Beano Dennis & Gnasher: The Bogeyman Of Bunkerton Castle by Craig Graham and Mike Stirling

The Blurb On The Back:

Is it a comic? Is it a book!? No, it’s a Beano boom!

Are you afraid of the Bogeyman?!

After Lord Snooty flees Bunkerton Castle, Dennis, Gnasher and friends are invited to attend the ultimate spooky sleepover. Will they last until morning?

We dare you to find out!

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The 5th in Craig Graham and Mike Stirling’s “Boomic” Beano spin-off series for readers aged 8+ is a spooky affair filled with more snot than you can shake a Kleenex at. Nigel Parkinson’s illustrations work well with the text and although some of the characters look different to when I read the comics *cough cough* years ago but that’s no bad thing. This is a great, silly series that would work well with reluctant readers.

Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the review copy of this book.

Nothing But The Truth by The Secret Barrister

The Blurb On The Back:

What compels someone to become a barrister?

How does it feel to successfully defend a person who is freed and then kills?

How might prosecuting society’s most dangerous criminals change a person’s beliefs about justice?

This tell-all memoir is the third book from the Secret Barrister. In hilarious and tragic stories from the criminal courts, it lifts the lid on what it’s really like to pursue a career at the Bar, and reveals the uncomfortable and surprising truth about life in our opaque criminal justice system.

Nothing But The Truthcharts an outsider’s progress down the winding path towards practising at the Bar. It takes in the sometimes absurd traditions of the Inns of Court, where every meal mandates a glass of port and a toast to the Queen, and the Hunger Games-type contest for pupillage, through to the endlessly frustrating experience of being a junior criminal barrister - as a creaking, ailing justice system begins to convince the that something has to change …

Full of hilarious, shocking and surprising stories from the Secret Barrister’s working life, Nothing But The Truth asks questions about what we understand by justice, and what it takes to change our minds. It reveals the darker side of working in criminal law and how the things our justice system gets wrong are not the things most people expect. And it tracks the Secret Barrister’s transformation from hang-‘em-and-flog-‘em, austerity-supporting twenty-something to campaigning, bestselling, reforming author, whose progressive writing in defence of the law is celebrated around the globe.

( The Review (Cut For Spoilers): )

The Verdict:

The Secret Barrister is an anonymous junior barrister specialising in criminal law in England and Wales and best selling author. Their third book is a searing memoir recounting their journey to the bar and later as a blogger and, more importantly, how working as a criminal lawyer changed their own views of criminal law and those who run up against it. It’s honest, funny, horrifying and is a great way of learning how the legal system works.