This was a fantastic court room thriller with so many twists and turns. I was confused throughout much of the book and always asking what or why but at the end it was all tied beautifully together!

I guess there is such a thing as a thriller with too many twists. This started out super intriguing. A lawyer comes to during a trial. She has no idea who she is and how she got there. And yet she has to defend a seemingly evil man, with almost no memories. I was very curious where that would lead! But after I don't even know how many twists... I was tired. I kept reading so kudos on keeping me involved enough not to give up, but I was no longer truly interested, I just wanted to know how it would end to get it over with. Because this goes all over the place. Every time you think there's the start of an explanation, more twists happen. You kind of turn numb to them because for every big reveal, you know there'll ineci be an even bigger one. Had I not received an ARC, I might have just skipped to the end to see what it was all about. (I don't recommend doing that btw, you'd end up missing a million twists and be extremely confused by the ending) I'm sure some readers will enjoy the many many twists and it's pretty much impossible to guess ALL of them so that's a positive. But it was just too much for me and I think the story would have been much more impactful had it been simpler and more focused on one single issue.

look up to find twelve strangers staring back at me... I realise I'm the one they're waiting for.

Lila Dalton has no memory of how she got to this courtroom. The man in the docks is accused of mass murder, and she's his barrister - but she can't remember anything about the case. She can't remember anything at all.

Lila is stranded on an island hundreds of miles from the UK, where the most serious crimes go to trial. The next plane out doesn't leave for days.

And she's being watched. Someone keeps breaking into her hotel room to leave cryptic notes, threatening her with deadly consequences if she doesn't get her client off...

Can Lila Dalton win her case and solve the mystery of her own identity?

I really enjoyed this book.

The Trials of Lila Dalton had a highly unique premise which drew me in from the start. I enjoy a courtroom drama and with the element of a barrister with memory loss it just upped the ante. However with so many moving pieces in the plot it sometimes was a lot to unravel. I think with some tightening of characters and elimination of too heavy legalese/trial aspect then it would be a 4 star read. However I did enjoy this debut novel and the author shows lots of promise.

Read this if you enjoy:
-speculative fiction genre
-memory loss and unreliable narrators
-isolated creepy island with strange inhabitants
-government conspiracy, evil media tropes
-court room drama
-complex and confusing plots that all connect in a highly satisfying twisty ending

My rating 3 out of 5

Thanks to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for this eARC that will be available August 27 2024.

3.75
The book opens with someone, turns out to be the title character, having no memory of what came before that moment, but finding themselves in a courtroom. Lila discovers that she is a lawyer, and is defending a suspected terrorist, but not much else. Her first instinct is to run away so she won't have to go back to the courthouse. In looking for a getaway method, she realizes she is on an island, but none of the boats in the harbor will run. She is stuck and has to figure out a way to defend her client. The strange thing is that she remembers points of law, and precedents, and knows how to cross examine witnesses, but nothing about herself. In the meantime, she is being followed, her phone is tapped, she is attacked and doesn't know who is good and who is not, or why she these things are happening to her.

I really liked most of this story and the ending is something that I am still thinking about. A few revelations made me want to go back and reread portions. I love when that happens in a book. Unfortunately, there was a side story that was interjected a few times, that I still can't figure out the purpose of. This was distracting, and disrupted the flow, especially since I felt they added nothing to the book, but didn't take away from the main storyline too much. The author does a good job with creating tension and I will be looking for more of their books!

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and author for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks NetGalley and the publisher for early access to this mystery. Unfortunately it was a no for me. May have been the atmosphere but the book didn’t really interest me.

Lisa is an interesting protagonist who has no memory----of anything ---yet she rises to each strange occasion she meets successfully.
    She's in a courtroom about to go before a jury with no idea how to lawyer..........but she does.  
    She's on an island but doesn't remember how she got there.  Seeking answers she discovers more about where she is and who she is defending.
    Threatening calls to harm her child if she doesn't get that new client off, leads her to delve into her case and  hopefully off the island.
    So many twists and plot turns and Lisa slowly discovering who she is and why this all happened makes for an engrossing read.

The premise of this book immediately drew me in. I always tend to gravitate towards legal thrillers, and this seemed like an interesting take on the genre.
I had such a good time reading this book and figuring things out.
I would recommend this book to fans of John Grisham.

3.5/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for the opportunity to read this ARC and give my honest thoughts and review!

From the very beginning, we are kind of just dropped into the story with our main character, Lila Dalton, who discovers that not only is she somehow a barrister defending a man accused of bombing a house and killing dozens of innocent people, but she also has no memories of her life before the trial! And so we follow Lila as her journey to figure out who she is and why she can’t remember her life before becomes increasingly more twisted and convoluted.

Throw in a little Neo-Nazism and strange cryptic runes and messages from an anonymous source that feel more like threats than clues, and you have a book that while fast-paced and mysterious, leaves you floundering at times with the amount of “legalese” and social commentary. This book also explores the topic of the justice system as a whole and gives social commentary on how the invention of the internet has given people the ability to be both judge and jury without ever stepping foot in a courtroom.

Overall, the plot was very twisty and kept you wanting to know how everything unfolds but there were some parts that got a little mind-bending and somewhat unbelievable for me at times. I love a legal drama/thriller and it definitely did make me stop and think a bit more about our justice system and how things have changed in recent years.

Lila Dalton is in a courtroom with no memory of how she got there or what she is doing. As the story unfolds, she realizes she is a lawyer for someone on trial for a mass murder. She is trapped on a British island during the trial. Lila begins to receive notes and threats. The book follows her journey through the trial and search for what is actually happening.

There were a few British court terms that it took me a while to sort out. Once I got that straight, the book was okay. It was a little farfetched which made it easy to skim toward the end.

I reallllllly wanted to love this. However, this was complicated for me in a few ways.

1. The idea and general premise of this was so unique, I've never read anything like this.
2. Conspiracy theories in reality are annoying, but in fiction are SO FUN! I was here for this element.
3. This just never really clicked into the right gear for me.. I enjoyed it overall, but honestly didn't love it.

I really gave it a good old college try, reading more than a hundred pages before I couldn't do it anymore.

This had such promise and I love a good twist on a courtroom drama but there was just way too much going on here. It's also hard to connect to a FMC who doesn't even know who she is or why she's there.

Just not for me, sadly!

Stuggled a bit with this one and wanted to like it more than I did. Loved the concept and the conspiracy theory angle but I had difficulty getting behind the main character. The plot was complex, as expected with a legal thriller and gave me lots of food for thought on the legal system which I welcome! Unfortunately it left me feeling unsatisfied.....Thanks for the opportunity to review this book!

I liked this. ⭐️⭐️⭐️, I would’ve preferred it to go a little quicker but other than that it has a good plot

I would like to thank NetGalley and Poisoned Pen Press for providing me with an advance e-galley of this book in exchange for an honest review. Look for it in your local and online bookstores and libraries on August 27, 2024.

DNF’d at 35%
When I’m reading I need something to grab on to. Without a memory Lila was simply a blank slate, and I know that is the point (and is a testament to writing skill) but unfortunately I just didn’t care. I didn’t care about Lila, or her potential daughter. I didn’t care for anyone I meet in the first third of this book and so that made it, regrettably, easy to put down.

Special thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free, electronic ARC of this novel received in exchange for an honest review.
Expected publication date: Aug. 27, 2024
L.J. Shepherd’s debut novel, “The Trials of Lila Dalton” is a propulsive, compelling, legal thriller ideal for fans of “The Matrix” and “Memento”.
Lila Dalton is standing in a courtroom, defending a client charged with acts of terrorism. The problem? Lila can’t remember how she got there, or even where “here” is. In fact, Lila can’t even remember her name. Stranded on an island, with no memory and no one to help, Lila is left scrambling to figure out who she is. But then she starts receiving threats, insisting Lila clear her client of all charges, or risk losing her daughter (a daughter that Lila has no recollection of) forever. But how does she defend a client she doesn’t recognize, when she can’t even remember her own name?
“Trials” started off hot, with Lila facing a jury and a judge in a courtroom as a defense lawyer, defending the most popular case of the year. Lila has no memory of course, but her knowledge of the law has been retained, so she clumsily tries to fumble her way through while she searches for any clues as to how she ended up in her current situation. There’s no slowing down for Shepherd, as the plot hits hard and keeps on going, with twist after twist.
The first half of the novel is a legal thriller and the second half veers off into the world of government conspiracy and secret organizations. Both are intriguing, and Shepherd does a good job of connecting the two seamlessly. There are some confusing parts in the novel, especially in the latter half, when the conspiracy plotline takes over, but that did not stop me from enjoying “Trials”.
Shepherd has a background in law, as the courtroom segments make quite obvious, and I loved the premise of a lawyer who suffers memory loss in the middle of the hottest trial of her career. What was happening to Lila was not clear from the beginning, and I loved making guesses and trying to figure it out before Shepherd revealed it. When the truth comes out, I was taken by surprise, in a good way, and the ending was definitely a twist I did not expect.
“Trials” is unique and creative, and I look forward to future works from Shepherd.

Lila has no memory of what she did to be on trial. The plot is very intriguing and a little bit crazy! Lila's memory is still not at 100%. As the book progressed, it became very odd at times, random stuff happened.

The story is complicated but the courtroom drama keeps the reader engaged. At times, it became confusing. As the pages went on, the plot was not as interesting. The premise of the story was promising until the ending.

Interesting Plot, Quite Political and Alternative Reality! 2.5 stars!

Thanks NetGalley for the advanced copy! This book will be released 8/27/24.

I did complete this book but I'm not entirely convinced I understood it. It was confusing from the outset and while it was helpful to understand Lila's disorientation, I ended up disoriented myself trying to follow the various threads and keep the myriad of characters separate.

It reminded me a little of a Black Mirror episode. Good idea, poorly executed and not for me. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for my copy of this book.

This book sounded so good and i was so looking forward to reading it. However although it started well i got confused very quickly. The author put i think maybe too much into this book! Such a shame as it started so well! Maybe the book wasn't for me.