“Defending Jacob”, by William Landay

 

432 pages, Delacorte Press, ISBN-13: 978-0385344227

Defending Jacob by William Landay revolves around assistant DA Andy Barber, his wife Laurie and their 14-year-old son Jacob, who has been accused of murdering a classmate, Ben. It is, interestingly, written as a series of flashbacks, with Andy’s grilling by another assistant DA, Loguidice, occurring in “real time”, if you will, and the story unfolding through his memories and testimony. And the heart of the story is one that no parent ever wants to answer, namely: What would you do if your child was accused of murder?

All things being equal, I found Defending Jacob to be rather predictable – and annoying; Andy’s vague references to (for him) future developments as he narrates (to him) past developments, all to end at a “twist” and an abrupt ending wherein we the reader must decide for ourselves just what happened and who is guilty or innocent…which SUCKS. I want my mysteries solved at the end, and for Landay to leave it up the reader is just lazy writing – or cowardly, as if the author didn’t have the guts to say definitively one way or the other what the fates of his characters were.

But besides all that, Landay’s characters seem to lack flesh on their bones, and the actions of some are downright unbelievable. I mean, take Jacob: the kid must have been based on the Sphinx, he’s so damn inscrutable. Perhaps he takes after his father, Andy, who managed to keep a dark secret from his wife for fourteen years. The wife, Laurie, seems to want to be the perfect mother and anything less than achieving this perfection means she is a failure and to blame for any of her son’s problems. Basically, nobody seems to act realistically for great swaths of the book.

Perhaps Landay just wanted to spark debate about a couple of hot-button topics, like: What lengths would a parent go to in order to protect their child from a murder charge? Is there any scientific validity in Behavioral Genetics? How biased is the media in reporting sensational stories and does their version shape public opinion? Does placing a child in nursery school create children with Reactive Attachment Disorder? What is the effect of social media on our society, especially of children? I could go on, but won’t.

Defending Jacob, then, for all the accolades it has received – and a mini-series starring Captain America – was subpar as a mystery and not very gripping as a thriller. And, damnit, I want my mysteries to be solved when I close the covers for the last time.