- Title: The Holdout
- Author: Graham Moore
- Genre: Psychological Legal Thriller
- Pages: 336 pgs.
- Published: February 2020
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐/5
Synopsis:
It’s the most sensational case of the decade. Fifteen-year-old Jessica Silver, heiress to a billion-dollar real estate fortune, vanishes on her way home from school, and her teacher, Bobby Nock, a twenty-five-year-old African American man, is the prime suspect. The subsequent trial taps straight into America’s most pressing preoccupations: race, class, sex, law enforcement, and the lurid sins of the rich and famous. It’s an open-and-shut case for the prosecution, and a quick conviction seems all but guaranteed—until Maya Seale, a young woman on the jury, convinced of Nock’s innocence, persuades the rest of the jurors to return the verdict of not guilty, a controversial decision that will change all their lives forever.
Flash forward ten years. A true-crime docuseries reassembles the jury, with particular focus on Maya, now a defense attorney herself. When one of the jurors is found dead in Maya’s hotel room, all evidence points to her as the killer. Now, she must prove her own innocence—by getting to the bottom of a case that is far from closed.
As the present-day murder investigation weaves together with the story of what really happened during their deliberation, told by each of the jurors in turn, the secrets they have all been keeping threaten to come out—with drastic consequences for all involved.
My Review:
I have to admit I wasn’t too sure about this book. While I absolutely LOVE psychological thrillers, legal thrillers are not my cup of tea. But this book was such a happy surprise. It was so much more than just a courtroom drama.
This story begins with a black teacher accused of an affair with his white 15 year old student. There is enough evidence to convict him. Or is there? Surprise….
Ten years later the twelve jurors meet again for a reunion. There is another murder. More secrets. And more surprises.
Moore just kept the reader guessing. Who dunnit? You’ll have to read it to find out. AND there are three deaths or murders(?) to investigate. It’s one of those kind of books. And I definitely recommend it to anyone who likes to read a thriller.
