Defending Jacob: A Novel

4.3 | 34,109 ratings

Price: 15.66

Last update: 12-11-2024

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A legal thriller that’s comparable to classics such as Scott Turow’s Presumed Innocent . . . tragic and shocking.”—Associated Press

NOW AN EMMY-NOMINATED ORIGINAL STREAMING SERIES NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY Entertainment Weekly Boston Globe Kansas City Star

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. He’s his father. But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, and as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own—between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.

Award-winning author William Landay has written the consummate novel of an embattled family in crisis—a 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.

Mr. August

William Landay Trumps Scott Turow

Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2012

Turow was an innovator, an attorney writing a murder mystery, who can add the real perspective from the legal side. Presumed Innocent was his best book. I don't believe the others following it outdid this initial provocative novel. William Manday's third book, Defending Jacob, has all of the legalese a reader would need but this author creeped into my worst fears and took my breath away with his story. Cleverly setup with the opening scene of a grand jury hearing, Andy Barber, a former (first) assistant attorney, is being questioned by a former protege, Neal Logiudice, who has high political and legal goals. Shouldn't Andy be handling the case? He tried, but was taken off the case because in heart wrenching detail, Andy's only child, Jacob, is accused of the murder of his classmate, Ben Rifkin. The grief of Ben's father is almost palpable while Andy tries to give him pat and sympathetic responses.

The novel is timely. The use of social media guarantees us all that nothing is erased; there are no secrets. Jacob and his friends indulge in special websites and Facebook and the effects of their comments and ideas could implicate many of us, innocent or not.

The novel moves the reader in and out of the legal framework but what Mr. Manday does better is get into the mind of Andy as he become omnipotent. He and his lovely wife, Laurie, become damaged in the process. How could any parent stand up to the possibility of their child as a murderer or one falsely accused of murder? His life will never be the same, no matter the outcome of a trial. Neither will the parents; every day brings its gnawing questions and the agony of waiting. Anyone who has had the misfortune of living through a disaster, which will forever change one's life, can identify with the parents and possibly, the professionals. It is a dire waiting game, from day to day, what does the jury think? How will the judge rule on that motion? How do we get from breakfast to dinner? Terminally ill patients or ones diagnosed with a debilitating disease, wait for results of tests and then again wait for more tests or treatments. It invades the smallest details of one's life. And so the Barbers live from hour to hour; they are pariahs. Their friends have deserted them, they are using up their money and there is the question of their son's innocence. Manday introduces us to secrets in Andy's life and their possible impact on the case. There is a bounty of brilliant ideas and writing in this novel. There is always something underneath the surface that the author holds back until he wants it placed in his plot. This book deserves 5+ stars. There was only one weakness I noted. Laurie's father is a psychiatrist; she came from an educated, thoughtful family. Laurie did not want her parents at the trial; that didn't ring true. There would have been no way they would not have been there for their daughter or grandson. Other than that, read it and you will see how the author pieces it all together for you. Raw emotion is evident on almost every page; you better keep reading.

Lorraine Devon Wilke

A dark and involving legal/psychological mystery expertly told

Reviewed in the United States on October 8, 2014

An intense, compelling legal/psychological mystery, Defending Jacob is expertly written by an author who clearly knows the lay of the land. A former district attorney as well as a talented writer, Landay brings his prodigious grasp of the legal system -- the minutia of how a case is conducted, the burden of crime from the point of view of its various participants; even the terminology used in police and lawyer banter -- to this dark and involving tale, all of which builds the drama with affecting authenticity.

Told from the first-person POV of Andy Barber, also a former assistant district attorney, the story involves the brutal murder of a high school boy and the almost immediate cast of suspicion on Andy's son, the titular Jacob. When a legal protégé of Andy's, Neal Logiudice, takes on the case, the resulting friction, even competition, between the two men becomes both an essential part of the developing story as well as an element in pushing suspicion here, there and everywhere.

Along with the many legal components that build the foundation of the narrative, it also tackles some very home-grown issues: the growing sense that Andy and his wife, Laurie, may not know as much about their son as they'd previously thought. That Jacob has certain socializing issues is not new, but the depth of those issues may be. When it's also revealed, in what is set up as a major game-changer for the family as well as the case, that Andy's long-absent father has been absent due to being in prison on a murder conviction, something Andy shares with his wife and colleagues only for the first time, the concept of "murder DNA" becomes a plot element of some significance.

The skill of Landay in keeping us guessing is undeniable. The twists and turns of the unfolding plot are, without a doubt, page-turning, and the richness and depth of the narrative makes the journey both believable and nail-biting. The ultimate conclusion is deeply surprising, shocking, to the extent that we're left, as readers, with no recourse but to feel and analyze the unpredictable fallout of crime and mental illness on everyone involved.

This was, to use the helpful cliché, a book I couldn't put down... I was so intrigued by what was set up and how we were being led to that conclusion that I pushed to get there. My only issues have to do with two elements:

The "murder DNA" thread felt a bit strained to me, both the family's concerns about it and its use to build tension and aspects of the "did he/didn't he?" question. Effective? It might have been more a conceptual tool of the author's than a tangible, believable part of a real case... I could be wrong on that but that's how it hit me.

The other issue (no hard spoilers) was with the final denouement of the story. It was so extreme and, based on the characters created, for this reader, a little hard to believe. As if, after reading this incredibly compelling story, I was asked to accept an ending so dark as to be nihilistic. Perhaps that was the writer's intent; to convey that mental illness and murder can render life meaningless. Certainly tragedy and tragic decisions are made by people every day. But after such a long and engaging read, it felt a bit empty. Many may not be bothered by that; may even find it in keeping with the style and theme of this fiction, and their opinion will be as valid as mine! Subjective stuff, particularly with a book so expertly rendered and powerfully written. See what you think.

Either way, a great, exciting, exhausting, and ultimately thought-provoking read.

Richard

amazing read

Reviewed in the United States on November 15, 2024

Definitely recommend!!! Keeps you in suspense the entire time. The book was very than the show, still a great show

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