The Guilty One audiobook

In London’s very gentrified neighborhood of Islington an eight-year-old boy is murdered in a playground. The suspect is slight, eleven-year-old, Sebastian Croll, a friend of the victim. Seb is an odd sort, removed, serene in the presence of danger and pressure, until, that is, he breaks down and tosses tantrums that any three-year-old would find to be fine examples of the art. His home life leaves much to be desired, with a dodgy, self-medicating mom and an abusive, remote father. Is young Seb a sociopathic monster, someone spotted in the wrong place at the wrong time, or even a victim? Lisa Ballantyne - from the Daily RecordDaniel Hunter is Sebastian’s lawyer. He sees much of himself in his young client, knows how possible it is for children to be ill-treated by the world and by government, and wants to help him. Daniel had had plenty of trouble of his own as a kid. He never knew his father. Mom was a drug addict, and social services shuttled him from foster home to foster home. Daniel had some rage issues that kept the loco in loco parentis. Daniel’s final stop on the substitute parent merry-go-round was Minnie Flynn. It is the relationship between Daniel and Minnie that is the core element here. And what a core it is. Structurally the novel alternates chapters between the mystery of Sebastian’s did-he-or-didn’t-he and a journey back through Daniel’s personal history. While both tales are fascinating, Daniel’s tale is riveting. We know early on that, as an adult, he has received news of his mother’s death, and we also are told that he had been estranged from her for a very long time. The second mystery in the book is “why?”Minnie Flynn had suffered a loss that most of us could not bear. Maybe she shared life on her small Cumbrian farm with a series of foster kids to fill that need. But she took a special shine to young Daniel, and, despite the mayhem he causes when he comes under her care, he takes a shining to her. Although there is no romance involved, this is a very, very powerful love story. You will need tissues. Daniel was a lot to handle as a kid. Living with a junkie for a mother he was subjected to more than the usual sorts of childhood challenges. Most five-year-olds are not beaten up by their mother’s low-life boyfriend, or bear witness to low behavior of many sorts. No wonder he was so angry. And then the state decides that his mother is not fit to keep her son and Daniel begins the grand tour of foster homes. It would have taken someone with the patience of a saint to cope with his rage. And while Minnie does indeed have a breaking point, it is she, ultimately, who offers Daniel a safe haven, not only from the world, but from himself. She is one of those parental sorts who actually can set boundaries. She is one who can see the potential in Daniel beneath the maelstrom. And it is she who changes the direction of his life. I was struck by how similar was the feeling I had for Minnie to the feeling engendered in reading about Talmadge in the recently released fabulous novel, The Orchardist. Both are strong, good people, struggling desperately to make sense of lives in which they have suffered crushing misfortune. As with Talmadge, you will love Minnie. Ballantyne paints her with a range of colors, not all of which are complimentary, but every one of which is understandable, and very human. Ballantyne applies the same skill she uses in portraying the loving Minnie to give us the willies about Sebastian. He may or may not be guilty, but he certainly seems the sort of kid you would be reluctant to turn your back on. Other characters pop in and out, but it is Sebastian, Minnie and Daniel who hold our attention.Ballantyne makes deft use of avian imagery to support her characterizations and themes. A few examples. First, soon after young Daniel is taken in by Minnie:“Look!” she said to him, stopping and pointing at the sky. “do you see it?”“What?”“A kestrel! See it, with the pointed wings and long tail?”The bird sculpted a wide arc in the sky and then perched on a high treetop. Daniel saw it, and raised his hand to see more clearly.“They’re beauties. We have to watch them from getting the chickens when they’re small, but I think they’re elegant, don’t you?”Later he has taken in the image, made it his own:He felt strange: bereft, alone, cruel—like a falcon he had seen on his way to school one day, intent on a post, dismembering a field mouse. He didn’t know where his mother was. It felt as if she had been stolen.And as he feels the claws of his own guilt:he felt darkness circling around him and alighting on his chest, hooded, wicked, shining black like a raven. Daniel put a palm to his bare chest, as if to relieve the sting of the claws. He had left her, yet her leaving still seemed the greater. As he turned and turned again he felt the death beyond the loss that he had created. Her death was heavier, dark, like a bird of prey against the night sky.A visit to Hadrian’s Wall sings as an image of permanence. There are several mentions of sliced flesh that might raise hackles. And you might keep an eye out for the butterflies that flutter across the page on occasion. Ballantyne does not beat her imagery to death, but sprinkles it throughout her tale to add flavor, like a well moderated condiment.Another element the book addresses is the British legal system, that treats children as adults, much the same as in the US, so that should feel familiar for American readers.  There is also much here on the notion of home. Young Daniel, effectively, if not entirely an orphan, yearns for a real, safe home, with a real, safe mam. But what might one expect had he had the home he yearned for with his biological mother? Seb has a home, but it is a toxic environment that has either made or enhanced his peculiarities. Might Daniel have become like Seb under different circumstances? How much is innate, and how much is induced? Nature vs nurture. And what is home for Minnie? Why would she remain in a place that witnessed her greatest loss when she could easily have returned to her native Ireland?The bottom line here is that The Guilty One is an outstanding novel, a true page-turner that will keep you rapt until you finish it. There is artistry to the writing and content to consider beyond the tale itself. But the strength here is the portrayal of compelling characters, and effective writing of powerful human emotion. Quite an amazing first novel. Your eyes will leak. Reading The Guilty One is not at all a guilty pleasure, but a pure one. ==================================UPDATES3/7/2013 - There is a lovely description by the author of how she constructed the book. It includes the followingThis book is very much Daniel’s story – of being a young, damaged and violent child, but someone who grew to become a largely functional, caring adult. Sebastian, the young boy on trial in the book, is there to throw Daniel’s story into relief.A very warm interview with the author, from Scotsman.com. Not a bit of haggis in sight. 5/11/13 - From The York Press - Longlist announced for the 2013 Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award

Wow, what a book! It gripped me from the first page when Daniel goes to the police station to meet Sebastian, the eleven year old boy accused of murdering another child. It's the story of Daniel, a lawyer who defends juveniles, and how something in Sebastian reminds him of himself as a boy in foster care. The book carefully and skillful runs on two parallels, showing us the present day with the case and trial with Sebastian, and Daniel's experiences as a boy from when he is placed in the care of Minnie, the woman who changed his life but then betrayed him.

Thanks to Will Byrnes, and my other GR friends, who all rated this 5 stars. It reminded me of The Boy Who Could See Demons, but was significantly better. 11-year old Sebastian is arrested for the killing of 8-year old Ben on a playground, but there are no witnesses. Solicitor Daniel Hunter is assigned to defend him, and feels strong empathy with the accused, who likewise harkens from a broken family. Daniel's own story is probably more interesting than the trial as he was a difficult boy, prone to trouble, with a drug addict mother. Daniel's foster, and then adoptive, mother Minnie is a wonderful iconic character, and the book is built up around their bonding and life together, where Minnie rescues Daniel, and their sudden and mysterious estrangement. Highly recommended.

Lisa Ballantyne is becoming one of my go to authors when I am looking for my next read. This is another excellent read and a very enjoyable legal thriller that I couldn’t put down,A little boy is found dead in a children’s playground and his eleven year old friend, Sebastian stands accused.Solicitor Daniel Hunter life changes when he meets Sebastian, a young boy whose trouble home life reminds him of his own childhood in foster care. Daniel had a similar troubled past only to be saved by a woman named Minnie who he feels later betrayed him so he cut her out of his life. Daniel and Sebastian’s meeting sparks the beginning of the solicitor searching his mind into his past.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?The story is told over two timelines, past and present. Daniel is forced to face his past but will his feelings for Sebastian and his own memories blind him to the truth? What really happened in the park and who, ultimately, is to blame for a little boy’s death? Daniel is forced to rethink everything he ever believed as he begins to understand what it means to be wrong and to be the guilty one.Loved this book and writing the review makes me feel like rereading it. ‘The Guilty One’ is one of those books that stays with you after you have finished it.

I found this an engrossing read. It tells the story of a Sebastian, an 11 year old boy up on charges of murdering an 8 year old boy. Daniel, his lawyer, relates to the boy when he takes on the case. So the reader also gets the story of Daniel, his life as a foster child and his time with Minnie the foster mother who later adopted him and from whom he ended up estranged. The reason for this is not explained until fairly late in the book but I didn’t think there was any surprise about it. As you read this novel it becomes apparent that there is more than one guilty person though they may be carrying different forms of guilt and some are even unaware of their guilt in shaping other lives. I enjoyed this story, but then I usually do like novels about lawyers and court cases. I loved the way it kept filling in the details in Daniel’s story as well. Some aspects are hard to read. The incident with the chicken I found myself skimming because it made me feel ill with the graphic detail. The ending I found was disappointing, even though in many ways it was what I expected to happen. Perhaps that was why I was disappointed in it. I felt it let down what was otherwise an engrossing read that raises lots of questions about nature and nurture and the responsibilities of parents towards children in their care.

On the surface, this looks like a legal thriller (and a really excellent one). And don't get me wrong, that aspect is definitely there. But it's so much more than that. Alternating with the chapters of the prep work for and trial itself are ones showing how Daniel became who he is now. It's important to know that going in, because if you expect something that's, say, John Grisham, you'll be disappointed.While you'd think that he'd have a lot in common with Sebastian because he's a successful lawyer and Sebastian comes from a family of at least some privilege, it's more because their backgrounds are so completely tense. Daniel's mom used drugs and Sebastian's father may or may not abuse his mom (things are said and Sebastian's dad is a complete asshole) and it's that feeling of constantly being on guard and needing to take care of their moms that bind them, even though obviously that's a conversation that's never said out loud. Daniel's life leads him to be a very angry kid but as he grows up, he's able to hide that anger and to channel it into other things. Most people would probably think that it's gone completely, but there are definitely signs that it's still there.As much as I loved the trial chapters, I was even more drawn into the ones of Daniel's childhood and the relationships he forms there. Highly recommended.

Billed as a mystery, this is really a haunting and sad case study of two very damaged young boys. The protagonist, Daniel, is a solicitor assigned to defend eleven year Sebastian, a creepily precocious boy who has been accused of brutally murdering his much younger playmate Ben. The case comes at the same time that Daniel learns of the death of the kind and generous Minnie, the woman who basically saved his life so many years ago when she adopted him. The novel is really more the story of Daniel and we learn, in expertly drawn detail, how he came to live with Minnie, sad, heartbroken, and very, very angry about the losses he had experienced in his young life. That he could easily have ended up in a situation similar to Sebastian is evident. And we learn that Minnie did whatever she felt was necessary to protect Danny, at the risk of losing him forever. How Daniel reacted to Minnie's misguided love, is tragic and heart wrenching. It takes the death of Minnie coupled with the insights he gains in working with Sebastian for Daniel to realize who the real guilty person is. And though we are anxious to learn the fate of Sebastian (is he or isn't he guilty?), we really care about Daniel.Ballantyne is quite skilled at character development; some editing, however, particularly in the reminiscences of Daniel, would have helped move the plot along. But ultimately, this is a terrific read.

I am not sure if I have ever cried so hard reading a book as I did near the end of this one. The Guilty One is a book I will be thinking about for a long time. It is a book about the power of words and how they shape our sense of self. It’s about how we, in some ways, can’t escape others’ expectations of us. It’s about loss, about motherhood, about family, about how hard it is to let go and what happens when we stubbornly hold on to something. Most of all, it is a book about the inescapability of our effect on one another and the compassion that comes from understanding the possibilities of life if things had gone another way.

All summer, I've been longing for a book that would draw me in completely and make me ignore my responsibilities to keep reading. Finally, I found it in THE GUILTY ONE. Let's get one thing straight: this is not a mystery/thriller even though it is being marketed as one. It's a well-written novel that happens to have a crime in it. Many of the negative reviews here focus on the fact that the resolution of the courtroom drama is predictable. True enough. If you're looking for a John Grisham/Gillian Flynn twist ending, this isn't your book. Don't get me wrong--I LOVE twist ending; I WRITE twist endings, but that's not what this book is about.So, why did I love it? As a teacher and a parent, I'm fascinated by why some kids with horrible childhoods overcome their upbringing while others are crushed by it. Daniel Hunter has a heroin-addict mother whom he must protect from abusive men who attack him too. But when we meet him he's a successful lawyer in London. Why? Because he was saved by a loving foster mother, Minnie. What a character Minnie is! Funny, fearless, loving, Minnie is also tortured, guilty, and very flawed. The story of Daniel and Minnie's relationship forms one thread of the novel, and this thread is mesmerizing. Through many false starts and regressions and violent acts, Minnie gradually gains Daniel's trust. But then, in one act of betrayal, she loses it. What she does is not particularly surprising. What is fascinating is why she did it and why Daniel holds the grudge for so long. The novel never totally resolves that, so the questions linger after you're done reading.Interwoven with Daniel's story is the tale of Sebastian, a 12 year old accused of murdering his 8 year old neighbor. Unlike Daniel, Seb is not poverty stricken, yet his family is just as troubled as Dan's. Daniel is both drawn to Seb and disturbed by him as he works on the boy's defense. The court case unfolds in fascinating detail as we learn both about legal strategy and about Seb's awful parents. When the two stories end, we're left to marvel at how utterly self-absorbed kids are--all kids--and how that inability to imagine others' lives can lead to disaster. The novel does not wrap up all the loose ends neatly because, well, there are no solutions to problems like these. I did take issue with how abruptly Dan ends his responsibility to Seb. There are times when the author tries a little too hard to be literary, but for the most part, the novel is beautifully written. THE GUILTY ONE leaves readers with plenty to think about: the bond between biological parents and children, the role that other loving adults play in helping kids thrive, the failures of the criminal justice system, and most of all the responsibilities we each have to one another to avoid being the guilty ones.

In The Guilty One, Lisa Ballantyne's debut novel, eleven-year-old Sebastian Croll is accused of killing an eight-year-old neighbor. Daniel Hunter is his assigned solicitor for the defense. While trying to defend Sebastian, Daniel reflects on his own very troubled childhood. The case coincides with the death of Minnie, the woman who was Daniel's foster parent and who later adopted him. Daniel had cut off all contact with Minnie, but the trial and Minnie's death has made Daniel introspective - pondering his past actions while defending a present day troubled child. The chapters alternate between the uneasy and anxious present day defense and trial of Sebastian with the disturbed and resentful past of Daniel. As we slowly follow the progress of Sebastian's case we also learn more about Daniel's past until both storylines culminate in some uneasy revelations and insight. Minnie both betrayed and saved Daniel. Will the same be said about Sebastian, who is currently living in a very dysfunctional family.Ballantyne expertly delves into this tense exploration of childhood violence and the root causes of its manifestation, and, ultimately, the potential power of forgiveness and redemption of love. We know the two mysteries right at the start: Sebastian may have killed a child and Daniel has been estranged for 15 years from his now deceased mother. What keeps you reading with breakneck anticipation is the slowly revealed facts about both mysteries. Daniel certainly had anger and rage inside him as a child and Minnie had the patience of a saint with him. Why was he estranged from her? Is Sebastian also filled with uncontrollable rage, or was it a stranger who killed 8 year old Benjamin?I appreciated the alternating chapters and the unfolding of both stories. The writing is superb and the descriptions are atmospheric and very realistic. (Some descriptions are intense and could be disturbing for some readers.) All I can say is that I flew through this book and was very satisfied with the conclusion of both the story lines. Yes, I did cringe at times, and my heart broke at other points, but this was a thoroughly enjoyable murder mystery that I very highly recommend.Disclosure: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher and TLC for review purposes.

I had never read anything by Lisa Ballantyne before, but I intend to change that after The Guilty One. The story instantly drew me in, and I enjoyed the way it shifted between Daniel's past and present, and the way his story mirrored Sebastian's - the young boy he is representing.I won't summarize the plot, but it is tightly written, at time disturbing, but compulsively readable. Can't wait to explore what else Ballantyne has on offer!Find more reviews and bookish fun at http://www.princessandpen.com

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** spoiler alert ** Voiam că tu sa mă placi

Que livraço!!! Que boa surpresa! Este livro tem uma história, aliás, duas histórias incríveis e é um tratado sobre como as crianças perturbadas e sofridas podem ser "reparadas" e tornarem-se adultos "capazes" (caso do Daniel, advogado e a sua impressionante mãe adoptiva Minnie). Em relação ao caso Sebastian, um menino de 11 anos acusado de ter morto uma outra criança, é interessante o desenvolvimento da história e o julgamento é outro momento de muitas aprendizagens.Adorei este livro! ♥️