The Holdout

by Graham Moore
322 pgs

Ten years ago, a jury found Bobby Nock, a 25-year-old man, not guilty of killing Jessica Silver, the 15-year-old daughter of one of the richest real estate moguls in Los Angeles. Bobby was one of Jessica's teachers and the prosecution argued that the illicit texts found on Bobby's phone from her, along with the traces of her blood, which were found both on the passenger seat of his car, as well as in the trunk of his car, proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Bobby had killed her, even though her body was never found.

The trial lasted four months and was a media sensation. and Maya Seale served on the jury. Maya was the only member of the jury who believed Bobby was innocent at the time the deliberation process began. She believed there was sufficient doubt surrounding all of the evidence which the prosecution used to argue Bobby's guilt and she eventually persuaded each of the other jurors to vote "not guilty," even though some of them did so begrudgingly. The trial, and the verdict they ultimately delivered, had shaped the last ten years of each of their lives.

Now, ten years later, a true-crime docuseries is being produced, and each of the members of the jury has been invited back to the Omni hotel, the one they had been sequestered in for the four month trial, to be interviewed and filmed for it. One of the jurors, Rick Leonard, who was the strongest believer in Bobby's guilt throughout the trial, has spent the last ten years trying to prove that Maya had been wrong and that they had made a grave mistake in finding him Bobby not guilty. He has told the producers of the show he can now prove Bobby's guilt and will reveal his proof on camera. 

But Rick is found murdered that night, his body discovered in Maya's room, and Maya is the lone suspect. The only way she has any chance to prove her innocence, is to try to determine once and for all whether she and the rest of the jurors delivered the right verdict ten years ago.

The Holdout is Graham Moore's third book, and they're all fantastic. Moore is probably better known for having won the Academy Award for writing the screenplay for The Imitation Game a few years ago, but I think his novels showcase his best writing so far. I couldn't say enough good things about his last book The Last Days of Night, and fortunately for me, The Holdout is just as good.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★