Book Review- Defending Jacob

I consider myself a pretty active reader.  No, active isn't the correct word.  Maybe.....consistent.  Yes, consistent.  I'm a consistent reader.  No, that doesn't mean I read sentences at a regular pace.  I mean, I usually have a book going.  And it's probably accurate to describe me as a fast reader.  I can turn pages like carpenter bees on a new fence row.

Now, to be clear when I'm on vacation or when I get in to a good book....VORACIOUS.  INSATIABLE.  FOCUSED.  TOTALLY FOCUSED.  (I'm pretty sure this was the beginning of me getting in trouble when I was a child.  At the point when I was able to read a real book on my own my parents started pulling out "HOLLYALYSSA!!!!"  Yep, pretty sure.)

On a ten day vacation a few years ago ("few" as in...before e-readers were all the rage), I read five books in 8 days and still had to entertain myself on a long plane ride home.  I bartered with my sister for the book she had brought.  Actually, to be clear I think I badgered her to finish her book so I could take it with me.  And then still had to buy a book at the airport!

Typically, I read non-fiction.  But I do LOVE to get lost in a good fiction book.  I don't do sci-fi or fantasy.  Not in written or visual form.  Ever.  Can't do it.  My suspension of disbelief just can't be suspended that far.  So don't go hunting around these blog parts looking for a review of Hunger Games.      

So, I thought I would share my latest reads.  (No royalties.  No commissions.  Just good ol' HSpann taste testing.)

One of my favorite things to do over Christmas is devour a good book.  Santa always included a book in each of our stockings.  And by mid-day all of us had found a little corner of the house to hunker down and read, read, read.  It was so GREAT!  I knew I could stay up ALL night and READ MY BOOK!!!!    (Hey!  Mom, was this more of a strategy of keeping us quiet, rather than for our intellectual development?!  Brilliant.  Pretty brilliant.  Put that in your parenting handbooks all of you faithful readers!  Both of you.)

Ok, let's get to the review.  

On the Friday before Christmas I hunkered down with my iPad and started my search for a good book to get lost in over Christmas.  (Let's just say virtual book shopping can be VERY dangerous AND expensive at The Drayer!!!!!  Sweet Sarah and I can easily turn and burn books!)  

Since it was the end of the year, I figured to start with the Top Purchases list.  My search didn't last long.  I knew I wanted to read a suspense fiction.  John Grisham style (when John Grisham was good).

I settled on this little gem.

source:amazon.com

I had not read a Landay book before, nor had I even heard of this book.  But it did not disappoint!  

I started reading this Friday night around 9pm and finished it Saturday afternoon.  

Here's the teaser from Amazon:

Andy Barber has been an assistant district attorney in his suburban Massachusetts county for     more than twenty years. He is respected in his community, tenacious in the courtroom, and happy at home with his wife, Laurie, and son, Jacob. But when a shocking crime shatters their New England town, Andy is blindsided by what happens next: His fourteen-year-old son is charged with the murder of a fellow student.

Every parental instinct Andy has rallies to protect his boy. Jacob insists that he is innocent, and Andy believes him. Andy must. He’s his father. But as damning facts and shocking revelations surface, as a marriage threatens to crumble and the trial intensifies, as the crisis reveals how little a father knows about his son, Andy will face a trial of his own—between loyalty and justice, between truth and allegation, between a past he’s tried to bury and a future he cannot conceive.

I really liked Landay's writing style.  The pace of this book was well done---not too lost in details that were irrelevant, but enough red herrings to make me suspect several different endings.  

If you're looking for a book that will hook you in with the plot, that's written with realistic emotion and some twist and turns that create a page turner, give this one a try!

My review:  2 thumbs up!