Author Jo Spain is a fantastic author. She writes a cracking good thriller every time.
I find there is an ease to her books. You have time to get to know what her characters are all about.
We meet Theo (for a short time) and Dani in this story.
Both are attending university and in love so when Theo goes missing one night without a trace, it is left to Dani to search for him.
Life isn't easy for Dani with her mother having been diagnosed with Alzheimer's dementia and Theo's family showing little or no interest in his whereabouts.
I loved both timelines introduced in this story as we get a real good feel to what life was like when Theo went missing.
The university is researching a new drug to help with Alzheimer's patients and everything points to Theo being in the wrong place at the wrong time maybe.
I found this story moved at a slightly slow pace but is enjoyable none the less.
Her characters are interesting..
An air of mystery and suspense throughout.
Well worth your time..

**Listened to the audiobook along with the electronic version**

I read a lot of thrillers, so it does take a lot to stand out from others, and to wow me. I really loved this book!! I was just so engrossed in the plot and the characters. I was desperate to know what happened. I feel Jo Spain is a great writer for making the reader/listener care. Whenever I have read their books before, along with this book - I just cared and was curious. I wanted to know.

I also was completely fooled by the title of 'the Trial' - thinking it was about a court case. It's not that type of trial!

I loved the format and structure of the book and really helped to keep me engrossed.

Really enjoyed this reading/listening experience, and just wanted to find the answers... didn't want it to end. Sped through this.

The Trial had me intrigued from the description alone and the book did not disappoint. It was well paced with plenty of twists and turns that kept me hooked. I really enjoyed it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quercus Books for my ARC.

He vanished 10 years ago, only they know the truth.

Dani is returning to teach at the college she left 10 years ago after her boyfriend mysteriously disappeared. She’s never stopped wondering what happened to him and when she gets the opportunity to return to the place she last saw him she can’t refuse.

I enjoyed this book and really felt for Dani especially the torn emotions around her mum. It did feel a little repetitive in places but this was probably just my eagerness to find answers. Thanks to @netgalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Jo Spain is an auto-read author for me, (I've loved every book I've read of hers) so much so that I didn't even read the blurb before requesting it on NetGalley and wrongly assumed it was a book about a courtcase trial from the title.

Instead, what followed was a wonderfully original, dark academic thriller, set in a prestigious university involved in running trials for the pharmaceutical industry. I absolutely loved the angle that Jo Spain took and how she developed the tense and twisty plot. The dual timeline was a brilliant way to approach this story. It really helped build the tension and helped develop the back stories of some of the characters.

The characterization was really great and the author developed a really strong main character in Dani.

The Trial by Jo Spain is a gripping page-turner with a unique plot and plenty of twists and surprises.

Ten years ago, Dani was a student at St. Edmunds University in Dublin. There she met her first love, Theo. But Theo vanished one day without a trace. Dani new that his disappearance had something to do with the medical research program the University is part of. But nobody seems to care what happen to Theo. They just assume that he left her and went traveling. Dani, heartbroken, never finished her studies and left St. Edmont to care for her mother. But now, Dani is back as a history professor. But she is not just back to teach students. She wants to find out what is going on in St. Edmonds and maybe find out what happened to Theo



The story is told in two timelines, 2014 and 2024. The plot is multi layered and well developed. Unfortunately, I did not know that the story was about Alzheimer disease and medical research which are not my favourite topics. So I struggled a bit to maintain an interest. I think it is just me not liking this topic, so you better go and read some other reviews as well. I’ve read a few books by Jo Spain so far and I am sorry to say that for said reasons I did not enjoy this book as much as her other books. But beside that, if medical research is your thing, this is an engaging and solid thriller.

The Trial is the seventh stand-alone novel by best-selling Irish author, Jo Spain. Ten years after she was a student there, Danielle McLochlainn is back, somewhat reluctantly, at Dublin’s prestige university, St Edmund’s, as a history professor. Many of the teaching staff will recall how distressed she was, back in 2014, when Theo Laurent, her boyfriend of eighteen months, disappeared without trace.

Being back where it happened evokes memories Dani would rather not dredge up. At the time, it was claimed that Theo, highly intelligent and passionate about medicine, had abandoned the course he loved at the School of Medical Research to go travelling, but several aspects around his sudden departure had Dani convinced that something had happened to him. Her concerns were summarily dismissed, and then urgent family issues became her priority.

Now, Dani is here for a different reason, and not necessarily the one she has given, but what she encounters has her wondering if it bears any relation to Theo’s assumed fate a decade earlier.

Much more cannot be said without spoilers, except that this is a brilliantly-plotted, tense, thought-provoking thriller that examines the potential for corruption in drug trials. Spain’s characters are wholly credible, her setting is expertly rendered, and she includes enough red herrings and twists to keep the pages turning and the reader guessing right up to the final reveal. Yet another novel proving that anything by Jo Spain is a must-read!
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Quercus

I always enjoy a Jo Spain thriller. Her plots always lure me in, and this one sounded very different which really piqued my interest.

And what follows is a very original thriller, exactly what I needed at the end of the month, after having a slow reading month due to seeing the same plot being recycled too often.

So this one definitely impressed! With a pharmaceutical angle and university setting, it's definitely not a psychological thriller with its academic tone, but there are some dark twists along the way which came as a nice (for me) surprise!

I really enjoyed both the setting and characters, and constantly looked forward to picking this book back up again. Even after finishing it, I keep hoping I have some more left to read as I'm gutted that it's over.

It definitely takes you on a bit of a roller coaster and I was not expecting the twists at the end. I'm not sure if Dani could lead another story, but I'd definitely be interested to read more about her!

Jo Spain has once again knocked it out of the park with The Trial. A fantastic well written character driven story with a unique setting that you will not want to put down.

The Trial is centered around the prestigious Irish University St Edmunds over two timelines set 10 years apart. We first meet 20 year old St Edmund student Dani in 2014 when her boyfriend medical student Theo walks out of her room during the night and is never seen again. What follows is Dani's fruitless efforts to find out what happened to Theo yet she's the only who seems to care & can't help feeling the answer lies within the walls of St Edmunds.

Fast forward to 2024 and Dani arrives back to St Edmunds as their new History Professor, what no one knows is that she is there for very different reasons and holds many secrets of her own. I won't get into Dani's ulterior motives for being back in St Edmunds as I really loved that the blurb didn't give it away & I was honestly shocked, Spain has such a talent for coming up with the most interesting plot lines & I particularly loved this one.

This was a whirlwind of secrets & lies, twists & redherrings, everytime I thought I had it figured out something else threw me. Dani was a fantastic main character and it was so interesting seeing who she was back then to who she is now. All the characters were well written & it was so hard to know who to trust.

A gripping page turner with a very unexpected plot & the ending? I did not see it coming, absolutely perfect.

Phenomenal writing from Jo Spain in this utterly immersive thriller.

Having dropped out of St Edmunds university following the disappearance of her boyfriend, Theo, Dani returns ten years later as a professor with an ulterior motive, and it’s not what you think it is!

There is so much going on behind the cloistered walls and as Dani starts to peel back the layers of what is happening in the present day, we are also taken back to 2014 with the disappearance of Theo and the diagnosis of Dani’s Mum with Alzheimers.

With twists and red herrings coming at me, I just had to keep on reading. I needed to know. And there was more than I could have ever imagined. And the final twist was like a physically punch to my gut. It literally took my breathe away. Wow!

5 ⭐️ Thanks to Netgalley, Jo Spain and Quercus for an ARC in return for an honest review.

A brilliant topical original plot. Told over two timelines this book kept me hooked from the off.
Dani returns to her alma mater as a junior professor of history. A place of haunting memories. It's not long before we realise all is not as it seems and as the book alternates from her early college days to the present day we the readers are swept along in a rollercoaster ride that twists and turns to the end.
A clever, unusual read that I loved every minute of.

I really enjoy Jo Spain's books and The Trial is an excellent read. I love how each book is so very different from the location and settings to the hugely different characters, Spain rejects formulaic settings and brings a unique story to each book.

The Trial is set in a university outside Dublin, steeped in history, prestige and privilege. Told through a dual timeline, this is a cracking paced, well researched tale of suspense and mystery, lifting the veil on medical research and bringing secrets into the light. Fans of Jo Spain will love this and it will bring new readers to0. Highly recommend, well written, intelligent page turner.

EXCERPT: Before she arrives at her destination, she hesitates.
For a moment, she thinks she feels somebody's eyes on her. She spins on her heel and looks back at where she's just come from.
She sees, or thinks she sees, the shadow of somebody who's just turned the corner.
He's gone now, but she suspects she knows who it is.
She knew he'd be watching her.
She just didn't think he'd start so soon.

ABOUT 'THE TRIAL': 2014, Dublin: at St Edmunds, an elite college on the outskirts of the city, twenty-year-old medical student Theo gets up one morning, leaving behind his sleeping girlfriend, Dani, and his studies - never to be seen again. With too many unanswered questions, Dani simply can't accept Theo's disappearance and reports him missing, even though no one else seems concerned, including Theo's father.

Ten years later, Dani returns to the college as a history professor. With her mother suffering from severe dementia, and her past at St Edmunds still haunting her, she's trying for a new start. But not all is as it seems behind the cloistered college walls - meanwhile, Dani is hiding secrets of her own.

MY THOUGHTS: Only a few pages in, I got that lovely prickling sensation on the back of my neck that meant I was in for a great read. And it was.

Jo Spain has created a tension, a heightened level of suspense that just didn't let up until I closed the cover for the final time and was able to take a deep breath.

The story is told over two timelines, 2014 and 2024, almost exclusively from the point of view of Dani. In 2014 she is mystified and devastated first by the disappearance of her boyfriend Theo and the diagnosis of her mother's Alzheimer's. 2024 and she is back at her old college on the faculty staff where her past keeps coming back to haunt her and something unsavory is going on that may adversely affect the health of millions of Alzheimer's patients.

The Trial is an exceedingly well written thriller. Its premise is topical and plausible; the execution flawless. The chapters are short and snappy, the tension palpable, the twists fresh and interesting.
Highly recommended.

⭐⭐⭐⭐.5

#TheTrial #NetGalley

THE AUTHOR: Jo, a graduate of Trinity College Dublin, writes TV screenplays full-time. She lives in Dublin with her husband and four young children. In her spare time (she has four children, there is no spare time really) she likes to read. She also watches TV obsessively.
Jo thinks up her plots on long runs in the woods. Her husband sleeps with one eye open.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Quercus Books via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The Trial by Jo Spain for review. all opinions expressed in this review are my own personal opinions.

I struggled with this book to start with. It took me a few days to read it, rather than the usual one or two. Once it got going I managed to immerse myself in the plot and read the second half in one day. It seemed a little slow to start with in my opinion, but it also had different timelines which sometimes puts me off. A book I recommend sticking with as the plot gets faster and I enjoyed it in the end

Ten years ago Dani's boyfriend Theo disappeared from St Edmund's college.
Now Dani is sent undercover to investigate possible manipulation of drug trial data of a drug for Alzheimer's disease..
It stirs up many memories for Dani, least of all that the Professor Theo was under is still there and one of the people she needs to investigate.
In a complex scenario, she is not sure who to trust. The worse thing is that her Mother has Alzheimer's.......
A good intriguing read.

Covering two timelines, The Trial introduces us to Dani in 2014 while studying at St Edmunds college and her boyfriend Theo mysteriously disappeared. Going to extreme lengths to find him, she struggles to work out why nobody else is as concerned as she is. We then catch up with Dani when she goes back 10 years alter as a professor and she is very interested to find out about some medical trials going on in the medical dept.

Some great twists and it was nice to see Dani at two stages of her life and see the differences, and similarities in her as she tries to deal with her situation.

‘The Trial’ by Jo Spain is a clever, emotional and gripping thriller set at an elite university in Dublin. Told in dual timelines across 2014 and 2024, we learn about the disappearance of Dani’s boyfriend Theo in their second year and Dani’s mysterious return to campus as a professor ten years later.

This novel really makes the reader think about the ethics of medical trials and the blurred line between pushing for progress and feeding insatiable capitalism. The author writes well about a very sensitive topic - Alzheimer’s - and takes care to give a useful content warning. Dani herself is a well-developed and likeable character, her blazing determination shining through across both eras the book spans.

I thought that perhaps some of the secondary characters could have been explored more thoroughly - especially Dani’s colleague George - but the strong plot meant that this didn’t impede my enjoyment of the novel.

Overall, I’d give this four stars and would very much recommend picking up a copy when it releases on Thursday!

I received an advance Digital Review Copy of this book from the publisher Quercus via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Another great read from Jo Spain. I finished this one in two sittings over the weekend. Thanks to NetGalley and the Publisher for the advanced digital copy to review.

What another absolute cracker from Jo Spain.Very gripping storyline,easy to follow even though it was shifting back and forth.As always looking forward to the next one .

I am a huge fan of Jo Spain and I was delighted to get the opportunity to read her newest book The Trial. This was one of the most gripping and thrilling books I have read in a long time. I read it over the course of a day as I simply couldn’t put it down. I can’t wait to read more from the author in the future.