Thrills, spills and clichs galore.Power of Attorneyby Dexter DiasHodder & Stoughton, 12.99Sue AllenThis fifth legal thriller by barrister Dexter Dias strings together a series of ill-fitting clichs.The central character, lawyer David Kilkenny, is a study in clich over-use resulting in the implausible: raised by a widowed father; always in the shadow of a successful, roughish, older brother; drummed out of the London River Police for corruption when he got too close to the truth; resorted to bare-knuckle boxing when he was down on his luck; qualified as a barrister, but 'could not abide the pomp and ceremony of the "straight" Bar'; ended up as a maverick sole practitioner.Even Kilkenny's 'unofficial paralegal' is an ill-fitting stereotype from the thriller/detective stock of characters.

God forbid that it would be a 17-year-old from the local secondary school on New Deal training; our hero's right hand man is Troy 'Night Train' Nelson, an ex-boxer from New York.

The two became best friends after Kilkenny got Nelson off a murder charge - 'a bullshit overcharge by the prosecution', of course.For those readers who like complicated plot lines, and can forgive the hackneyed characters and language, there is some redemption in the storyline.

It starts with Kilkenny's financial whizz-kid brother getting involved in money laundering.

There are a couple of gruesome murders, a baddie - Santos - who becomes Kilkenny's client as he tries to protect his brother, and host of policemen who are not all they appear.With working knowledge of court proceedings, Mr Dias's handling of Santos's trial is one of the best parts of the novel, reaching and almost maintaining some level of tension.

Overall, however, the fact that Mr Dias has managed to get a fifth book published appears either a miracle, or a testament to the low standards of his literary fan club.