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<spoiler>This book appears to be a retelling of James Hogg's 1824 novel The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. I doubt I'll be the only person to read both books, but probably one of the few to read them a week apart. Hogg's book was my last book of 2025.I'm also fairly well read on the other major influence on this book: the Scottish Witch Trials. From 1563-1735 the witchcraft Act saw around 4000 people tried for practising witchcraft, around 2500 people were executed, 85% of them were women. Scotland had the highest death toll per head of population in Europe.Witch Trial follows the trial of two teenage girls accused of the murder or a classmate. Most of the first part of the book is told from the perspective of Matthew Phillip, a respected heart surgeon and one of the jurors. We see his behaviour become more erratic as he becomes convinced one of the accused is in league with Satan and manipulates his fellow jurors to convict her, the other girl is tound not proven. After the trial Matthew has a psychotic break.The next part of the book is medical reports, and statements, letters, and others showing the aftermath of the trial, we learn there was a retrial but never learn the verdict.For those who are unfamiliar with Hagg's novel and the history of the Scottish witch trials this book would probably be an enjoyable but lightweight thriller with a bit of a weird ending. For those that are familiar with Hogg's novel and the history of the Scottish witch trials this book is an entirely frustrating experience. The author takes inspiration from both to spice up a run of the mill legal thriller but a lack of understanding of the history and the importance of religion to both Hogg's novel and the witch trials means this book reads like an author trying to make a point about judging people but honestly this book has nothing to say.Some random thoughts: 1. Calling the murder victim Christian Shaw was a choice! In 1696 an 11 year old girl called Christian Shaw accused two women of witcheraft. The resulting investigation and trial saw seven people convicted and executed. Make of that choice what you will.2. Ireally struggle to believe that no-one noticed Matthew Phillip behaving erratically. Scottish juries have fifteen members but this can go down to a minimum of 12 before the trial is affected. I didn't find it believable he remained on the jury3. There are several points where the author points out where the Scottish legal system works in a unique way and every single one is clunky.4. The author seemed to believe if someone nitpicks about accuracy regarding Scotland they're a supporter of Scottish independence.5. I thought having the parents lie was weird6. The teacher with the bad attitude was also weird.7. There is a suggestion the girls are judged for the way they look. While I believe that could be an issue, I don't believe that it would affect two white girls from families so affluent they can afford private boarding school in Edinburgh.8. One of the accused is described as wearing make up that sounds goth-like. A decent defence lawyer would tell her not to wear make up like that.9. I'm aware this is the nitpick of all nitpicks. But at one point Metthew gets a pizza and thinks to himself that deep fried food isn't good for him. ITS CLEARLY AN OVEN BAKED PIZZA WE DONT DEEP FRY EVERYTHING. Okay to be fair we do deep fry pizza and it is a god tier takeaway food, but the book was clearly describing an oven baked pizza!</spoiler>