“Defending Jacob” by William Landay

Defending Jacob is a terrific legal thriller, family drama, and in a sense a political thriller that deals with the wrangling and inner workings of a local political office.  Andy Barber is an Assistant District Attorney near Boston who becomes involved with a murder case of a 14 year old boy who attends the same school as his son, Jacob.  Ben Rifkin was found stabbed to death in a wooded area between his home and the school, just off the path that is traveled by many of the youths that live in the area and attend the same school as Ben. The same path traveled daily by Jacob Barber.  As the Assistant DA it is Andy’s job to see that justice is done. That is until his son Jacob is accused of the murder.  As a prosecutor, Andy knows exactly how the legal system works and how it can fail, and it is his wish that his son not to be one of the failures of the justice system.  Jacob professes his innocence and, being his father, Andy believes him.  After all, what parent can believe their child capable of murder? 

Once Jacob is accused, Andy is relieved of his duties at the DA’s office for the duration of the investigation and trial that will surely follow. Neal Logiudice (la-JOO-dis), a prosecutor who wants Andy’s job, is now the prosecutor on the Ben Rifkin murder case and it appears that he will stop at nothing to find Jacob Barber guilty and Andy guilty by association. 

The book jumps back and forth between the investigation and trial of the murder and a Grand Jury session where Prosecutor Logiudice is questioning ex-Assistant DA Andy Barber.  We do not know what crime the Grand Jury has been convened to determine whether to indict, however, this was a very effective way to inform the reader there was much more going on than the trial of Jacob Barber.  

The author’s cleverness in unfolding the story of the investigation and trial will lead you to vacillate between Jacob’s guilt and his innocence, and the Grand Jury sessions, even though not part of the Ben Rifkin murder trial, contribute to the vacillation. However, Andy never waivers from belief in his son’s innocence even as evidence mounts.  When shocking revelations about Jacob surface, and Andy is forced to confront his own past, one that he was so effective in hiding from his family as well as himself, does he consider perhaps he might somehow have failed is son. 

Defending Jacob is a gripping story, one that I could not put down and caused me to go to work with tired eyes from staying up late reading.  Highly recommended.
(Previously posted March 2012)