Defending Jacob by William Landay is a court drama, a family story, a suspense-thriller all rolled into one. The story is told to us by the father, Andy Barber, the First Assistant District Attorney of a small town in Massachusetts whose life and career took a bizarre turn when his 14-year old son was accused of murdering a schoolmate. Landay tells how this once happy suburban family became a portrait of a troubled family. While he was able to keep his son out of jail and keep his family intact, it resulted to the loss of friends and colleagues. The reader could earlier surmise that what ever the outcome of this trial, Barber is finished.
Landay keeps everyone guessing whether Jacob actually killed his classmate thus laying out the groundwork for everyone to make a judgement. And then he pulls out a twist. While Barber insists that his son is not capable of murder, it turned out that violence do run in the family. It was revealed that Andy's father and Jacob's grandfather is behind bars because of killing a girl.
This revelation will ultimately result in an horrific ending that one would probably not see coming.
The book is a real page turner, the details of what goes on in the life of a defendant in a murder case and how it could impact in the family will keep the reader involved.
(Defending Jacob by William Landay 421 pp.)
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