The second in the Lee Michell Series and reads well as a stand-alone. Lee is a black female barrister, at Maple Court Chambers in London, originally from the Caribbean she knows how hard it is to fight your way to the top. Tom Mannion is the senior clerk in the Chambers. He is rich, successful and keeps a hidden diary holding his fellow Chamber members secrets. Dean is his Junior Clerk, from a working class background but determined to make something of himself, it is Dean who keeps the engines of the firm running.

Briefly, one morning a seemingly innocuous incident involving Tom and a woman at an underground station becomes the catalyst for events in the book. Following an office party Tom’s body is found in alleyway. Was he attacked or did he fall over drunk? With fingers being pointed at him Dean finds himself arrested and charged. He claims innocence but the police are only interested in charging him. Enter Lee who declares herself his Barrister.

I love a legal thriller and this is a very good one, full of twists and turns. I love the main protagonist, she’s one feisty lady who really is in the job to do what is right. I loved the descriptions of the inner machinations of the Chambers as it began to implode with every revelation. I loved the court case. You’ve got it. I loved this book! Great read.

Did Dale do it?
Yes, no, maybe, he couldn’t he is the hero of the book. Do I like him? Do I know him? All questions asked over and over again. Read this book not only to get a good insight into the running of chambers but for a really good read.

Really really good legal thriller the only annoyance being I hadn’t realised it was part of a series but that is my fault for not checking,that aside great characters,plot and plenty of unexpected twists all written in a captivating style and giving inside information into the legal world and world of barristers in a non boring way
I will be catching up on the other books as this was so good

This is a novel about procedures in the life of barristers in London. There is a murder and the chief suspect is a member of the staff at the Chambers .
It is very interesting to read of all the procedures involved in legal cases. It really does show how much goes on behind the scenes of legal Chambers. Quite fascinating.
I enjoyed the book as a stand-alone, but I. believe it is the latest story in a series.
Well written.

I hadnt realised this was part of a series about Lee Mitchell, a black female barrister, but was able to read it as a standalone book easily enough, I enjoyed the writing and the inner life of Chambers was well described by Ms Williams with some interesting characters and motivations. It sets itself up well for a sequel which I look forward to reading.
(I recently read and enjoyed Rob Rinders new novel "The Protest" and wasn't aware until I researched the author of "killer instinct" that this is also by a barrister, maybe Chambers novels are becoming a popular genre!)
Thank you to netgalley and Penguin Books for an advance copy of this book.

A brilliant book that that goes behind the scenes in chambers and tells the story of what people will do to protect their family, career and reputation. Dean is a young and brilliant clerk whose boss & colleague, Tom, dies after a night out in an exclusive members club. But Tom has been harbouring secrets which gives many a motive to harm him. A barrister at their chambers, Lee, agrees to advocate for the accused. A fantastically plotted book that goes behind the scenes and explores the challenges faced by those from different ethnic groups and exposes discrimination and prejudice. Absolutely fantastic reading. Highly recommend. Huge thanks to the author & publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review

i was out of my usual book comfort zone with this one as all in legal thriller isn't usually my choice. but im glad i was intrigued by the cover as it was a clever and enjoyable read. it was all pulled together and woven into a twist and turn plot that had me right there in the action.
the impact on the chambers when top clerk Tom is dead. people are falling under suspicion suddenly and its not long before head of that list is a junior clerk Dean. he was the last to see the victim alive but hes so far been adamant in his denial. and this is where Lee steps in to the defence.
you get it all from this book. you get intrigue and mystery from the who dun-nit. but you also see the interactions play out in courts and inside the chambers. is there more to the undertone of the competitiveness nature of all who work inside the chambers? is someone here keeping more secrets than they should? did someone have something on Tom or did he have something on them? as the story unfolds the tension builds and your made to think smarter and harder to try and figure things out.
you think you know who you want to trust in this book. and you worry they will come up short, lol. and then there are the more ruthless ones and definitely ones you actively dont think are 'good' people.
i really enjoyed getting to know more of Lee and though Nicola did a great job of fleshing her out for us.

A good read, well written with some surprising twists and turns. Young Dean is a Junior Clerk at Maple Court Chambers; a lad from a council estate who has, unlike his neighbourhood peers, shunned drugs and a life of crime. With a steady job and a long term girlfriend, he knows that with hard work and perseverance his life can only get better. His immediate boss at Chambers, Tom, is a thug in a suit, always believing himself better than others and gathering gossip and secrets close to use as leverage. During a work party, Tom is spotted by a young woman who he had knocked to the floor as he was coming up from the tube. No apology, no help - he just left her and went on with his self important life. But she points him out to her fiancee, who confronts him. The scene is broken up but in the early hours of the next morning, Tom's body is found where it fell while apparently relieving himself in a dark lane. He could have just fallen. Or he could have been pushed. The police are keen to prove a murder and the !Ives around the Chambers start to fray.

If I said I have just read for eight hours solidly from 4 am in the morning what would it say about me? Possibly I'm an insomniac but more particularly I couldnt put Killer Instinct down. Yes, it's that good.
An innocent man Junior Clerk Dean is charged with manslaughter after the Head Clerk Tom is found dead in an alley. The weird thing is.....there is no evidence and yet the CPS goes ahead. Surely this cannot be plausible? However, I remember a case that shocked the nation and I recall a similar lack of evidence too.
The novel explores class and privilege and how that affects how you are treated by the legal system. Furthermore racial bias too. However, we aren't lectured to and it certainly doesn't detract from the story.
I thoroughly recommend this novel if you like courtroom drama, the workings of the legal profession and the police.

This is a very good, well written legal thriller, absolutely jam packed full of fascinating characters. There is an interesting mix of characters, some likeable and some very aggravating. I really liked Lee and Dean, Giles not so much and I felt at times that I really wanted to murder him myself! The themes of racism, corruption, privilege and abuse of power are handled with sensitivity and the courtroom scenes are filled with dialogue and drama. I never read the first in the series featuring Lee Mitchell and this can easily be read as a stand alone. A very good thriller which I would recommend. Thanks to Net Galley for my ARC.

A legal thriller which is low on the action front but is much the better for that.
A legal setting, many characters with secrets to keep, a man who knows these secrets and a death followed by a politically motivated investigation leading to the charge and trial of a colleague of the deceased. A missing notebook belonging to the deceased detailing all of the secrets he kept.
Not much given away throughout the book pointing to suspects but as well as the accused, fingers are pointed in one other main direction although it's clear that many people would have been happy with the death.
I hadn't seen many, if any at all, signs of the direction that the case would go but it was overall a satisfying conclusion.

I only learned after reading that there is a previous novel with one of the main characters in it so it's safe to say that this can easily be enjoyed as a stand alone novel.

Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for my review copy.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Penguin for my copy of Killer Instinct by Nicola Williams.
Dean Carter is a junior clerk at one of the best law firms in the City of London, and when the Head Clerk is killed shortly after they were seen together.
He is an easy target. But did he do it.? A barrister at the same firm, Lee Mitchell, doesn’t think so.
A legal thriller that shows the deep prejudices that still exist in the justice system.
I didn’t know until I had finished the book that it is the second one in a series. It worked very well as a stand alone.

A slow burn legal thriller that hooks you with its layers of blackmail and revenge. The plot feels fresh, and the characters are vivid and memorable. I really enjoyed the ride, I was so invested in what was going on and who was responsible. I absolutely loved the plot and that it just felt so original and unlike most thrillers ive come across. Must read

A legal thriller.
when junior clerk Dean is the last person to see Tom the head clerk before he is found dead, the police arrest Dean but have no evidence.
Lee is a barrister in the same firm and she believes he is innocent and tries to help him.
when Lee finds out Tom had a black book on all secrets and blackmail he had done within the firm and any of them could be the murderer she has a fight on her hands with all the lies and deceit she encounters.
lots of twists to keep you reading.
thanks to Netgalley for the ARC and I give my honest review

Killer Instinct is a decent read, especially, the court scenes, but wasn’t as consistent outside the court and felt slightly padded out as a result.

So overall an ok read.

'Killer Instinct' is the second book to feature Lee Mitchell but can easily be read as a stand-alone. It's a well written legal drama that will keep you guessing as to who killed Tom Mannion, the senior clerk of Maple Street Chambers. There are quite a few characters to follow but once you have sorted out who's who and also why they may be the killer you'll be totally invested in the book. Many thanks to netgalley, author and publisher for an arc.

A thriller told from a different angle. This book is told from different viewpoints, mostly centred on a chamber of barristers based in London. After an evening "do" Dean, the junior clerk of the chambers is asked to go for a drink with his boss, Tom. Tom is the senior clerk and runs the chambers with an iron hand, but also has a book of secrets which he is able to use to manipulate . The next morning Tom is found dead, possibly killed and his diary of secrets is missing. As Dean is the last to have seen him alive, he becomes the main suspect. This book follows the investigation and the trial as well as the relationships between the people working at the chambers and their families. There are quite a few characters to follow, but as you get to know them, they do emerge as individuals.
THe book is slow to get going and the complicated legal system took some time to get my head around. In the lead up to the trial and once it started, the pace picked up and there were a couple of twists I did not see coming. The characterizations were very well written, you can picture the types from the descriptions. The human side, Lee's relationship and Ollie & Mary's family issues were also well portrayed.
Thanks to Net Galley for them ARC. 4 stars because of the first few chapters where I had difficulty getting into the plot

Excellent legal drama. Tom Mannion is a senior clerk in Chambers and a disagreeable and controlling character. Despite this, he is highly respected and has his finger tightly on the legal pulse.

On an evening out with his junior clerk, Tom divulges that the secret behind much of his success is a little black notebook in which he records the deepest, darkest secrets of both his friends and enemies.

When Tom is subsequently found dead in a nearby alleyway, his notebook is missing and suspicion immediately falls on his junior clerk who seemed to have the most to gain by Tom's death.

But is he the guilty party or is it one of Tom's legion of enemies........ Kept me guessing until the very end which, for me is the mark of a really good thriller.

Because of their specialist settings, legal thrillers can be hard to pull off – but here is an author who puts her knowledge of criminal law and her professional experience as a barrister to good use to achieve just that. That she manages to set her thriller so expertly in recognisably contemporary settings, thereby creating a fascinating new protagonist, just heightens my admiration. This protagonist is a young barrister from a working-class Caribbean background by the name of Lee Mitchell, who has worked hard to establish herself in the legal profession. The crime she investigates is the murder of the odious, most senior clerk at her Chambers. I found myself turning the pages of this novel faster and faster as the investigation continued – not necessarily to find out how the novel would end, but to rather to find out more about Lee Mitchell and her motivations for a legal career. Highly recommended reading material – and I am grateful to the publishers and to NetGalley for the free digital ARC that allowed me to familiarise myself with Nicola Williams’ work.

When senior clerk Tom Mannon is found dead in an alley suspicion falls on junior clerk Dean. They had both been drinking together at a London club. The diary in which Tom wrote details about his colleagues private lives, is missing. This is a very well-written and superbly plotted legal thriller that raises issues of race and class. There is a diverse cast of believable characters. The author uses her knowledge of the legal system to add authenticity to the story. I did not realize that this is the second novel featuring barrister Lee Mitchell. I now look forward to reading more in this series.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review.