Reviews with content warning for Murder - Defending Jacob

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Defending Jacob by William Landay

18 reviews

claire_lamb's review

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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meghampton's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I watched this show on Apple TV a few years ago and always wanted to read the book. Great, intriguing book that has you wanting to know what really happened and wondering what you’d do. Do we see the truth when it comes to those we love? What lengths would we go to protect them?

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kamrynkoble's review against another edition

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dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

2024 reread:
My husband and I listened to the audiobook . . . WOW. If I never have to hear “Loguidice” in a transatlantic accent again, it’ll be too soon. I didn’t realize how much mental skimming of the court cases you can do, until I had to listen to every. Single. Word.

We also think this should be called Defending Fatphobia. I swear I don’t remember the ebook being like this, to the point that I wonder if the publisher updated the ebook but not the audio. I couldn’t even begin to count the fatphobic comments. It has to be over 50, MINIMUM. Everyone’s fat, men’s “tits” strain against polos, teenagers have skirts of fat around their middle, and are delightfully confident even if they’re “pudgy.” I’m not kidding, this man notices every single person’s weight, and everyone in this town must not be as much of a skinny legend as Andy Barber. I’d be shocked if there were any chapters he DIDN’T mention someone’s weight. My husband and I would laugh every time it was so bad.

All that to say 🤪 I genuinely didn’t remember the ending, so I was in for the ride all over again. I think we would’ve been way happier reading this instead of listening. You know, also, a little less commentary on preteen/teen girls’ stomachs.

2021:

Wow, wow, wow. I’ve been meaning to read this book for years, and it was quite the trip. If you like legal/courtroom/crime novels, this book will be perfect for you. It’s definitely a page turner. The voice is so unique as well, and I loved the descriptions. Normally I skim, but I found myself devouring it.

It’s not a perfect book, I would’ve cut some here and fleshed out more there. But my heart was racing as I read in bed, constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop. This was a great opener to 2021!

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missgrangerr's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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lbarnes011's review

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challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

i think defending Jacob was an adventure filled book with a lot of mystery and emotions. There are a lot of slow/stiff moments in the beginning of the book but it takes time to get to the good part of the book but it's 100% worth it. there is a lot of drama between characters so be per pared. defending Jacob is a great book for people who love mystery,drama Ect. I really enjoyed the plot twists and how easy it was to follow the story line. I did feel challenged with this book when I got to the dry parts cause I usually like fast books but even though it may have been dry you could still follow along pretty well during those parts. In the end I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

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kearstenmh's review

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Great twists and did not expect the ending at all

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sameen_haque's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

" 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚌𝚝 𝚍𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚐𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚝 𝚞𝚗𝚕𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚒𝚜 𝚊𝚕𝚜𝚘 𝚐𝚞𝚒𝚕𝚝𝚢. "

🔪 What will you do if your 14 years old is accused of a murder and all the evidences go against him?
⚖️ This book made my belief even stronger on how no parents can completely know their child regardless of the good relationship & closeness to them.
The book is written in dual timeline where it starts in the present as Andrew Barber is being questioned in a court room in front of the jury about his son Jacob and his family life. We are then taken to the past where it all started with the murder of Ben Rifkins.
🔪 The book is a legal story where you will get to read about a crime investigation from a District Attorney's POV. There are lots of court scenes and case proceeding which definitely was the most interesting part to read about.
⚖️ This book is about a happy family that turned miserable, it's about parents doing everything to save their teenager from prison sentence, it's about holding on to hope when everything is falling apart, it's about living in denial even when everything is crystal clear and lastly it's about the secret life kids live online in the darkness of web without their parents' knowledge. You'll think that you know where the story will lead, but trust me you'll be shocked as the end gets nearer.
🔪 I loved how this book has so much information about the legal stuff, child behaviour & psychology and also many important lessons on parenting.
⚖️ It was definitely a great read for me but I feel it could've been much shorter and a little fast paced. Recommended to everyone who loves a good crime mystery & legal stories.

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