2012 Puddly Awards
 
 
Follow us on TwitterFollow us on FacebookFollow us on Google+Follow us on TumblrSubscribe to RSS

Recently Viewed clear list

Guests | May 2, 2012

Julia Alvarez: IMG Chichiguas

0 comments By Julia Alvarez

I wouldn't have met Piti if it hadn't been for a chichigua. To translate chichigua as a kite does not do justice to these beautiful creations of... Continue »
  1. $16.07 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

    A Wedding in Haiti

    Julia Alvarez 9781616201302
spacer
This item may be
out of stock.
Click on the button below to search for this title in other formats.
Check for Availability
Add to Wishlist

eBook editions

Defending Jacob

by William Landay

Defending Jacob Cover

ISBN13: 9780385344227
ISBN10: 0385344228
All Product Details

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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.

Award-winning author William Landay has written the consummate novel of an embattled family in crisis — a suspenseful, character-driven mystery that is also a spellbinding tale of guilt, betrayal, and the terrifying speed at which our lives can spin out of control.

Review:

"Andy Barber, a respected First Assistant DA who lives in Newton, Mass., with his gentle wife, Laurie, and their 14-year-old son, Jacob, must face the unthinkable in Dagger Award — winner Landay's harrowing third suspense novel. When Ben Rifkin, Jacob's classmate, is found stabbed to death in the woods, Internet accusations and incontrovertible evidence point to big, handsome Jacob. Andy's prosecutorial gut insists a child molester is the real killer, but as Jacob's trial proceeds and Andy's marriage crumbles under the forced revelation of old secrets, horror builds on horror toward a breathtakingly brutal outcome. Landay (The Strangler), a former DA, mixes gritty court reporting with Andy's painful confrontation with himself, forcing readers willy-nilly to realize the end is never the end when, as Landay claims, the line between truth and justice has become so indistinct as to appear imaginary. This searing narrative proves the ancient Greek tragedians were right: the worst punishment is not death but living with what you — knowingly or unknowingly — have done. Author tour." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review:

"Defending Jacob is smart, sophisticated, and suspenseful — capturing both the complexity and stunning fragility of family life." Lee Child

Review:

"Powerful...leaves you gasping breathlessly at each shocking revelation." Lisa Gardner

Review:

"A page-turning, stomach-clenching exploration of family." Chevy Stevens

Review:

"Like John Grisham and Scott Turow, Landay is a lawyer with a solid grasp of how to use courtroom scenes to advance his jigsaw-puzzle story....with a grabby premise and careful plotting, he keeps you turning the pages through the shocking gut-punch of an ending." Entertainment Weekly

Review:

"[Landay] reaches a new level of excellence with this riveting, knock-your-socks-off legal thriller. With its masterfully crafted characterizations and dialogue, emotional depth, and frightening implications, the novel rivals the best of Scott Turow and John Grisham. Don't miss it." Booklist (Starred Review)

Review:

"Landay turns out to be creating a clever blend of legal thriller and issue-oriented family implosion...nothing is predictable. All bets are off." Janet Maslin, The New York Times
back to top

About the Author

William Landay is the author of The Strangler, a Los Angeles Times Favorite Crime Book of the Year, and Mission Flats, winner of the Creasey Memorial Dagger Award for Best First Crime Novel and a Barry Award nominee. A former district attorney who holds degrees from Yale and Boston College Law School, Landay lives in Boston, where he is at work on his next novel of suspense.
back to top

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 6 comments:
RBHolb, May 7, 2012 (view all comments by RBHolb)
This is much more than another crime novel or courtroom thriller. It's a series of questions we all want to avoid. What do you think when your child is accused of an unspeakable crime? What do you think when all of the evidence makes him look guilty? And what do you think when your spouse has been hiding a horrible secret about his family--the kind of secret that may have made you run the other way, if you had known about it before? Defending Jacob puts the reader in the shoes of people who are--ready or not--given those questions to deal with.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
report this comment
rochelle017, March 17, 2012 (view all comments by rochelle017)
Defending Jacob is one of the most sensational books I have read in a long time. Move over James Patterson, John Grisham and David Baldacci as you now have some heavy competition
This is a story about a family and how there life is turned upside down when the DA's son is accused of murdering a child who goes to the same school. The family lives in an upscale area and this is something that is just not expected but just what will a father do to defend his son and prove him innocent.
We find out secrets that his wife Laurie never knew about his family although they have been married for years and there almost comes a point where both mother and father wonder if in fact there son could be a suspect?
As if the trial and everything leading up to it is not enough you think you are done but mr Landay has more in store for the reader and you won't be able to put it down and won't want to as the book is fantastic from page one to the very end.
A must read for anyone who enjoys a mystery this is GREAT
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
report this comment
barbaroma40, March 15, 2012 (view all comments by barbaroma40)
Just completed reading Defending Jacob and am glad to see on the Top 10 Selling list. Excellent read with twists and turns on almost every page, how a family sticks together thru thick and thin, parents trying to do the best they can for their son. A fantastic book looking at the realities of raising a child, trying to understand family dynamics during a troubled time. Well worth purchasing this great book.
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
report this comment
View all 6 comments
back to top

Product Details

ISBN:
9780385344227
Publisher:
Delacorte Press
Subject:
Thrillers
Author:
Landay, William
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Publication Date:
20120131
Binding:
HARDCOVER
Language:
English
Pages:
432
Dimensions:
9.52 x 6.4 x 1.46 in 1.44 lb
back to top

Other books you might like

  1. $6.99 Google eBooks add to wish list

    The Witch's Tongue

    James D. Doss 9781429903790
  2. $17.50 Used Hardcover add to wish list

    Head Games (Locke & Key #02)

    Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez 9781600104831
  3. $6.50 Used Hardcover add to wish list

    Stone Barrington Novels #16: Loitering with Intent

    Stuart Woods 9780399155789
  4. $16.95 New Hardcover add to wish list

    Locke & Key #03: Locke & Key: Crown of Shadows

    Joe Hill 9781600106958
back to top

Related Subjects


Featured Titles » General
Featured Titles » Literature
Featured Titles » New Arrivals
Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
Fiction and Poetry » Mystery » A to Z
Fiction and Poetry » Mystery » Featured Titles
Fiction and Poetry » Popular Fiction » Contemporary Thrillers
Fiction and Poetry » Popular Fiction » Crime
Fiction and Poetry » Popular Fiction » Suspense
Languages » Foreign Languages » Spanish » Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
Languages » Foreign Languages » Spanish » Fiction and Poetry » Popular Fiction » Crime

Defending Jacob
0 stars - 0 reviews
$ In Stock
Product details 432 pages Delacorte Press - English 9780385344227 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "Andy Barber, a respected First Assistant DA who lives in Newton, Mass., with his gentle wife, Laurie, and their 14-year-old son, Jacob, must face the unthinkable in Dagger Award — winner Landay's harrowing third suspense novel. When Ben Rifkin, Jacob's classmate, is found stabbed to death in the woods, Internet accusations and incontrovertible evidence point to big, handsome Jacob. Andy's prosecutorial gut insists a child molester is the real killer, but as Jacob's trial proceeds and Andy's marriage crumbles under the forced revelation of old secrets, horror builds on horror toward a breathtakingly brutal outcome. Landay (The Strangler), a former DA, mixes gritty court reporting with Andy's painful confrontation with himself, forcing readers willy-nilly to realize the end is never the end when, as Landay claims, the line between truth and justice has become so indistinct as to appear imaginary. This searing narrative proves the ancient Greek tragedians were right: the worst punishment is not death but living with what you — knowingly or unknowingly — have done. Author tour." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
"Review" by , "Defending Jacob is smart, sophisticated, and suspenseful — capturing both the complexity and stunning fragility of family life."
"Review" by , "Powerful...leaves you gasping breathlessly at each shocking revelation."
"Review" by , "A page-turning, stomach-clenching exploration of family."
"Review" by , "Like John Grisham and Scott Turow, Landay is a lawyer with a solid grasp of how to use courtroom scenes to advance his jigsaw-puzzle story....with a grabby premise and careful plotting, he keeps you turning the pages through the shocking gut-punch of an ending."
"Review" by , "[Landay] reaches a new level of excellence with this riveting, knock-your-socks-off legal thriller. With its masterfully crafted characterizations and dialogue, emotional depth, and frightening implications, the novel rivals the best of Scott Turow and John Grisham. Don't miss it."
"Review" by , "Landay turns out to be creating a clever blend of legal thriller and issue-oriented family implosion...nothing is predictable. All bets are off."
spacer
spacer
  • back to top
Follow us on...



Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.