Defending Jacob by William Landay

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, 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.

An interesting book. I don't think he is the best author in the world as the book seemed to be written in very long hand as if it were full written records of the court procedures and happenings. This is probably because the author is an ex District Attorney and he is used to putting every last detail down on paper. It still flowed fairly well, despite this, and you got used to the wordy style once you got sucked into the story.

The story itself seemed, at first, to be nothing new but as it developed, it opened up many layers and provoked many thoughts in this reader.

Spoilers here in white, highlight to read- It gave one thought as to how far you would go to protect your own child, even if the evidence and your own gut feelings pointed towards him being guilty and an evil person as well. It then flipflopped from how much you would do to protect your child to would you be able to get rid of your child if you knew he was, inherently evil and would continue harming (and killing) innocent people. I nearly gave it a 3 as there were some parts that I did not quite believe, like Jacob's dad getting rid of the knife and some other cover ups he did, they just did not seem to fit with his character as an assistant DA- end spoiler

Like I said it was a novel that sucked you in and kept you reading"just one more chapter" as I was intrigued as to where it was going and what was gong to happen. I think it will provoke some good discussions at tonights book group.