Defending Jacob

by William Landay

Do you know who your kid is?  Yes, as a parent, you try to know your kid...you eat dinner together every night. You become friends with his friends' parents, you have his internet passwords and a block on his computer so he can't access certain sites. But do you really know your kid?

This is the horror D. A. Andy Barber finds himself facing.  Despite doing everything by the book, parenting-wise, he finds he may not know his son after all. 

The book spins its story carefully, working between flashbacks and current discoveries.  Benjamin Rifkin was murdrered.  During the investigation, it comes out that Ben was a bit of a bully and his main target was Jacob Barber, son of Any Barber.  Jacob swears that he's innocent, and what choice does a parent have but to believe their child.

In the course of the investigation, the Barber family loses everything - Andy's job, Jacob's education (as he's no longer allowed at school), Laurie (Jacob's mom) starts dwindling away under the stress, and their friends.  This book paints a grim picture that, no matter innocent or guilty, anyone accused is always tainted, their lives forever altered. 

What really got to me, as a mom, is what do you do if you think/know that your child is guilty, guilty especially of murder?  How do you deal with the feeling of betryaing your child by doubting their innocence?  Worse, how do you deal if it's not just doubt, but your child really is a murderer?

I was totally sucked into this book.  William Landay is an amazing writer and he paints characters I was drawn into and cared about. I saw a bit of myself in Laurie, trying too hard at times to make everything right.  And then I would see a bit of myself in Andy, staying stoic and distant when times got a little too tough.

Again, I struggle to write reviews of books because I don't want to give too much away.  This was another twisty, turny book that wonderfully pulled all the strings together in the end and tied them in a knot.  And like most great books, there was quite the twist at the end that had me go "ooohhhh."  I was sad to turn the last page, desperate to know what happened next to this family.  It is a must read!