Defending Jacob, William Landay

Man. Talk about a book with a twist at the end. I never saw it coming! This was a pretty typical court room drama, but it was a good one. I like court room books, but I don't have that much experience in them. Most of the court room books I have read have been Jodi Picoult books. Maybe a few other ones, but most just the Picoult books. Anyways. The book at times was a little hard to follow, but that was mostly because of the BIG twist at the end. So without giving it away.........

Andy Barber is a DA in a small town, and a horrendous murder happens at his sons school. He takes the case (as any DA would do for a  high profile case would do), but is then forced off the case when his 15 year old son Jacob is implicated. During some of the book, you are following transcripts from the court and those move into Andy's narrative of the case and how he sees it, and how others perceive him. You see his whole family change and fall apart and rebuild, yet they are never the same.

That's a small summary of the book, without giving much away. This is one of those books that once you know the twist, once you close the book, re-reading it would never be the same. Sure, you might catch a few nuances you hadn't noticed the first time around, and you would probably be able to follow everything to the T, BUUUUUT, it's like the Sixth Sense, once you know, you know, and you don't need to read it again.

Anyways....I really liked this book, except the portrayal of the teens in the story. It was very sterotypical teenage "talk". All the teens said "like" every other word and relied on social media to be heard and as a scapegoat. Landay painted Jacob as a troubled teen (and honestly, what teen isn't  troubled...) which I guess would explain his introverted-ness and general aloofness, but I still feel like all the kids portrayed in the book were very silly. Other than that, I enjoyed the book, the twist, the topic, and the way things were explored and explained. I highly recommend this book for its content and also for it being a pretty quick read. I really couldn't put it down, especially towards the end as (semi-spoiler!!!) everything unraveled! I was on the edge of my seat, and when I closed the book, all I could say was "Damn...damn...."

So pick this up and give it a read and let me know what you think!!!!!!!!!