Andrew "Andy" Barber is an assistant district attorney living in Newton, a suburban Massachusetts area, and truly enjoys his life. He has a wife that he's still madly in love with and a fourteen year old son, Jacob, who he dotes on. Andy is respected and great at his job. In short, he couldn't ask for his life to be any better.
That all changes when a young man, also fourteen years old, is found murdered. Andy is just as outraged and sad as all of the other families in their community. He promises to see that the killer is caught and justice is served. This promise is made before the unthinkable happens.
Evidence turns up linking Jacob, Andy's own son, to the crime. In no time, Jacob is formally charged with the murder of his fellow student.
DEFENDING JACOB started out a bit slow for me because William Landay, the author, tends to put in a lot of details about everything. This is neither good nor bad. I just don't happen to be one of those people who enjoy reading too many details. Having said that, DEFENDING JACOB turned out to be one of the best books I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Once it pulls you in, you're hooked.
This one has big screen movie written all over it! I would love to see it made into a feature film. All of the elements of a blockbuster are right there within the pages of DEFENDING JACOB. There's suspense but it's not actually the scary kind. It is more along the lines of what is going to be discovered next during the investigation. I do enjoy the unveiling of clues and this was done with a finesse that held just the right amount of teasing before showing it all.
DEFENDING JACOB is an involving book. I became part of its cast of characters. There were plenty of human weaknesses and just the kind of behavior that you would find in a small town when one of their own is murdered and another is accused of the crime. While I did want to shake the main characters more than once, I could still understand their behavior when put into this horribly, unthinkable situation.
Suffice it to say that DEFENDING JACOB is a book that has it all. A twisted murder mystery that has one slam dunk of an ending. Whatever you do, read it as Mr. Landay has written it. Don't skip ahead to the end or you'll wish you hadn't!
Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his
suburban Massachusetts county for more than twenty years. He
is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom,
and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob. But
when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy
is blindsided by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old
son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.
Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy.
Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him.
Andy must. HeΓ―ΒΏΒ½s his father. But as damning facts and
shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to
crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how
little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial
of his ownΓ―ΒΏΒ½between loyalty and justice, between truth and
allegation, between a past heΓ―ΒΏΒ½s tried to bury and a future
he cannot conceive.
Award-winning author William Landay has written the
consummate novel of an embattled family in crisisΓ―ΒΏΒ½a
suspenseful, character-driven mystery that is also a
spellbinding tale of guilt, betrayal, and the terrifying
speed at which our lives can spin out of control.
No excerpt available.
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