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reading_on_the_road's review against another edition
4.0
Daniel Hunter, the adult protagonist, is a man who despite a successful career still carries the scars of his unstable early years, and in some ways has been unable to move beyond them in his personal life - his relationships are short-lived and superficial. He is acutely aware that his life could easily have turned out very differently.
As a lawyer who works largely with child defendants, he is drawn into the case and the life of Sebastian, who has been accused of murdering a younger boy. Sebastian's home situation - a weak mother and a violent, domineering father - resonate with him and he comes to identify with the boy despite doubts as to his innocence. While the case is ongoing his adoptive mother, who he has long been estranged from, dies, and he reflects on his relationship with her and with his birth mother. With an adult understanding of the events of his childhood, rather than that of an emotionally volatile and frightened child, he is able to accept his past for what it was. The book ends with a more emotionally mature Daniel finally moving forward and beginning a new deeper relationship with a colleague who is his equal.
As a lawyer who works largely with child defendants, he is drawn into the case and the life of Sebastian, who has been accused of murdering a younger boy. Sebastian's home situation - a weak mother and a violent, domineering father - resonate with him and he comes to identify with the boy despite doubts as to his innocence. While the case is ongoing his adoptive mother, who he has long been estranged from, dies, and he reflects on his relationship with her and with his birth mother. With an adult understanding of the events of his childhood, rather than that of an emotionally volatile and frightened child, he is able to accept his past for what it was. The book ends with a more emotionally mature Daniel finally moving forward and beginning a new deeper relationship with a colleague who is his equal.
nonna7's review against another edition
5.0
Is there anything more horrifying than children killing other children? This is especially true when the killer is a pint sized eleven year old from a "good" family. Daniel Hunter, his solicitor, is handling the accused killer, Sebastian, while wrestling with his own guilt. Shortly after he takes the case, he learns that his adopted mother had died. He had cut ties with her shortly after starting university after she did something that he found to be unforgivable. Despite that she has never stopped loving him or trying to reach him on his birthdays and Christmas. Now she's dead, he starts remembering and begins to understand why she did what she did. Meanwhile, there's Sebastian who has promised that he did NOT kill the 8 yr old neighbor boy. Daniel's story unfolds alternately between chapters about Sebastian's unfolding defense. One reviewer found it to be "grim" because of the subject matter and the fact that none of the characters, with the exception of Minnie, Daniel's estranged adoptive mother were very likeable. That's one viewpoint. Having read other British crime novels in which the foster/social worker/adoption process has been explained, I understood why the reviewer may have found Daniel unlikeable. He's a victim just as his client Sebastian is. There are no easy answers when it comes to the love of parents and children no matter how bad or good either or both parties are. Ms. Ballantyne is a writer I'll be watching. I really enjoyed this book.
clyssandre's review against another edition
5.0
Incredible novel. The Guilty One will force you to think about the notion of guilt in regard to childhood. What does it mean? What is the right respond to it?
Sebastian, 11 years old accused of murder, and Daniel, a violent child who was sent to foster homes as young as 4-5 years old, share the sad experience of failing parents. Lisa Ballantyne seems to try to tell us that things are not always just as they seem to be. Can really a child "be" evil? What can you do? Is there no coming back from a past of violence?
It is also a novel about being a mother and a foster mother and a role model.
It is a very moving novel, quite painful to read but so, so interested. Highly recommended.
Sebastian, 11 years old accused of murder, and Daniel, a violent child who was sent to foster homes as young as 4-5 years old, share the sad experience of failing parents. Lisa Ballantyne seems to try to tell us that things are not always just as they seem to be. Can really a child "be" evil? What can you do? Is there no coming back from a past of violence?
It is also a novel about being a mother and a foster mother and a role model.
It is a very moving novel, quite painful to read but so, so interested. Highly recommended.
rach__jane's review against another edition
4.0
This book had so much promise and lacked a little in delivery, but was still a good read. If you like thrillers, you will like this book!
cordillia's review against another edition
4.0
רומן פשע פסיכולוגי מעולה, המגולל את סיפורו של דניאל הנטר, עורך דין פלילי המייצג את סבסטיאן בן ה- 11 החשוד ברצח חברו בן ה- 8 במשפט פלילי מתוקשר.
דניאל הוא בן לאב עלום שם ואם נרקומנית, אשר אומץ וגודל על ידי אשה בודדה ואוהבת, ולמד לתת בה אמון מלא, עד שגילה את הסוד שהסתירה מפניו.
הספר עובר מסיפור משפטו של סבסטיאן המבריק והמניפולטיבי אשר לא ידוע האם רצח או לא רצח באכזריות את חברו, לבין פלאשבקים מילדותו הקשה של דניאל, שמרתקים בעיניי יותר מסיפור המשפט.
הספר מרתק וכתוב היטב. הדמויות חזקות. אהבתי מאד את שני קווי העלילה. הסיבה היחידה לאובדן הכוכב הנוסף היא המועקה הגדולה שפשתה בי לקראת סוף הספר ועם סיומו.
האשם/ליסה בלנטיין
דניאל הוא בן לאב עלום שם ואם נרקומנית, אשר אומץ וגודל על ידי אשה בודדה ואוהבת, ולמד לתת בה אמון מלא, עד שגילה את הסוד שהסתירה מפניו.
הספר עובר מסיפור משפטו של סבסטיאן המבריק והמניפולטיבי אשר לא ידוע האם רצח או לא רצח באכזריות את חברו, לבין פלאשבקים מילדותו הקשה של דניאל, שמרתקים בעיניי יותר מסיפור המשפט.
הספר מרתק וכתוב היטב. הדמויות חזקות. אהבתי מאד את שני קווי העלילה. הסיבה היחידה לאובדן הכוכב הנוסף היא המועקה הגדולה שפשתה בי לקראת סוף הספר ועם סיומו.
האשם/ליסה בלנטיין
scotsbookworm's review against another edition
3.0
I really wanted to give this more than 3 out of 5 stars but sadly the ending let the story down in my opinion. To begin with the story grabs your attention and makes you want to keep reading then starts to become drawn out before becoming a page turner again. You can't help but like the characters Daniel, Sebastian and Minnie, Minnie being by far my favourite.
I would recommend this to read as although the ending let it down for me I still found it an enjoyable read
I would recommend this to read as although the ending let it down for me I still found it an enjoyable read
xanabertolo's review against another edition
4.25
Não é pelo final, porque não me surpreendeu, mas porque adorei ler a história da infância de Daniel, estes capítulos alternados entre passado e presente agarram-me e agradam-me imenso.
Gostei mesmo muito e recomendo.
Gostei mesmo muito e recomendo.
taniabotes's review against another edition
3.0
Daniel swallowed. "If nobody else wants me, do I get to stay here then?"
An easy-reading, yet sometimes poignant, book. I enjoyed the dual storyline, especially the fact that they read as two different genres. I definitely preferred Daniel's coming of age story, I even shed a few tears for this lost little boy. I thought the suspense story was a bit predictable, and was hoping for a more inventive ending.
The story: A little boy was found dead in a children's playground...Daniel Hunter has spent years defending lost causes as a solicitor in London. But his life changes when he is introduced to Sebastian, an eleven-year-old accused of murdering an innocent young boy. As he plunges into the muddy depths of Sebastian's troubled home life, Daniel thinks back to his own childhood in foster care - and to Minnie, the woman whose love saved him, until she, too, betrayed him so badly that he cut her out of his life. But what crime did Minnie commit that made Daniel disregard her for fifteen years? And will Daniel's identification with a child on trial for murder make him question everything he ever believed in?
melissarochelle's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't love this book. I barely liked it. It was definitely just OK. The story goes back and forth between Daniel Hunter as an adult and Daniel Hunter as a child/young man. As an adult he's the lawyer for a little boy accused of murdering another little boy. As a child he's in the foster care system because his mom has drug issues.
I was never sure if the "mystery" of the story was whether or not Sebastian murdered the other little boy or if it was trying to figure out why Daniel stopped talking to Minnie -- the woman who adopted him later.
The title makes it pretty clear that at least either Daniel or Sebastian is guilty of something. I was far more interested in the Sebastian story. But I felt like the author was more interested in this 35-year-old man that couldn't forgive the woman that raised him instead he chose to pine after a mother that chose drugs over him.
I was never sure if the "mystery" of the story was whether or not Sebastian murdered the other little boy or if it was trying to figure out why Daniel stopped talking to Minnie -- the woman who adopted him later.
The title makes it pretty clear that at least either Daniel or Sebastian is guilty of something. I was far more interested in the Sebastian story. But I felt like the author was more interested in this 35-year-old man that couldn't forgive the woman that raised him instead he chose to pine after a mother that chose drugs over him.
maureenmccombs's review against another edition
4.0
This novel is more than a crime novel; it is an exploration on the damage that can be (and is) done to children by the unthinking acts of their parents. This is a story of a damaged boy made good defending a damaged boy who is a sociopath and the memories elicited by their interaction. Very well written and excellent character development.