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Defending Jacob

A Novel

Audiobook
2 of 3 copies available
2 of 3 copies available

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - "A legal thriller that's comparable to classics such as Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent . . . tragic and shocking."—Associated PressNOW 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.

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    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from October 24, 2011
      Andy Barber, a respected First Assistant DA who lives in Newton, Mass., with his gentle wife, Laurie, and their 14-year-old son, Jacob, must face the unthinkable in Dagger Award–winner Landay’s harrowing third suspense novel. When Ben Rifkin, Jacob’s classmate, is found stabbed to death in the woods, Internet accusations and incontrovertible evidence point to big, handsome Jacob. Andy’s prosecutorial gut insists a child molester is the real killer, but as Jacob’s trial proceeds and Andy’s marriage crumbles under the forced revelation of old secrets, horror builds on horror toward a breathtakingly brutal outcome. Landay (The Strangler), a former DA, mixes gritty court reporting with Andy’s painful confrontation with himself, forcing readers willy-nilly to realize the end is never the end when, as Landay claims, the line between truth and justice has become so indistinct as to appear imaginary. This searing narrative proves the ancient Greek tragedians were right: the worst punishment is not death but living with what you—knowingly or unknowingly—have done. Author tour.

    • Library Journal

      May 15, 2012

      Assistant District Attorney Andy Barber, his wife, Laurie, and their 14-year-old son, Jacob, are the stereotypical happy suburban family until the boy is accused of brutally murdering a classmate. During the suspenseful trial, Andy and Laurie discover how little they know their boy--and each other. VERDICT Grover Gardner does an excellent job reading the audiobook. He captures the insolence and dignity of Andy's dysfunctional father, Laurie's hopelessness, and Andy's determination to exonerate Jacob. Recommended for legal thriller fans. ["Skillful plotting and finely drawn characters result in a haunting story reminiscent of Scott Turow's Presumed Innocent," read the review of the New York Times best-selling Delacorte hc, LJ 12/11.--Ed.]--Ilka Gordon, Siegal Coll. of Judaic Studies Lib., Cleveland

      Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

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Languages

  • English

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