Crown Court

by James Follett

Based on the Granada TV series, this well-crafted book follows the fortunes of a down and nearly out jurist who can hardly follow the court proceedings through worrying about his girlfriend's difficult pregnancy.

But, by the end of the week, he is caught up in momentous events in the courtroom that imperil his life.

174 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 2014

About the author

James Follett (not "Follet") was an author and screenwriter, born in 1939 in Tolworth, England.

Follett became a full-time fiction writer in 1976, after resigning from contract work as a technical writer for the British Ministry of Defence. He has wrote over 20 novels, several television scripts (including episodes of the BBC's Blake's 7), and many radio dramas. Follett was one of the 400 most popular British authors, measured by the numbers of books borrowed from public libraries in the UK, having spent 11 years in the public lending right's top two bands of authors.

Reviews

[Marcus Blakeston · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember watching this when I was off school sick, I always had to stretch the illness out for the full 3 days so I could find out if they were guilty or not. I didn't know there was a novelisation until I saw it at a car boot recently.

I usually don't bother with these type of books, but the writer's name I recognised from his Radio 4 series of the late 70s to mid-80s so I thought I'd give it a go.

It's different from the TV series, it (mostly) follows one of the jurors with just a couple of courtroom sub-plots in there. But then some Marxist terrorists arrive and it turns into a hostage-siege type situation with lots of explosions and whatnot.

[Sean Randall · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's always a pleasure to find a new Follett. This started off a smidgen contrived and, even though it was predictably quick-paced, I managed to really enjoy it by the time I turned the last page. Not my favourite of his, but certainly a quick and enjoyable one.