Defending Jacob by William Landay

"I thought it was more important to be---at least to seem---a tower of strength and to encourage her [Laurie] to be strong as well. It was the only sensible approach:  tough it out, get through the trial, do whatever it takes to keep Jacob safe, then repair the emotional damage later. After. It was as if there was a place called After, and if I could just push my family across to that shore, then everything would be all right. There would be time for all these 'soft' problems in the land of After. I was wrong."
                    -Andy Barber, from the novel

Defending Jacob was chosen as the November book for our Page Turners group because it was recommended by a couple of members and it was a library Book Bundle (multiple copies available). Normally, I love suspense novels but this one, not so much. Perhaps the plot, involving the killing of a teenager allegedly by another youth was very unsettling to me. Or perhaps my having read it in spurts kept me from getting the most out of it. At any rate I didn't love the book though I liked it and surely didn't want to put it down toward the end. I started out thinking a rating of 3 but ended up giving it a 4.

The story was intriguing---about a family suffering through tragic circumstances. Andy Barber, a former county ADA in Massachusetts and the father who is "defending Jacob," exemplifies the saying "love is blind" to a degree. It seems he would go to any lengths to clear his son Jacob of the murder with which he has been charged. The emotions of the Barber family run the gamut---from hope and optimism to doubt and depression. The writer intersperses court testimony with narration of the story---an interesting technique though somewhat confusing. (After finding out the author is a former district attorney, this seemed very natural.)

There are at least two BIG surprises at the end of the book, events I surely did not see coming! So if you start the novel, don't stop until the end.
-----------------------------------
When the group met, the average rating was 3.9. I think we all found the book interesting if not enjoyable. Most of us agreed we weren't sure about the outcome of the trial and would have definitely liked a more satisfying ending. A couple of us compared Defending Jacob to House Rules by Jodi Piccoult. Most of us felt sympathy for Laurie, Jacob's mother, but couldn't muster much affection for the other characters.

The plot brings up the age old argument of "nature vs. nurture," whether there is such a thing as a "bad seed" and a totally new concept to most of us in the group, the "murder gene" with the scientific name MAOA Knockout. We wondered, "Is there really such a thing?" The novel did give us plenty of meat for discussion, including the issues of bullying and non-vigilant parents.