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The Holdout

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Member Reviews

Let the courtroom drama begin (again). Ten years on from a sensational trial a true-crime docuseries reconvenes the original jury to re-visit the case and uncover the truth behind the mystery that begins when one of those jurors dies.

Its a cracking read, but if you really enjoy juror-based drama, this is one for you.

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A great legal thriller from a talented screenwriter. The Holdout 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. Her teacher Bobby Nock is the prime suspect after illicit text messages are discovered between them--and Jessica's blood is found in his car. 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 of their lives forever.

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So my Netgalley account has been getting totally out of control lately. As is always the way I have been trying not to prioritise all the shiny new books as I requested but instead wanted to look back over all of the ones that I’ve been neglecting.

Prime example of this is the book The Holdout by Graham Moore. Any book that has been lauded by Richard and Judy book club is one that I I’m very likely to look twice at that but given that the cover didn’t jump out at me in any way, I hate to admit that this is one of the ones that languished somewhat. What a calamity and what a book!!!! As one who used to live for John Grisham, I was in the mood for a courtroom novel and on remembering this my interest was piqued once again.

This is a book about Bobby Nook. Bobby Nook, a black teacher accused of the murder of a rich white student he was thought of to have been dating.

As a result of the jurors he was found innocent to the disbelief of many, not least some of the jurors themselves, who found themselves swayed in different ways. Now, on the tenth anniversary of the verdict, the jury is back together and one has been murdered.

This is a book I absolutely could not put down and couldn’t stop thinking about afterwards. It deals with the fallout of the jurors’ decisions, how their lives were changed, with so many twists and turns that you have absolutely no idea who to trust. It is heartbreaking, mind boggling and just one of the most unputdownable books I’ve read. I cannot recommend enough!! Thanks so much to the publisher for the book in return for an honest review.

Rating:5/5

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A 25 year old African American teacher is accused of murdering his 15 year old white student, and the only child of wealthy business tycoon, Lou Silver, with whom he was having a relationship. No body, however, is ever found.

At his trial, the jury find him not guilty, a verdict reached solely due to the arguments and persuasions of a single juror, Maya Seale. Life after the trial is not easy for any of the jurors as the court of public opinion disagreed very much with their verdict. Fast forward 10 years and a TV special is organised for the anniversary of the trial of the century, at which all the jurors bar one attend. When one of their number is found dead, fingers point to all jurors, most of whom have secrets they would rather keep to themselves.

So this is the book that the publisher through Netgalley very kindly gave me to review, that I bought a Kindle copy of and also then bought the physical version of!!!

Apparently Netflix has picked this up and it isn't difficult to see why! Told in a now and then format this legal thriller is a gripping, fast paced and compelling read. It gets a bit far fetched towards the end, losing that realism from the first half of the book, but if you can suspend your belief and just go with it, it is a cracking read that I really enjoyed.

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The Holdout is a gripping read about justice, judgement and integrity.

I’ll keep this review fairly short because I’m really keen to not give too much away – I started this book not knowing a lot, and I’m really glad I did, so I want everyone else to experience it the same way!

The storyline is really intriguing and kept me guessing (although some parts are perhaps a little unbelievable – I don’t think this is necessarily a negative though, as if you can suspend your disbelief a little then you’ll no doubt feel the same sense of escapism that I did whilst reading this). It’s a great example of an engaging legal drama.

The characters are interesting and the sense of mystery (with two mysterious storylines involved) builds as the novel continues, with an impactful ending that I really liked!

Definitely recommended!

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An extremely clever and well thought out court drama about a jury, who were are all persuaded by one juror to change their guilty pleas to not guilty. Ten years later and a tv re-enactment with new evidence is all set to begin, when one of the original jurors is found dead. In another jurors hotel room.
Who was innocent and who was guilty?
Highly recommended

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This had me on the edge of my seat. It's dark and twisty and shows some of the workings of the legal system in a way that I haven't seen a lot (or maybe I just haven't read the right books!). The twists and turns keep coming at a pace that don't allow you to think too hard about the bits where it's getting a bit outlandish! I had an inkling of some of the reveals by the halfway point, but such is the nature of the book that you can't ever really be sure that's where it's going. And Moore has picked out some of the flaws of the criminal justice system very neatly too.

If we were going to beaches at the moment, this would be a prime pick for reading on a sun lounger - at any rate somewhere nice and bright to counteract all the darkness in the book (darkness of subject matter not horror or creepy stuff though).

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I love courtroom thrillers so this sounds right up my alley! The writing is addictive and the storyline is compelling. I finished the book in a couple of days because I was invested in the story and the characters. While the story is about former juror and defense attorney, Maya, I liked that we get snippets of the other jurors and their thoughts about the case 10 years ago. I've never served on the jury so I found the whole process fascinating.

However, I found the book gets more implausible as it went on. Maya goes rogue and starts investigating her own case - which I'm not sure is acceptable - and I didn't buy that everyone willingly spills their beans to her. While I appreciate how the author portrays a diverse cast of characters and tries to tackle racial inequality in the justice system, I found the result quite lacking. The only characters who faced consequences are Black and POC, and we never get to hear their stories other than what's filtered to Maya. I also have issues with Maya's white saviour status - even though the book has other characters calling out her behaviour, it actually approves her actions in the end. It feels sensationalistic and hampered my overall enjoyment of the book. I do think this would make an interesting film though!

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Maya Seale served on the jury that released Bobby Knock. She was the sole juror convinced of his innocence. Years later they are pulled back together for a documentary and one of the jurors has evidence that they had made the wrong decision. Then he is murdered and Maya is the prime suspect. Can she figure out this twisted case.

Wow what a thrill ride this was. There are so many twists and turns in this story. JUst when you think you have it figured out bam, another twist, The plot is quite pacy and builds to an ending that leaves you just sat there thinking wow. I found myself wondering what I would have done in her situation. That ending is so well done though. The story is well written and gives an interesting insight into the jury after a trial. We always hear about the families, victims and defendants but not so much about the jury. I grew to like Maya along the way and some of the other jury members too. A twisted thriller that keeps you guessing.

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What a great story and I didn’t guess one piece of the ending. It kept my interest throughout. It’s certainly made me think differently about jury service.

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This is a solid 'Good Read'

It's about a possible miscarriage of justice and the lawyer who, as a juror years ago, could have been responsible.

What follows is decent legal / crime / drama. I just struggled to maintain interest, particularly in the last 50% of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to preview.

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Thanks to Orion and Netgalley for a copy to review.

Maya Seale is a defence lawyer in a prestigious LA law firm. But 10 years ago she was a juror on an infamous case. Bobby Knock was on trial for the 'no-body' murder of a teenage girl and Maya was the 'hold-out', the juror who wouldn't vote for a guilty verdict and talked her fellow jurors round. The decision was controversial - all the jurors have been unable to put their experiences completely behind them.
Ten years on they are reunited for a documentary on the case and one of them is killed. Suspicion falls on Maya and she scrambles to clear her name. What secrets are the other jurors hiding? Do they have motives for murder? And what happened to Jessica Silver?
This is a high concept legal thriller with nods to golden age mysteries and classic courtroom thrillers by Turow and Grisham. The pace is relentless and moves between past and present stories of all the jurors.
This is at the expense of character development, but as Maya reflects, you don't really know these people at all.
Despite working out what happened to Jessica very early on, I loved every minute of this rollercoaster ride.

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This courtroom drama/thriller mash-up is a good old fashioned entertaining read. Plenty of twists and red-herrings to keep you guessing to the end, driven by great Past and Current interwoven storylines, which propel the story onwards at a great pace - even when the actions of the lead character seem totally absurd!

Picked up by Netflix and it's easy to see why - this has all the makings of a blockbuster small screen series - it doesn't set the world on fire but it's enjoyable while you're in there!

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A reunion they have never really wanted since all of them only wanted to forget what happened ten years ago. When lawyer Maya Seale is first approached by Rick, she refuses, but her boss convinces her to take part. They were the jury on the most popular case of the time: 15-year-old Jessica had vanished and was supposedly murdered by her teacher Bobby Nock with whom she obviously had had an affair. Even though the body had never been found, the whole country was convinced that the black man had killed the daughter of a rich Californian real estate mogul. However, the jurors followed Maya’s arguing in finding Bobby not guilty. It took Rick, one of the jurors, a decade of his life to investigate privately and now, he has come up with new evidence he wants his co-jurors and the whole world to see. They return to the hotel where they were kept away from the public for months, but then, Rick is found dead – in Maya’s room. All is just too obvious: the one person who is responsible for the killer of a young girl running free now wants to protect herself by keeping the evidence secret. Thus, consequently, Maya is arrested.

The reader follows Maya Seale in her quest to prove her innocence. You know from the beginning that she is not a reckless killer and that she’s got nothing to hide, but much more interestingly than this already answered question is the one about the legal system: Maya’s chances of being acquitted from murder rise tremendously if she pleads guilty of manslaughter – there does not seem to be a chance of just telling the truth and it simply being acknowledged. So the interesting question actually is: how does the truth have to be framed, or to put it more explicitly: manipulated, to get the result you want?

Graham Moore’s “The Holdout” is a real page-turner. Once you have started, you cannot simply put the novel aside. It is fascinating to see how the law works, to follow the arguing of the lawyers and their weighing the different versions of truth. I also liked how the author created a jury of very peculiar individuals who all have their small secrets they want to hide. Yet, ultimately, they all come out, some with more, others with less consequences. The big mystery looming over the whole story is who killed Jessica Silver and why. This is very cleverly solved but also challenges the reader’s moral value system. At the end of the day, life is complicated and, at times, you have to weigh different perspectives against each other and you may come to the conclusion that one version of truth might be better than another.

A gripping legal thriller full of suspense and a lot of food for thought.

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The Holdout is a legal drama based in and out of court. The book follows Maya a lawyer who was on the original jury and persuaded the other jurors to return a verdict of “not Guilty”. Ten years on and she is asked to join in a reunion to make a TV program. The book follows the jury members to ascertain how time and new evidence will affect them. The book was slow in places but did speed up eventually. I found it hard to understand how the personal information on the jurors was leaked. That said there were many twists and turns to keep me reading to the end. Thanks to Netgalley for an advanced copy.

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This is a book that will keep readers turning pages long into the night, to tease out a bit more of the emerging story, and breathless from the relentless mounting of tension and momentum as the narrative twists and turns. Other reviewers have commented on the way Graham Moore deploys the same writing skills as some of our favourite writers of legal thrillers - John Grisham comes to mind - but it is so much more than simply a crib of the writing techniques used so well by Grisham and others. The author skilfully introduces the reader to a range of characters, who it slowly emerges are also potential witnesses or even perpetrators of the crimes that interact - sometimes in a menacing way - with the lead character.
Readers looking for a tidy ending may be a little disappointed, but there is a tolerably satisfying denouement, that will catch many readers by surprise. By the time readers have reached the end few will feel that they haven’t had their money’s worth. Highly recommended.

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The Holdout is a great premise for a legal thriller, and it doesn’t disappoint. One juror insists on finding a man innocent, when her fellow jurors - and 84% of Americans - are convinced that he’s guilty. African American Bobby Nock, a poor part-time teacher, is accused of murdering his pupil, Jessica Silver, the beautiful 15-year old daughter of a real estate billionaire who owns half of Los Angeles. Sexually explicit text messages from the teacher to his pupil appear to seal his guilt.

The story begins on the ten-year anniversary of the controversial ‘not guilty’ verdict. Maya Seale, the holdout, is still infamous, pursued by the media and harassed by members of the public. All the news channels are planning retrospectives, and one TV company plans to get all the jurors together and present definitive evidence of Bobby’s guilt. Maya is going to come under huge pressure to change her mind.

The novel switches skilfully between the present and the past, taking us back to the twelve jurors receiving their summons for jury duty and being sequestered during the trial. I enjoyed finding out about each juror’s story and found them all to be well-drawn and credible characters, each with their own reason to change their mind about Bobby’s guilt. The diverse range of characters introduces issues of race and wealth inequalities in LA which make this thriller a better than average read.

One of my favourite novels is John Grisham’s ‘The Runaway Jury’, which I’ve read several times as I haven’t found another courtroom drama like it. To write like Grisham you need to be able to create life-like characters in a few lines; devise a cracking plot; and write brilliantly realistic dialogue. You also need to have an impressive grasp of the often bizarre American legal system, in which ‘being innocent often made it harder to construct a good defence’. Graham Moore can do it and, like Grisham, makes it look easy.

Thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing for the opportunity to read this ARC.

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Holdout deals with a case where a young african american high school teacher is acquitted of a murder charge because of the conviction of one juror, Maya who convinces the other jurors to think her way. Ten years later, a docuseries is being made and these same jurors are assembled again but this time one of them is murdered and Maya starts to wonder of she made the right choice years back. This book was surprisingly good and thought provoking. I did predict a lot of what happens but the way those predictions came true surprised me to no end. Definitely recommend for fans of legal thrillers

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Unfortunately I had to purchase a new Kindle device and could no longer access this book. I will come back and review if I read this in the future.

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25yr old black teacher Bobby Nock is on trial for killing his 15yr old pupil Jessica Silver, only Maya thinks he`s not guilty out of 12 jurors and after weeks of voting the jury finally all vote not guilty.

Ten years later they all return to the hotel they stayed in with fresh evidence and a TV crew.
I found this book very slow and just was not interested in any of the characters and who was guilty or not, then 80% of the way through it started to get interesting with a few unexpected twists at the end.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest

shared to Goodreads

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