Error of Judgement

by Dexter Dias

When Nick Downes, a young British lawyer, defends an amnesiac who cannot remember committing a murder, he finds himself attracted to his client's beautiful and manipulative wife.

Genres: Fiction

455 pages, Paperback

First published March 21, 1996

Reviews

[Gordon Johnston · Rating 2 out of 5]

A 20 year old legal thriller that has a decent plot but falls down on character development - and hasn't aged well.

The courtroom scenes are authentic and well done, as they should be since the author is also a barrister. There are some complex characters in the novel but they are somehow made to feel flat and one dimensional. This is particularly true of the females, who seem to exist only as sexual entities, usually wearing stockings and high heels and only defined in relation to the male protagonist.

[CroissantinHand · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is interesting but also at the same time not making any sense. It is interesting to see how things go between Liz and Nick but the entire story pan out weirdly. It is somewhat weird to see how Nick figured Liz as the perpetrator at the last 10 pages, how Ann and Nick really got to nowhere, and how Sally then became willingly married and have children, wouldn't say all of a sudden, but I expect something different. The introducing of characters are good, but not useful enough for their development. The story lacks the investigating element through out, so even the starting point is good for the story, it could not get far. Also why did Nick just walk home after a murder happened in front of his eyes???

[Dianne Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some not so great reviews...but I found this story compelling. Not sure why. It was a good plot...horrific at times...mildly amusing at others...and occasionally bizarre when it came to rats!
The courtroom exchanges were intriguing...but not bogged down by too much technical stuff...clever though.
Nick's relationship with Sally at the point the novel begins fascinated me as did her ability to separate her emotional self from her professional self...mostly!
And Catt...the star of the novel, for me.
Dated but compulsive reading!

[Ian O'Donnell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable story quite lighthearted and sometimes even amusing. If your looking for serious courtroom saga then get a John Grisham novel as this courtroom is not bogged down in extreme legal technicalities.

[Nova Brummelman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is it really a thriller? I don't know at first it certainly is not it is at the end that u can say that that part is a thriller. But that aside, I enjoyed reading the book it was idk how to describe it but fun. Not in the way that I would say it's great but an alright fun book.

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A most intriguing plot.

On Christmas Eve a man walks into a Bayswater brothel with a claw-hammer and wants to talk about where he has buried a corpse. But he does not know who he is. He is assigned a defense barrister Nick Downes who is not functioning at all well for his affair with the prosecuting councel Sally Downes is breaking up. A facial reconstruction of the corpse shows features identical to that of the amnesic, mentally disturbed self-confessed murderer. The story develops well with a tense ending.

[Owusua Adwoa Ayeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

He brought the courtroom in a wonderful.