DEFENDING JACOB

Written by William Landay

Review written by Ali Karim

Ali Karim was a Board Member of Bouchercon [The World Crime & Mystery Convention] and co-chaired programming for Bouchercon Raleigh, North Carolina in 2015. He is Assistant Editor of Shots eZine, British correspondent for The Rap Sheet and writes and reviews for many US magazines & Ezines.


DEFENDING JACOB
Orion Books
RRP: £12.99
Released: 15th March 2012
Hbk

The third novel by US Lawyer Bill Landay is a remarkable and emotional journey that puts this work right up at the apex of legal thrillers, rubbing shoulders with names such as Turrow, Grissom and Michael Connelly, though it will reside in the reader’s mind like a broken dream with its startling dénouement. The plot though appears a cliché, but is far from that due to the insights that Landay brings to play into the white picket normalcy that is middle-class, surburban America .

When teenager Ben Rifkin is found dead, from a brutal stabbing in a wood close to his local New England school, all eyes turn to that of Jacob Barber his fourteen year old classmate, and a boy harshly bullied by Rifkin. The problem is that Jacob’s father Andy Barber is the Assistant District Attorney for the county, so before long Andy is taken off the case as the investigation gathers momentum. The stresses to the Barber family start to from cracks in their ‘happy family’ façade as Andy tries to protect his son from the rigors of a murder case, something that his wife Laurie has trouble reconciling.

The reader also has to face up to the fact the narrative progresses in first person from Andy Barber’s viewpoint, but how reliable is the Assistant D.A. in his retelling of the events that this case has dredged up? The tension is racketed up a few notches when we learn that Jacob’s grandfather [Andy’s father] also had the shadow of murder over him, so there could be some genetic linkages in the Barber family, or not?

Either way, the Barber family becomes ostracized in this tightly-knit suburb of Boston from their neighbors as the trial looms in the collective consciousness, making the later stages of the novel fraught with anxiety, until the shattering dénouement, a climax that is as startling as is the journey to reach the shore of this tale.

In parts you feel the hidden depths of the narrator Andy Barber leading you along the path, though the sense of anxiety and unease is such that the reader feels that something darker is lurking in this suburban community, something that is far from the white that stains the picket-fences that zone the families from their secrets.

my girl friend cheated on me husband cheat online
buy viagra online canada how long does viagra last for viagra size
website infidelity why men cheat
why wife cheated why people cheat online affair
married looking to cheat women who cheat on husband link
website read cost of abortion pills
spy on phones best spyware for android cell phones phone tracking app
spyware for phone message spy app spy gps
instant chlamydia test how do you treat chlamydia chlamydia symptoms in women
early signs of aids treatments of aids causes of aids/hiv
i cheated on my husband with his best friend blog.e-lecta.com is it my fault my husband cheated
why do wife cheat on husband why husband cheat unfaithful husbands
free pharmacy discount card techinsurgent.com walgreens in store coupons
cheat go infidelity signs
temovate tube click furosemide 40mg
flagyl 400mg valacyclovir 1g keflex 750mg
propranolol 40mg gruene-kehl.de diflucan 200mg
coupons prescriptions viagra coupons from pfizer prescription coupon card
free discount prescription card buyerauctionmanager.com drug coupons
different types of abortion site coupons discounts
discount coupons for cialis go prescription coupon card
coupon for prescription lilly cialis coupon free printable cialis coupons
cialis savings and coupons link free cialis coupon 2016
cialis free sample coupons prostudiousa.com free prescription drug cards
seroquel 300 link seroquel 300
adalat oros rileytech.net adalat oros
pill for abortion abortion at 14 weeks costs of abortion
pill abortion bangzontheweb.com abortion pill definition
abortion pill stories albayraq-uae.com anti abortion facts
lamisil spray lamisil para que serve lamisil spray
metoprololsuccinat metoprololsuccinat metoprololtartrat
flagyl suspension mattnichols.co.uk flagyl vademecum
herbal abortion pill pro abortion abortion pill information
cheap abortion pill effects of abortion pill how much is an abortion pill
clomid clomid cycle clomid
information about abortion pill supermaxsat.com aspiration abortion
acetazolamide acetazolamide sivuvaikutukset acetazolamide cerebral edema
cialis coupon 2015 cialis coupons from lilly cialis online coupon
abortion clinics in houston tx costs of abortion pill abortion pill
cialis cialis 5 mg cialis 5 mg
prescriptions coupons coupons for cialis printable 2015 cialis coupon
lamisil cream lamisil para que sirve lamisil pastillas
naltrexone and alcohol click naltrexone pregnancy
cefuroxim kinder cefuroxim makrolid cefuroxim alkohol
carbamazepin qt carbamazepin 600 carbamazepin reduzieren


Home
Book Reviews
Features
Interviews
News
Columns
Authors
Blog
About Us
Contact Us

Privacy Policy | Contact Shots Editor

THIS WEBSITE IS © SHOTS COLLECTIVE. NOT TO BE REPRODUCED ELECTRONICALLY EITHER WHOLLY OR IN PART WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION OF THE EDITOR.