PROTAGONIST: Andy Barber, assistant district attorney
SETTING: Massachusetts
RATING: 4.75

Assistant Defense Attorney Andy Barber, his wife Laurie and their son Jacob are very much a normal family until one of Jacob’s classmates, 14-year-old Ben Rifkin, is murdered. Andy takes on the case until the time that evidence is found that shows his son may have been involved. At that point, the world as the Barbers know it comes undone. Ultimately, there is more substantial proof implicating Jacob, and he is arrested for the murder.

I’ve often wondered how the parents of an accused murderer are able to support their child, especially when the evidence overwhelmingly points at that child. Landay does a superb job of depicting the impact of such an accusation on the entire family. Andy’s reaction is total denial. He believes that Ben was killed by a pedophile who lived in the area and goes to great lengths to convince the authorities of Leonard Patz’s guilt. The general feeling is that Andy is not objective about the situation and is grasping any straw that he can in order to believe in his son’s innocence. At times, he goes to extreme lengths in his belief that Jacob is innocent. Although Laurie wants to believe her son, she begins to fear that he may be guilty; and that causes dramatic changes in how she interacts with her husband and son. Jacob has become a pariah; the family lives in utter isolation as the matter goes through the courts.

The most catastrophic revelation comes from Andy, when he confesses to Laurie that he is descended from a long line of murderers, including his own father and grandfather. He firmly believes that he has escaped that curse, although he is worried that the prosecution will bring up the idea of a “murder gene”, a predisposition to killing, in court. Laurie feels betrayed when Andy shares this information; the whole framework of their marriage seems a lie.
Worst of all, she is starting to believe that it’s possible that Jacob possesses this gene.

DEFENDING JACOB is an excellent book, one that constantly had me wondering what I would do in similar circumstances. Landay expertly plants the seeds of doubt—is Jacob the villain that all are painting him to be or is he being unjustly accused? In addition to an expert rendering of the family dynamics in a terrible situation, the author has created an unforgettable and suspenseful story with a powerful twist at its conclusion.