NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • One juror changed the verdict. What if she was wrong? From the Academy Award–winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game and bestselling author of The Last Days of Night. . . . An ID Book Club Selection • “Exhilarating . . . a fiendishly slippery game of cat-and-mouse suspense and a provocative, urgent inquiry into American justice (and injustice) in the twenty-first … inquiry into American justice (and injustice) in the twenty-first century.”—A. J. Finn, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Woman in the Window
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 entwines 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.
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I am such a fan of Graham Moore–and he never ceases to amaze me. This is riveting, compelling, and entirely unique. I love this book–I’m a massive fan of legal thrillers–with their manipulation, rules, relentless psychology and reliance on the unreliability of human nature. Just–read this. Truly. It’s terrific.
The most gripping and satisfying thriller I’ve read in more than a decade.
Quite the tour de force! Twelve Angry Men meets Chinatown and creates something of its own.
Clever, well-written, and twistier than a can of Silly String. You absolutely need to read The Holdout! I could not put it down.
The Holdout moves between two timelines – present day and ten years prior. Maya was a juror ten years ago in the trial of Bobby Nock, an African American high school teacher accused of killing a wealthy white female student whom he appeared to be in a relationship with. Maya convinced her fellow jurors that Bobby was innocent, or at least that the evidence before them didn’t prove he wasn’t, and he was set free. Ten years later, the jurors return to the hotel where they’d been sequestered during the trial in order to participate in a true-crime documentary. Interest in the case remained high in the years following the trial, with many people certain the jurors got it wrong. Maya, now a defense attorney, must prove her innocence when one of the former jurors is found dead in her room.
I went into this book believing it would be a straight up mystery/thriller and was having trouble getting invested. Then I realized that, really, this is a book club read. The initial trial and then investigation into the death ten years later are the story, but the book is less focused on catching a killer than on the many intertwining cultural issues that led to this point. Once I looked at this from that perspective it clicked and I really enjoyed the book. The Holdout touches on a wide-range of topics, including:
rape culture
misogyny
race
poverty/wealth
relationships
duty
love
ethics
jury duty as a system (Is a jury of your peers even possible? Is our system fair? What about using professional jurors?)
There’s also a lot of food for thought about the dangers of false TV narratives. Media’s job is to bring in viewership so they provide a “story” viewers can follow and route for, leaving media in the position of not just reporting news but picking and choosing what works. Truth is often malleable, depending on what you choose to focus on. And people get attacked and lives ruined daily based on what may or may not be true. Where to draw the line between the public’s need/right to know and the safety and privacy of individuals is a question that’s hard to answer, and even harder with social media.
There is a lot in this book to consider and it’d be a wonderful book to discuss in a book club. Although there are a lot of issues addressed, I felt they made sense and fit together in the story (so many of these issues are inextricably linked in reality so pretending they aren’t in fiction is less realistic, though that can make a cleaner, easier to follow read from a thematic perspective).
And that ending…I hated the ending. But when I took some time to consider it I realized it was the perfect ending for a book that was always more about questions than answers. 4.5 Stars
Thank you to the publisher and Goodreads for the ARC. The opinions in this review are honest and my own.
Fascinating read of how lives are affected by being on a sequestered jury. While sometimes implausible, this story brought about many interesting questions of right and wrong, justice and justice failed. I found this book interesting to read and look forward to the author’s next!
Innocent and not guilty are two very different terms in a court case. The Holdout presents this very well and explores how being on a jury can derail a person’s life. Maya was the holdout on a murder case and once she convinced the jury to vote her way, they became hated across America for letting a child killer go free.
The Holdout has dual timelines to tell the story of what happened at the trial and what is happening now, 10 years late. As a fan of true crime podcasts, the idea of a podcast diving into a case like this and trying to reassemble the key players is fascinating. Maya wants a chance to defend herself since most of the jurors have publicly blamed her. But, when another juror is found dead in her hotel room, things begin to unravel quickly.
I liked the parallel stories of the past and present. It made the book more thought provoking. Both stories had one seemingly clear killer, but is it really that clear cut? I will admit that I was surprised by a few twists in the plot; I’m still not sure if I liked them or not. The end of The Hold felt a tad abrupt; perhaps that is why I am still trying to discern my thoughts.
The Holdout by Graham Moore is a complex, all-enveloping, mystery that has a little bit of everything. Yes it is fiction, yes it is mystery, but it also weaves a fascinating, intricate, nail-biting, and addictive storyline throughout from beginning to stunning end.
At first I was not sure where this would go, but as the author continued to weave more plot twists, add in snippets of each juror in their own thoughts in 2009, I realized that each throwback gave me information that added to the overall plot and mystery.
I loved every moment of this book. It was like my forever loved Dateline mixed in with a Christie novel of murder/intrigue/mystery, but way, way better.
Kudos to Mr Moore for this awesome read. I did not see the end coming!
Excellent. 5/5 stars
The Holdout is a grab-you-by-the-throat and won’t let you go kind of read! WOW! Grab your snacks and beverage before you start because you won’t want to take a break.
The book is about a trial for which you definitely don’t want to be chosen as a juror. Bobby Nock, a young black high school teacher is accused of the kidnapping and suspected murder of one of his white and wealthy students following her disappearance in 2009. The trial changed the lives of everyone involved with it, and not in good ways. The jurors remain haunted by it a decade later.
The story is told alternating between the time of the trial in 2009 and ten years later when it is once again drawing attention because of the anniversary of the trial. The media has planned a reunion documentary featuring the 11 jurors still living (one has died). One of the jurors is murdered the first night they are together again, staying at the hotel for the documentary where the jurors were sequestered during the trial. Though found in the room of another juror, it soon becomes clear that several people had both means and motive to commit the murder. A mystery within a mystery – does it get any better than that?
Moore does a great job of blending the then and now, letting the reader come to know each juror in both timeframes. I really liked that! He also deftly handled the topics of racism, reverse-racism and profiling.
This is a book where the less said in any review the better, because each reader should come to it fresh so they too can take in all the surprises this book holds! Kudos to Graham Moore on an excellent read!
My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Random House for allowing me to read a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. All opinions here are my own.
Thanks to Random House Publishers for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Whew. What a ride. And I enjoyed every minute it!
A few reasons why:
1. Multiple Points of View
The book uses a dual timeline. Maya narrates the present day sections, while she and the other jurors take turns narrating the events of the trial.
I enjoyed reading the different points of view. Each of the jurors has a distinct personality and a unique way of looking at the world. Between the multiple timelines and the many points of view, the story could’ve been a confusing mess, with no unifying thread or focal point. Yet Moore makes it work.
And what’s more, it works to serve the story. He’s not simply throwing in each juror’s thoughts for no reason. We need to know their thought processes to know two things.
First, why they ultimately sided with Maya during the trial and found Bobby Nock “not guilty.”
Second, what motivates them at a later point in the novel.
It also effectively shows that Maya’s not the only person who had a motivation to kill Rick.
Maya’s investigation takes her to some strange places. An artists’ colony where drugs and art mingle freely. A town of convicted sex offenders. The office of the billionaire whose daughter has disappeared. Moore does a great job of creating these mini-worlds to feel real. He has a beautiful way with words, and has obviously honed his craft for many years.
2. Courtroom Dynamics
I really enjoyed the dynamics of this courtroom drama. Not being a lawyer, I can’t tell if the courtroom scenes are realistic or not. To me, they felt real. Because of that, I suspended disbelief when certain things became implausible.
Moore has some fascinating insights into the legal process, its onlookers (media, the public), and its participants, particularly how the psychology of the jurors’ relationships influences cases. During drawn-out cases, such as Bobby Nock’s trial, the jurors form a special bond with one another.
Yet this bond isn’t all positive. Alliances are made, rivalries develop, personalities clash. Without a shared history, the jurors form opinions of one another (and how they will vote!) based on obvious details like gender, race, or ethnicity. It’s rather like And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie, minus the actual locked room aspect. (Moore pays homage to more than one Christie classic in his novel.)
3. Characterization
As characters went, I found most of them believable.
They are fascinating people apart from the trial. A few I’d love to have coffee with, a few I’d love to shake some sense into, and a few I’d avoid. Yasmine cracked me up. Lila made me want to hug her. I cheered for Kathy as she grew self-confidence, and Fran as she dealt with her grief by helping another juror, and wanted to kick Peter where it hurts–hard.
All of them have secrets–some horrifying, others embarrassing–and all of them struggle with whether their original verdict was or was not “just.”
But what does a “just” verdict look like, The Holdout begs us to consider. Is it when the whole truth is put into the open? What if that truth does more harm than good? What if the truth is, as Maya puts it, a lousy defense?
Ultimately, this is a terrific, well-paced thriller. I recommend it to everyone who loves legal thrillers.
The Holdout by Graham Moore a thrilling four-star read. The characters and concept of this one is good, they will keep you on your toes and keep you wondering, but the wondering does go on. This story will make you feel like you are there in the jury room, you will taste the palpation in the air feel the tension that will make your Goosebumps rise. With some good editing and cutting down this could have been a five-star read.