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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
THE novel about a jury,
By F. J. Harvey "Cricket ,country music and a go... (Birmingham England) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Verdict Of Twelve (Paperback)
Raymond Postgate wrote very little crime fiction ,being primarily a social historian with leftish leanings .When he did turn his attention to the genre the results were invariably satisfying , none more so than this quite splendid and somewhat unusual book.There is enough detection to keep devotees of the classic detective novel interested and engaged by the book but the main concentration is on the jury ,and in particular with the factors that influence jurors and shape their verdicts.. We are given detailed biographies of 6 of the 12 citizens who must decide on the outcome of a murder trial -that of a middle aged ,middle class woman accused of murdering her nephew.In the well written and sharply detailed studies of these people we learn of their personal values and their domestic situations and of how these constitute an insurmountable barrier to objectivity.Their response is emotional as distinct from rational ,and as we come to know the jurors we begin to anticipate their reactions.Cleverly,these are modified as the case proceeds and the role of class and personality types comes to result in the weaker siding with the majority . The concentration on the jury is not at the expense of other factors however and the portaits of the accused and the victim are sharp and penetrating.,. Add a twist ending that is a genuine suprise and some neat literary allusion and the result is a novel that should be an established widely read genre classic rather than the unknown materpiece it is today
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An excellent ironic study of justice,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Verdict Of Twelve (Paperback)
I first learned of this novel's existence years ago from Raymond Chandler's essay "The Simple Art of Murder," in which Chandler described it simply as an "ironic study" without saying anything more about it. When I learned that "Verdict of Twelve" was once again in print, I ordered it. I can see what Chandler meant, and why he found the book worthy of mention.
The story concerns a murder trial in England, but unlike most courtroom dramas it devotes considerable attention to the personal histories of the individual jurors. It's safe to say that if you were on trial for murder, you would be horrified if these people held your fate in their hands. One of them is actually a murderer herself, though she was never arrested and accordingly considers herself superior to anyone so inept as to have been caught. The other eleven, in their own unique ways, aren't really much better. All in all, they are a collection of damaged, corrupted, and not particularly intelligent individuals who lack the self-awareness and mental balance to prevent their own emotional issues from interfering with their judgment of the case. Postgate's character portraits are adeptly written, with a very dry sense of humor giving flavor to the unsentimental factuality of his descriptions. In its own way, the book manages ultimately to be something of a horror story simply by depicting in simple language what can happen when ordinary citizens are chosen for jury duty. In essence, the whole idea of a "jury of one's peers" is hung out to dry. If people like these can be our "peers," then how can the system of trial by jury be expected to produce a just verdict?
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