Review: DICE, Claire Baylis

• 
  This edition read as an e-book on Libby supplied by my local library
  
• ISBN:9781761067242
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin, 4 July 2023
• Page Extent:384 
• WINNER OF THE NGAIO MARSH AWARD FOR BEST FIRST CRIME NOVEL
• SHORTLISTED FOR THE NED KELLY AWARD FOR BEST INTERNATIONAL CRIME FICTION 

Synopsis (publisher)

A compelling courtroom drama, Dice is an incredibly timely exploration of how sexual violence is viewed in our society.
...

Four teenage boys invent a sex game based on the toss of a dice. The police charge them with multiple sexual offences against three teenage girls.

Twelve jurors must work out what actually happened.

How does the jury find?

Dice is a stunning courtroom drama told from the perspective of a diverse group of ordinary people - the jury. How will twelve women and men of different ages, backgrounds and beliefs decide whether consent was given or crimes were committed?

In this dazzlingly accomplished and gripping debut novel, the story is told through the eyes of each juror as the trial unfolds and evidence is presented, withheld, fragmented and retold by different witnesses.

Will the verdict deliver justice or punish the innocent? Where does the truth lie?

My Take

A very confronting story, at times difficult to read both in terms of the content and in terms of the way the story is presented. Set in New Zealand. We see the "evidence" from the point of view of each of the jurors, who range widely in terms of age, cultural background and experience. Each of the boys is represented by a different defence lawyer but only two of the boys take the stand. The trial takes three weeks and then the jury considers its verdict for each of the young men on each of four charges against three girls.  

A challenging read in a number of ways. A considerable achievement for the author. 

Coincidentally I attended a talk yesterday where a former Director of Public Prosecutions raised similar issues about sexual violence and mitigation of sentences, and why most women don't report events.

My rating: 5.0

About the author

Claire Baylis was born in England and emigrated to New Zealand at sixteen. Her fiction has appeared in Landfall, Sport, Takahē, Turbine/Kapohau, anthologised in Horizons 4 and has been read on Radio New Zealand. Dice is her first novel to be published. It was written as part of a PhD in creative writing from the International Institute of Modern Letters at Victoria University of Wellington/Te Herenga Waka and was included on the Dean's List for being of the highest academic excellence. Claire studied law and then lectured in it for twelve years at Victoria University of Wellington/Te Herenga Waka before moving to Rotorua with her family. There she wrote, brought up her three children, worked as an interviewer and researcher for the Trans-Tasman Jury Study and set up a water safety programme targeting low-decile schools.