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Dec 30, 2011

switterbug (Betsey) rated it:

This is as much a nuanced family drama, love story, and social inquisition as it is a murder/courtroom/legal thriller. If you can get past a few contrived plot points (this is where readers will divide), and engage with the narrator, whose reliability or unreliability is a puzzle to piece together, you will be satisfied with this warm yet dark story of a community and family unhinged by a violent crime. The author is a former DA who is skilled at informing the reader about the law and procedure More...

9 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 29, 2012

La Stamberga dei Lettori rated it:

Se proprio bisognasse trovare un difetto a questo libro, l'unico che mi viene mente sarebbe che mentre il protagonista, il Jacob del titolo, è biondo, sulla copertina compare un adolescente castano dallo sguardo torvo.
Per il resto, anche se i legal thriller ambientati nelle aule di tribunale non mi risultano così coinvolgenti, la storia è ben costruita e ben scritta: mette insieme una serie di tematiche che non riguardano solo una vicenda di cronaca nera ma il mondo della famiglia e l'eredi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 16, 2012

Denise rated it:

This book really made me think.I had to put it down several times and walk away from it in order to ponder what was happening in the story and the questions it was raising for me. It made me think a lot about the different "faces" we present to different people and how we are perceived by others. It is so easy to be blinded to faults of those we love and so hard to accept how others see us. Jacob was presented in this novel in many different views by many different people- his mother, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 15, 2012

Sandie rated it:

William Landay's DEFENDING JACOB has received a lot of hype from its publishers and has been compared to Scott Turows "Presumed Innocent". Personally, this tale of the fourteen year old son of an Assistant D.A. accused of murdering a classmate put me more in mind of the William March book THE BAD SEED.

Several of Landay's characters lack flesh on their bones and the actions of some are downright unbelievable. The Jacob character must be based upon the Sphinx (he is that insc More...

0 comments like

Feb 15, 2012

Karen rated it:

I enjoyed this novel more than any in the genre in a long, long time. The story is equal parts a legal thriller and a story of family dynamics and differing parental perspectives.

On the surface it's a courtroom drama/thriller centering on the murder of a 14 year old boy. The suspect on trial is the 14-year old son of Andy Barber, the assistant district attorney initially charged with investigating the crime but who is now sitting second chair with the lawyer defending his son, Jacob More...

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Feb 14, 2012

Margaret rated it:

I can't say enough good things about this book! I loved everything about this book and I didn't want to put it down the entire time I was reading it. The author does a great job keeping the reader interested and making the characters totally relate able. I love how the book will go from the dad on testfiying before the grand jury and then telling the story through other parts. I didn't expect the ending at all and this for sure a book that I be reading again and I am sure my family and frien More...

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Feb 12, 2012

Seattle Mystery Bookshop rated it:

William Landay has been a favorite of the shop’s for years. His debut Mission Flats was a memorable book for its twists and turns. It tells the story of a small town sheriff from Maine who gets drawn into a strange case of a dead Boston DA. The Strangler was the story of three brothers in Boston who are all on different sides but are drawn together when the city’s famous serial killer begins his reign of terror.

Landay’s latest Defending Jacob is another tricky story: a Boston pros More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 09, 2012

Joe rated it:

I had my doubts about this book. I started reading and as the novel progressed I felt I was led along an unnerving trail where things were revealed, but not necessarily answers. I could not separate myself as a father from what was going on in the story. Naturally, there is identification with the family and with what the parents are feeling as they endure the tortures of everyday life, wondering and waiting. I felt the author created a realistic portrait of what an average family faces in a mur More...

0 comments like

Jan 31, 2012

Carol rated it:

Defending Jacob releases today...my thanks to the publisher for allowing me to read it ahead of schedule.

It's going to be hard to talk about Defending Jacob without revealing too much and ruining a great story.

Absolutely read it!

The setting, a small town outside of Boston, two fourteen year old boys attending the same school; one is murdered, the other accused. Jacob, son of ADA, Andrew Barber, is arrested for the crime. The balance of the story examines the More...

8 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jan 13, 2012

Anne added it

Compelling read.

Andy Barber is a senior prosecutor who not only prosecutes some cases himself, but also assigns cases to more junior lawyers and supervises them as well. When a shocking murder takes place in this rather tranquil community, he's right there to oversee the investigation.

Andy is stunned when his teen-aged son is arrested. The fourteen-year-old is old enough to be tried as an adult, so the stakes are high. Needless to say, Andy is placed on a leave of absenc More...

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Dec 27, 2011

Sarah rated it:

In this legal thriller, assistant district attorney Andy Barber's comfortable and respectable life comes to a screeching halt when his fourteen-year-old son, Jacob, is charged with murdering one of his classmates. Andy is suspended from his position so he cannot unduly influence or garner information from the people he has worked with for years, cutting him off from the natural resources he needs to defend his son from the charges. Instead, he finds himself on the other side of the courtroom wat More...

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Nov 25, 2011

Jessica rated it:

I hold books featuring cops and lawyers to a higher standard. First, because I AM a lawyer. And second, because if you're going to have that kind of protagonist, they need to be actually believable in that role. Otherwise find another way into your story. (And there are many. Note all the thrillers that feature retired or former cops, private investigators, random people who just decide to investigate, etc.)

So I was frustrated by this book several times because its protagonist (a caree More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Oct 23, 2011

Monica rated it:

I have to say this is one of the best ER books I have received this year. I stayed up late last night to finish reading it and once I reached the end I just sat there thinking and saying Oh My God. The ending was one I would never have thought of.

I love to read mystery, thrillers, suspense, and romance novels all the time. And usually I can figure out the ending or even just a little bit of the ending. This one I kept going back and forth as to whether or not Jacob was guilty of murder More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 12, 2011

Amy rated it:

I won this Advanced Reader Copy from Goodreads.

What an outstanding book this is! A gripping tale of mystery and suspense. My emotions were on overdrive all throughout this book!

This is a story of a father, whose 14 year old son is accused of murdering a fellow classmate. At the time of the murder, Andy Barber was the Assistant DA and was hiding a dark secret from the world ~ his paternal descendents were all violent men. Jacob, the 14 year old son of Andy and his wife More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 17, 2011

Ron rated it:

To be published by Random House in the Spring of 2012

Landay's MISSION FLATS was well received when it was first published in 2004, but, unfortunately I never read it. The in-house buzz for DEFENDING JACOB was so strong that I started it on a flight to Chicago. From that moment on it was white-knuckle flying all the way. Sure, the weather was bad and the flights were bumpy, but the white knuckles were provided by DEFENDING JACOB, a novel with great narrative drive and some depth of c More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 20, 2012

Jo Anne rated it:

This is the first novel I read from William Landay and I enjoyed it. I didn't give it 5 stars because it was similar to Scott Turow's books and I like his writing better. It is a bit more sophisticated and has more depth.

Is there a murder gene? That is the crux of this story. Andy Barber is a DA and his 14 yr old son Jacob is charged with murdering a fellow student, Ben, that bullied and picked on him to no end. Andy had never told his wife and son that his father, grandfather, and g More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 07, 2012

Michael rated it:

As this wonderful story opens, Andy Barber, a former assistant attorney is being questioned in front of the grand jury. We know something terrible has happened.

Andy had been a successful assistant district attorney in suburban Massachusetts for years. As the story progresses, things begin to unravel in his life.

His son, Jacob, is accused of murder but Andy thinks this is nonsense. Andy is in charge of investigating the murder of a student at Jacob's school. Andy's delibe More...

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Feb 02, 2012

Paul rated it:

“Defending Jacob” by William Landay, published by Delacorte Press.

Category – Mystery/Thriller

This could very well be the best Mystery/Thriller of the year. If “Defending Jacob” were a car it would be a Rolls Royce.

A young boy, Ben Rifkin, is found murdered in a park. There are no clues and very little to go on. Andy Barber, Assistant District Attorney, takes the case.

It is only after he has taken the case that his son, Jacob, is implicated in the murder More...

3 comments like

Oct 26, 2011

Melanie rated it:

Defending Jacob is a thrilling and powerful book. I literally could not put it down. This book needs to be added to everyone's to read list. It is so well written and had me frantically turning pages. The ending left me breathless and I am still thinking about this book. It is that good!
Andy and his wife Laurie live in an affluent, idyllic town in Massachusetts with their fourteen year old son, Jacob. However, their world is torn apart when Jacob is charged with the murder of one of his cla More...

3 comments like

Feb 12, 2012

Kelly rated it:

Andy Barber is a successful prosecutor. He works for the DA's office and is second in command. When a kid at his son's school is murdered, it's only natural that he prosecute the case when it goes to trial. Except soon they DO find a suspect: Andy's son, Jacob. Andy is sure that Jacob is innocent, but now he's going to have to come clean about a secret in his own past, one that could reflect very, very poorly on Jacob.

I'm not generally big on legal thrillers, but there's a lot mo More...

0 comments like

Jan 31, 2012

Saxton B. Little rated it:

Defending Jacob is released today...my thanks to the publisher, Delacorte Press, for allowing me to read it ahead of publication.

It's going to be hard to talk about Defending Jacob without revealing too much and ruining a great story.

Absolutely read it!

The setting, a small town outside of Boston, two fourteen year old boys attending the same school; one is murdered, the other accused. Jacob, son of ADA, Andrew Barber, is arrested for the crime. The bala More...

6 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 26, 2012

Jill rated it:

These days, lawyer-and-courtroom books are a dime a dozen. Fortunately, Defending Jacob is no ordinary lawyer-and-courtroom book. It’s smart, suspenseful, and a downright insightful look into an ordinary family that is on the road to implosion. Along the way, it has much to say about teenage angst, psychology, the latest genetic techniques, social media, family dynamics and more. Put another way, it’s a work of literary fiction as well as a page-turning thriller.

Andy Barber is the More...

12 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 13, 2012

Chelesbells rated it:

I’m not a huge fan of courtroom dramas. I bore very easily with too much legal jargon and lawyer persona. So, the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed Defending Jacob and experienced such an internal battle over what I was reading is a testament to William Landay’s brilliant writing and his very compelling story.

The story is from a father’s POV - a father whose son has been accused of an unspeakable crime. A father who just so happens to be the assistant district attorney handling the case More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 11, 2012

Denise rated it:

The United States legal justice system operates from the premise that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Yet when a 14-year-old boy is accused of murdering his classmate, simply being accused of the crime is as good as being proven guilty in his community's eyes. The trial is basically meaningless, a sparring match between the prosecutor and defense attorney. All eyes on are the parents of the accused murderer; they created a murderer, after all... If you are a parent, you will no doub More...

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Jan 27, 2012

Patty rated it:

I don't know why but this kind of book just draws me in. The nature of a family...its profile and habits and the roles played by each family member are fascinating to me. I love reading about them but at the same time thanking everyone i know and God, too, that this is not my life...

There is not any spoiler here in saying that a young boy is found dead in a local park. It is a well to do supposedly safe community and this still happens...a week goes by without a hint or clue as to wh More...

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Feb 06, 2012

Barbara rated it:

After growing up fatherless, prosecutor Andy Barber embraces his role in the life of his son, Jacob. His marriage to the emphatic Laurie is still strong after 30 years, and the family lives a life of comfort and privilege. But everything changes when one of Jacob’s classmates is found dead in the woods near the school. Andy is an eminently unreliable narrator, blinded by his love and hopes for Jacob and well schooled in the evasive techniques and truth molding that come with being a seasoned More...

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Dec 11, 2011

Sara rated it:

A reader in my book club had a set of advanced copies of this book, so I was lucky to get a chance to read this! (thanks Barbara!)I normally do not read courtroom drama books, but Defending Jacob was worth the change. It is about a murder that takes place to a teenage boy in a smaller town and a district attorney's son is a suspect!

I enjoyed the unfolding of the case. There were many disturbing twists and turns about the characters and their pasts. I have not enjoyed reading courtroo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 16, 2012

Priya rated it:

Jacob is a regular teen, living with his Mom and lawyer (actually, Asst. District Attorney) Dad, in the quiet suburbs of Boston. All is well until one day, one of his classmates is found brutally murdered in a park near the school. Cops find a fingerprint on the victim and it matches to Jacob's. What follows is the tough battle for the family, both in the courtroom and outside, trying all they can to get Jacob out and prove his innocence.

'Defending Jacob' is something like a Jodi Picou More...

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Feb 07, 2012

Kim rated it:

"Defending Jacob" made me think! That is very high praise because there is nothing better than finishing a good book and you are still thinking about what happened after the last page is done or better yet- you are angry with the ending. I won't go into detail too much because it would be a shame to spoil this book. Andy is the Assistant D.A. and is well liked and respected by the community and other attorneys. His house is beautiful, his wife is charming and helps with philanthropy More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Kristine rated it:

A bit contrived...but an easy read. William Landay is clearly a decent writer, I was able to finish this book in 4 days. He never seems to be able to move past the desire to remind us that he was actually a lawyer at one point though. The courtroom scenes seemed a little too detailed; rather than telling a story it became more like reading a trial transcript at some points. And the story telling became somewhat redundant in that what was "revealed" in the courtroom had already been des More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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