Struggled to read. Found it hard to believe that an English Court of Law would allow testimony in this fashion and lost interest as a result.

Well written and an interesting lead character but just not for me.

I haven't yet been tapped for jury service, and the circumstances of the transcript that makes up this book are highly unusual, but reading this is the closest I've come so far to being given the heavy responsibility of judging someone as innocent or guilty.

Imagine "Twelve Angry Men" but where you, the reader, are in the role of both the foreman and every other member of the jury. As I was reading I could imagine the conversations I might have with the other members of the jury as we considered the Defendant's closing arguments.

Rather than giving us all of the evidence that had been presented earlier in the trial the book gives us enough information to consider it by having the Defendant mention each item in turn during his closing statements. The circumstantial evidence that led to his arrest is identified turn by turn and we slowly find ourselves being drawn into the Defendant's world as the details of the case begin to become clear.

My initial sympathy started to sour with later revelations, especially when doubts began to creep in that the Defendant was being completely truthful with the jury.

This is an excellent, thought-provoking book which does a great job (at least to my relatively ignorant ear) of evoking the dialect and slang of a young Black Londoner. The story told by the Defendant is fascinating and, though it did become wearying at times I certainly never found it boring.

By the end of the transcript I had formed a decision about how I would vote in the jury room... but with a willingness to discuss and be persuaded by the other jurors.... and so I look forward to this finally being published so I can discuss the case with others and see what they would decide!

I really enjoyed this book, although the subject matter was hard I was gripped by it. I would recommend this book. .

An intense, gripping read, "You Don't Know Me" consists almost entirely of one character speaking for himself in a court room, leaving us breathlessly following his story without pause to divert elsewhere. Not many authors could get away with such a story, but Mahmood pulls it off brilliantly.

Even more brilliant is the range of emotions this book created within me. All at once I felt bad for the main character, who has a very 'disadvantaged' background, yet I could never feel too bad due to his unique kind of in-eloquent intelligence. I felt conflicted and confused, was he a victim of his own environment and essentially a good person? But then again, he couldn't be good if he did even half the things that he himself claimed that he did. This tugging back and forth with my emotions went from beginning to end, where I STILL don't have an answer.

In all, a very good read and one that makes you stop and think!

Wow! What a rollercoaster of a ride. A totally original thriller that chills and thrills from the opening page. An unknown defendant accused of a gangland, drugs related murder stuns everyone by sacking his defence barrister and decides to give his closing statement himself at the end of a trial that appears to be an open and shut case.

What follows is an entree in the demi mode of gang culture and the criminal underbelly of London.

This is a thought provoking description of the life of the youngsters who society forgot - the outcasts who find their missing or non-existent family in the gangs that they form. Their lives are nasty, brutal and short and the book brilliantly captures their argot and the meaningless of their lives.

Utterly unputdownable as he weaves an intricate tale of what really might have happened and what brought about the murder that almost inevitably seems to be pinned upon him.

His closing statement lasts an heroic 10 days - will it be enough to get him off the hook? Read the book and you might just find out!

Brilliant book. Excellent main characters and plot. I would recommend this book.

Wasn't sure what to expect from this book but oh my God what a read. I found myself unable to put it down and re-read some of the 'evidence' to get my mind in the right place. I laughed, commiserated and even shed a tear in some places for the defendant. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. And at the end of it all, was he guilty??

You Don’t Know Me by Imran Mahmood

This book is categorised as General Fiction but it is so much more than that. It is a particular viewpoint questioning our criminal justice system, gang culture, the disparity between different roles assigned to us within society and, in my opinion, a love story.

The fact that the Defendant is never identified by name serves to point out that this could be ‘anyman’ within the circumstances of his race, class, education. His opening speech mentions Lord Palmerston who spoke for 5 hours a feat that he assures us he is unable to replicate. However, his speech continues for 10 days in which he attempts to clarify how a) led to b) led to c) - led him to be on trial for the murder of Jamil (JC) a member of a gang, although he, himself, was never a gang-member. His speech gives an in-depth analysis of the circumstances surrounding the crime of which he is accused and the factors leading up to his present position.

The other main characters are very well defined by Mahmood. We have portraits of his mother, his sister (Bless), his girlfriend (Kira) and his friend (Curt) and in opposition we have Kira’s brother, the different gangs and the Establishment. . In retrospect it is as though they were with him, telling their story. These all come to life through the Defendants voice; a voice that defines his position in society, full of slang or patois. At the same time, his testimony shows that he is intelligent, that he is empathic.

I was deeply moved by his description of Kira (location 1064), so profound, so insightful.

This is an extremely clever, thought-provoking book, as it is meant to be. It serves to question the notion of a ‘fair trial’ or ‘trial by your peers’. Now, I do feel I know who he is and I do like him but I am left pondering the issues that were raised.

If you like court-room drama, this really is a must for you. It is absolutely brilliant.

Thank you NetGalley for providing this book via Kindle in return for an honest review.

This was awesome! I loved the different perspective and way of telling the court room story- it completely worked and kept me guessing!

Omg what a good read this was, if I'm honest though I struggled to start off due to the way the guy spoke about "tings"....! But obv he is going to tak like that but it got a little bit of getting used to at first. I'm glad he explained the slang as I was clueless haha! But gee whizz the book was great had me hooked and turning pages well into the night, read it in a day and was gutted when it ended as I'm like what? But you can't just do that? What about well??

Won't say anything else haha, great book loved listening to the background of the story and how it all intertwined together would defo read more by this guy for sure!!

You Don't Know Me has an interesting premise well executed, a terrifically strong and authentic character voice and an intriguing and compelling story.

Its a little early to write up a full review I'll be featuring this on the blog nearer to publication, but I loved it for its differences, the fact that the reader is the jury for this one and whilst I felt the ending was slightly weaker than the rest, overall this was an entirely gripping narrative that you just want to binge read to the end. That is in fact exactly what I did. Beautifully done.

Clever. One to watch in June. In fact June is shaping up to be a top bookish month.