I found this to be a very readable book. Maria has killed her husband - there can be no doubt about that. She hit him hard with a chair leg inflicting terrible injuries to him and immediately called the emergency services. When they arrive she shows no emotion until she realises he is in fact still alive. Then she shows her dismay.

Several months later she is on trial for attempted murder and we are introduced to the jury who will decide her fate. Lottie is the main character here, a young married woman at home with a child and bored. The jury members tend to be a little too stereotypical for my taste: the middle class woman taking control, the elderly jurors quick to judge, the tattooed thug. What follows is shown through Lottie's and Maria's eyes and is a tale of domestic coercive control. But will the jury believe Maria or will the prosecution produce enough evidence to show that Maria is a cold blooded killer who was just after her husband's money?

It's a cleverly plotted book, though not without its faults . The relationship that springs up between Lottie and her fellow juror Cameron isn't believable. It escalates too quickly - remember these are two people on jury duty with ten other pairs of (judgemental) eyes on them. The denouement too is a bit 'off'. Having said that, I did enjoy it and if you like courtroom dramas you ought to like this too, Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Days after reading Degrees if Guilt it’s still going to play on your mind! Which to me is a sign of a great book!

Maria calls the police one night informing them she’s just killed her husband. What follows is a dark gritty tale set in the courtroom from Maria and one of the jurors points of view.

Honestly I loved the characters, yes I know they’re flawed but aren’t we all?

This is a clear 5/5

I always love a courtroom drama, and this book certainly didn't disappoint. The story is shocking, and sadly very topical, and the characters are completely believable and involving. The ending is clever but feels appropriate, and I would thoroughly recommend this book if you want an unputdownable read, which will make you think about it long after you have finished it.

A quick and satisfying read that will please any fan of a murder mystery/legal drama.

The two parallel plotlines of Maria, on trial for the murder of her husband, and Lottie, one of the jurors, are interwoven nicely. Its always clear whose story you are reading at any given time and as their fates converge we are given hints as to the eventual outcome. However, it was so subtle that I really couldn't predict how it would end.

I found the relationship between Lottie and the other juror, Cameron, a little far fetched and it moved too quickly to be believable at times. However, the characters were well developed (even minor characters such as other jurors) and their relationships develop interestingly over the course of the book. Lottie's development is particularly interesting as she changes quite significantly throughout the story.

Worth a read for crime/mystery fans.

As a page-turner this captured my imagination, though there are places where the writing gets a bit bogged down in minutiae that could be edited out without detriment to the tale. I like that there are serious issues at the book's heart about the nature of an abusive marriage: the slow creep of control, the unintended complicity of the victim, the sheer malice of the abuser, the way in which the story can sound unbelievable - all of this is handled with sensitivity and insight.

The second plot-line of Lottie and her erotic attraction to a fellow juror is also gripping, though Lottie's naivety can sometimes be hard to swallow...

The end of the book, though, for me was a disappointment: suddenly all kinds of thriller-ish tropes appear with the ubiquitous twists feeling almost gratuitous. All the same, I raced through this in 2 days, a testament to its grip: it's definitely commercial fiction rather than anything more literary, but with a strong and serious message that gives it some weight.

I didn’t find this book suspenseful. Very average. Felt the middle was too drawn out but was shocked by the events at the end.

I received an advanced reader’s copy in exchange for an honest review

I really wasn’t expecting such a nuanced exploration of psychological abuse inside a legal thriller. Top of the line and makes some gusty feminist arguments about the everyday life of many women. Five plus