Defending Jacob By William Landay
By William Landay
A fourteen-year-old boy is murdered in a park in a wealthy town and the main suspect is a school mate named Jacob Barber. In Defending Jacob, the narrative follows the cross examination of Jacob's father, Andy, an Assistant DA who assigned himself the initial investigation, unaware that his son would end up as the prime suspect.
Andy narrates and tells the story of the murder and all that follows. Andy and his wife Laurie don't want to believe that their son could be capable of murder, but slowly it is revealed that Jacob has underlying social and personality disorders that place doubt in their minds. On top of that, Andy finds out that he and Jacob may both have a propensity for violence. Andy has spent his life denying his father's existence, a man who is in jail for a violent crime, as well as his family's history of abuse and violence.
As the story unfolds through narrative and a court proceedings transcript where Andy is being interrogated by the new ADA who replaced him, Andy and Laurie both work to protect and support Jacob during the investigation and trial, as well as work to keep their marriage together in the face of their growing doubts. After the trial, the family takes a vacation to regroup, when another incident occurs which leads to a dramatic climax that forever changes Andy's life.
This was a compelling legal suspense. The tension mounted as the story progressed, with characters reacting in natural and heartbreaking ways. The writing was propulsive and the plot clipped along. I did see a couple of things coming and new where the story was going until the very end. I had a suspicion that the mother was involved in something. What I suspected of her was incorrect, but what she ultimately did was shocking. It was a page turner, and I'm giving Defending Jacob 4 stars. The thing that dragged it back for me was the predictability of some of the story, but also that nagging thing I have with characters overusing one another's names. Besides that, it was a great story.
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