto for change. Every citizen concerned about fairness in our society, and particularly the fate of the most vulnerable, should read it. And politicians must take to heart the lessons this dedicated lawyer teaches us.

A MUST READ: ‘A barrister’s stories of her cases that read like the best fiction.’

Sarah Langford's book of 11 criminal cases gives us an everyday feel of what goes on in court... Salutary and moving too.

This is an absolutely fascinating insider account of life at the bar by defence barrister Sarah Langford, told, with a novelist’s eye, through the stories of 11 ordinary people she’s defended. As Langford journeys through and challenges her own unconscious bias, she’ll make you take a long hard – and not entirely comfortable – look at your own.

I greatly enjoyed Sarah Langford’s In Your Defence (Doubleday), an insider’s account of life as a barrister. Justice and the law provide the lens: the subject is really human nature.

The law is endlessly fascinating, in is history, rituals, manners, language and, above all, in the people whose lives revolve, temporarily or in the long term, around its practise. In Your Defence: Stories of Life and Law by the barrister Sarah Langford tells the stories of some of those caught up in its complex workings. It is riveting … and quite alarming.

Books of the Year

Eye-opening…an illuminating warts-and-all portrait of the law in action…Langford cares passionately about her clients and shows us the rarely reported human face of the law