Careful? Of course I shall be careful. Look" he said, putting down his briefcase and holding up his hands, "I am wearing my porcupine gloves."

This is the one and only reference to porcupines in the story. This story about the trial of a former communist leader of an unnamed communist state seems so relevant in light of the last decade's events. Stoyo Petkanov is the former leader on trial. Peter Solinsky is the former professor of law who uses the opportunity to practice perhaps for no better reason than to advance his standing under the new regime. The trial will be televised.

In one respect, the trial was like most other trials that had taken place here over the last forty years: the President of the Court, the Prosecutor General, the defence counsel and the accused-most of all the accused- knew that anything other than a verdict of guilty was unacceptable to higher authority.

This is no simple tale where our sympathies clearly lie with either the prosecutor or the defendant and it is hard to resist the temptation to say that Barnes puts the trial on trial. There is no hard evidence against Petkanov for having committed atrocities therefore most of the trial is taken up by accusations of corruption and cronyism. All the time Petkanov is completely unrepentant even for flagrant abuses of privilege. Time and time again, Solinsky's attempts to solicit some demonstration of responsibility from Petkanov are frustrated. Eventually Solinsky succumbs to the temptation to use evidence of dubious origin. Although it is a minor victory for Solinsky, it finally kills any pretense to justice and plunges the whole procedure into the realm of the show trial. This novel is a brilliant insight into the mindset of two people supposedly at different ends of the ideological spectrum. Petkanov's ranting is at times sublimely funny and Solinsky emerges, in anything but the official version, much worse off. The Porcupine is timely, humane, hilarious and eminently readable.