This is the second in criminal defence barrister, Jack Kowalski series, set in Manchester. I haven't read the first book, but thinks this works fine as a standalone. The book was gripping from the beginning, and keeps the reader glued until the end. Highly recommended.

Multiple cases interweave in this compelling legal thriller that poses a number of ethical questions, highlighting the flaws in our legal system. Rape allegations, burglary and an horrific murder all cause lawyer Jack Nowalski to question whether he can continue as a barrister or if the emotional toll is simply too high.

The twists come thick and fast as Nowalski juggles his duty to the law with his conscience. A total page turner.

Unconvicted is set in Manchester, England. I love legal thrillers, it is my favourite genre at the moment. So I love it when I find a legal thriller that is set in U.K. Although, I enjoy American based ones too, I like that I can relate to the areas and a bit of the legal talk. However, whatever your nationality, if you like legal thrillers, this is a must read. Young barrister Jack Kowalski is relatively new to his job and still has that anxiety at being in a courtroom. This is the second in the Jack Kowalski series, though its not essential to read the first before Unconvicted. Jack takes on high profile cases and along with solicitor Lara. ( a great relationship between these two), they must find justice. However, all is not as it seems.
Jarvis writes from his knowledge and experiences at working within criminal law, and this shines through in his writing. The legal talk is interesting, accurate and believable. We are drawn in to Jack’s world of how he can defend criminals, how he has to think outside the box and despite what he may or may not believe about his clients, give them the best and fairest defence within his ability. From reading this book, my eyes were opened to the challenges faced by defence attorneys. One of the quotes by Jack shows the difficulties and mind messers of being a criminal defence lawyer.
“You have to work on the basis that the unconvicted are always innocent unless proved otherwise. ” – This made the book so exciting and interesting. Are Jack’s clients innocent or guilty? Does it matter? Should it matter? And how does Jack work to defend his high profile clients, while also having to face the alledged victims of the crimes?
Jarvis knows human compassion, feelings and assumptions and this is so evident in his writing. He writes from knowledge, experience, imagination and a brilliant legal mind.
The pace of this book is set just right, not too fast but in no way slow. Olly Jarvis is always a writer to keep you turning the pages and wanting more. The short chapters meant that when I said to myself just one more chapter, I could get away with a few more than I intended, and a few late nights were because of this book.I can’t recommend this book, and Olly’s other books high enough. Unconvicted is my top book of the year so far…..and although its only April, I don’t see that changing……unless he writes another book?

Second book in the series.
Glad I went back and read "Cut Throat Defence" first as it gave me an insight into the main character that I might not have had if I hadn't. Mr Jarvis knows his stuff and writes a cracking legal thriller. No hesitation in recommending. Bring on the next instalment.

Book 2 of a series but you could read as a stand alone. Set in the Polish community in Manchester it feels real. I loved this and will look for the next one

Really enjoyed this, characters were interesting and others were outwardly screamingly annoying. An interesting look into how the conscious of a defence lawyer must feel

This the fourth book in a series about a young barrister of Polish extraction living in Manchester. There isn't enough Manchester background, the barrister is prone to collapse into self-doubt, and the solicitor for whom he carries a torch is too close to cringe-making. The courtroom scenes, too, have figures painted by numbers: the bent QC, the patronizing judge, and the mentally-ill defendant who responds only to Biblical quotations.

This is the second in criminal defence barrister, the Polish Jack Kowalski series, set in Manchester. It works fine as a standalone. Jack is over the moon at becoming a barrister at his chambers, and although a relative novice, finds himself pushed to the limits as he finds himself working three demanding and challenging cases. He is desperate to impress his legal aid instructing solicitor, Lara Panaissai, wanting to begin a relationship with her, only there is always something that gets in the way. Jack is close to his Polish family, his father, Mariusz, and often pitching in to help at his uncle's restaurant. Jack lands a high profile rape case to defend famous Polish footballer, Gustaw Nowak, making his father and his community proud. Lara has him defending Gary Dixon, a young ex-offender, charged with GBH in which a pensioner is assaulted.

It all begins with a successful bail application made by Jack for a client, Smart, who later goes on to commit arson and burn his wife alive. This knocks Jack's confidence and belief in himself, he feels guilty and struggles to cope, having to take time off as he questions his choice of occupation. He comes back to work to defend Nowak, and Dixon. Both are difficult cases with Dixon refusing to say anything in his defence, and Lauren Riley, the rape victim being defended by the famous, vastly more experienced and intimidating barrister, Gylda McVey. Nowak's instructing solicitor is more hindrance than help, and only tolerates Jack because Nowak insists that Jack represents him. The Smart debacle comes back to haunt Jack, as he finds himself pushed to represent him at a hearing when a emergency arises. All three cases are complex and where nothing is as it seems. Jack often breaks the rules when he asks questions that he does not know the answers to. This characterises his style of defence where he confidently explores the given evidence to test whether it is robust in his search for the truth.

This is my first read of a Olly Jarvis legal thriller, and I must admit that for a while I wondered if it was for me, but once the trials began, I came to really enjoy this compelling novel. Jack got into his stride and began to show promise and a real gift for defence work. I understand that the author has used his extensive personal experience as a criminal defence lawyer and the cases he was involved in to inform the Jack Kowalski series. I got to like Jack and his commitment to his clients, demonstrated by the hard work he puts in to win his cases. This turned out to be a a gripping and great read, which I recommend to those of you who like legal thrillers. Many thanks to Canelo for an ARC.

My first venture into the world of Jack Kowalski and hopefully not my last! A refreshing new slant into the world of legal workings in the court room. A great read would thoroughly this book and Jack Kowalski!

New author for me but Olly Jarvis is undoubtedly an author to watch out for this legal thriller was excellent and kept me interested all the way through.
Jack Kowalski is a young defense barrister starting to make a name for himself when something happens to make him loose confidence and doubt his professional abilities. Lana Panassi is a defense lawyer who helps convince Jack to get back to work and overcome his demons.
Superb storyline, fast paced and extremely interesting loved it.

I really loved Cut Throat Defence, the first in this series, when I read it a while ago so I was very much looking forward to reconnecting with Jack, Lara et al in this second in series. Obviously usual series rules apply, to get the best from the characters in terms of backstory and development, I would recommend you read book one first. Also if you get chance, Death By Dangerous which is also very good.
Jack is a very highly skilled, intelligent junior barrister. He has a few good wins under his belt but he still lacks experience in court. Working for the defence, he also suffers from crises of conscience along the way, especially in one of the cases he is involved with in this book. He manages to get bail for his client who, allegedly, goes straight out to commit a really rather heinous crime. Jack of course blames himself. After all, if he hadn't argued so vociferously then the guy would have stayed in custody and a life would not have been lost. But, innocent until proven guilty and all that. Which brings us on to a couple of other cases jack gets involved with in this book: defending a Polish footballer on a rape charge, and what looks to be a cut and dried young repeat offender on a burglary / GBH charge. Boy did this juggling open my eyes up to his life as a barrister. One of the cases, he only gets hours to read up before appearing before a judge. Blimey, and I thought I was good at speed reading! Anyway, the way he manages to juggle and switch things in his head, all at the same time as trying to look after his father, play music in a restaurant and try and have a social life had me very much in awe of him. He is also quite vulnerable as he does beat himself up over what he does. I guess when you work for the defence and your job is to either get your client off or at least get a reduced sentence, despite whatever they are accused of doing, irrespective of whether they actually did it, whether you believe them or not. Well, I don't think that's something I could ever do. Jack himself struggles loads with this along the way but also he really wants to do his very best for his clients. Sometimes this tears him apart mentally but he has his support network both personally and professionally to lean on, and lean on them he does and they come through for him so he can come through for those he is trying to help.
I don't profess to be an expert in the law and its ins and outs but what I read, how the wheels of justice turn, all comes across as completely credible; warts and all. To be honest though, if there were a few corners cut, a few grey areas, a few lines crossed in the name of fiction, I wouldn't care as, to me, the story is so brilliant who wouldn't forgive an author some leeway in the name of fiction.
Anyway. all in all, another winner from the author, really looking forward to round three. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

I hadn’t heard of Olly Jarvis before being asked on the blog tour, but I do love a good legal drama, and was delighted to find Unconvicted definitely lived up to my hopes!

It’s Olly's third book, and the second in a series featuring Jack Kowalski, a young Manchester-based barrister of Polish origin. You don’t have to have read the previous book to enjoy this newest instalment, but it’s probably better to read them in order - while it didn’t affect my enjoyment of the plot, I probably missed some nuances in the relationships between the characters.

Jack is a likeable and sensitive young man who often struggles with the harsh realities of his role as a defence barrister, not to mention his undeclared love for solicitor Lara Panassai. When Jack succeeds against the odds in winning bail for a client, what happens subsequently hits him very hard - but Timothy Smart’s story doesn’t end there.

In another plot strand Jack is hired to defend Gustaw Nowak, a high-profile young Polish footballer accused of rape, who wants a fellow Pole to represent him. There’s clearly more to the case than meets the eye, but is Gustaw really guilty... or has he been set up? At the other end of the social spectrum, Gary Dixon, a teenager with a history of petty crime, is accused of attacking an elderly man during the course of a burglary. It looks like an open and shut case. But of course it’s not that simple either.

There are a few different storylines running concurrently here but Olly Jarvis manages them deftly and the story never becomes confusing.

I’ll admit, I was a little concerned to learn that the plot involved a possibly false allegation of rape, with the main character defending the alleged rapist. This subject could have been fraught with difficulty in the wrong hands, but thankfully, Olly Jarvis deals with it very well.

The book is a very fast and easy read, courtesy of what are often very short chapters - perhaps a little too short at times (some are only a page long).

All in all I found Unconvicted to be a really engaging and enjoyable read, and will definitely seek out Olly's previous and future books!

Review also posted on Amazon and on my blog.

I love a good legal thriller me, usually ones set in the US with the exception of one or two British based settings – Neil White (of course) and since I read the brilliant Cut-Throat Defence, also Olly Jarvis.

So this is the second Jack Kowalski novel and I love this character – he is beautifully layered and has a strong moral centre – in this story he is juggling several cases none of which are clear cut and all of which have strong social issues at the heart of them. This is very intelligent storytelling here, walking the line between entertainment and authenticity extremely well and balancing character and action perfectly.

Plus on top of all that it’s a right proper page turner and no mistake. Some of the themes are bang in the public eye right now, which gives it an added edge – and honestly I was just as interested in Jack’s relationship with family and his possible romantic entanglement with Lara (who ticks all the boxes on strong female characters (this one takes no prisoners) – as I was in finding out whether he would win his cases.

There are twists and turns but they come in very subtle ways and are twists of character as much as event – Olly Jarvis dissecting the centre of those involved in the cases as he goes, until we get to the very heart of things.

In a nutshell this is highly entertaining, thought provoking crime drama with a legal twist and a whole host of beautifully engaging characters.

Highly Recommended.

Thank you Net Galley. I enjoyed this book very much. It had enough twists and turns to keep me glued right to the last page. I look forward to reading more in the series.

Excellent read set in the courts of Manchester and following the cases that get sent to Jack a barrister with a conscience and crush on his instructing solicitor. Great courtroom scenes. No 2 in the series, I can’t help feeling I’m missing something in the sub plot so I’m off to buy the first one now and looking forward to the third instalment

I loved his last book, "Cut Throat Defence" and this is even better. A fantastic combination of a young Polish barrister, Jack Kowalski struggling to gain acceptance within the closed legal community and his charming young instructing solicitor, Lara, who he can't quite commit to tell about his growing feelings for her.

They are two sympathetic and credible characters whom you root for and they form a winning partnership in court and hopefully one day (probably in about book 7!) outside too!

Jack faces three seemingly unwindable cases as well as the sneering patronising comments of the more established legal fraternity but through a combination of wit, good luck, persistence and a deeply analytical mind he comes through triumphant.

I cannot recommend this book too highly.