My thanks go to Tracy Fenton, for organising the blog tour for The Holdout by Graham Moore – published by Orion Publishing.
It was the most sensational case of the decade.
Fifteen-year-old Jessica Silver, heiress to a billion-dollar fortune, vanishes on her way home from school. Her teacher, Bobby Nock, is the prime suspect. 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, persuades the rest of the jurors to vote not guilty: a controversial decision that will change all of their lives forever.Ten years later, one of the jurors is found dead, and Maya is the prime suspect.
The real killer could be any of the other ten jurors Is Maya being forced to pay the price for her decision all those years ago?
Ten years later, one of the jurors is found dead, and Maya is the prime suspect.
The real killer could be any of the other ten jurors. Is Maya being forced to pay the price for her decision all those years ago?
About our Author: Graham Moore
Graham Moore is a New York Times bestselling novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. His screenplay for THE IMITATION GAME won the Academy Award and WGA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2015 and was nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe. The film, directed by Morten Tyldum and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, received 8 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.
My Review: The Holdout
I really enjoy a court room drama and The Holdout, was good from the off.
10 years ago, 15 year old Jessica Silver, went missing. Now Bobby Nock, her teacher, was arrested and tried for her murder, but can you have a murder tried, with no body and fairly little evidence. There was DNA in his car, but it was also proved from text messages and photos that Jessica and Booby were having a relationship. So, she probably had been in his car. But the boot of the car?
Bobby Nock, 24, was black, working class and a teacher. Jessica was 15, white and her parents were billionaires, and owned half of L.A – The police needed to charge someone, and the case created one hell of a trial. Taking over 5 months and meaning that 12 jurors had to leave their homes and stay away from their friends and families during that time, for their own safety and so they didn’t hear anything other than what they heard in court.
One of those 12 jurors was Maya Searle, 10 years ago she was a naive, young and inexperienced in the ways of lawyers and court jargon. She soon picked it up and after the case ended, she went to law school and got a degree and is now a criminal defence lawyer with one of the major firms in the city. She’s ballsy, astute and can hold her own.
But 10 years on, and still no sign of Jessica Silver – alive or dead and a production company Murder Town wanting the 12 to reconfigure and go over the case, because Rick Leonard – one of the 12, who cashed in and wrote a book about the case, and the people involved has apparently spent that time chasing some new evidence, that he won’t tell, until everyone is in the room and the cameras are rolling.
Despite being reluctant, they go back to the same hotel, same rooms, and before long, there’s a body. And of course, Maya is the prime suspect. She starts trying to solve both cases, which does make matters a little confusing, spinning between one decade to another.
The jurors tell their stories about life after the trial, it’s all background information to help with the present day storyline. Maya’s friend and colleague tells her she should plead self defence for the murder, despite the fact she didn’t kill anyone. Which makes you think morally about the decisions that were made for the original ‘not guilty’ verdict for Bobby Nock, the whole country thought him guilty and it was Maya’s way of thinking that changed the jurors verdict 10 years ago. Is history coming back to ruin Maya’s world?
This twisty court room drama, held me captive and is worth a read for anyone who enjoys a thrilling judge and jury storyline.
@MrGrahamMoore @Tr4cyF3nt0n @orionbooks #TheHoldout
