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The Holdout by Graham Moore

The Holdout, written by Graham Moore is scheduled for release on February 18, 2020 by Random House Publishing Group.  I was given an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.  I also chose this as one of my February Book of the Month selections.

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Synopsis (From Goodreads):  Juror Maya Seale is convinced that African American high school teacher Bobby Nock is innocent of killing the wealthy white female student with whom he appears to have been involved and persuades her fellow jurors likewise. Ten years later, a true-crime docuseries reassembles the jurors, and Maya, now a defense attorney, must prove her own innocence when one of them is found dead in Maya's room.

I originally requested this on NetGalley because I found it on a list of 2020’s most promising books.  Once I found out BOTM would also be featuring it, naturally I had to have it.  I love all things true crime, so a fictional story about a true crime case could not have been more clearly directed at me…unless the cover had my name on it in huge bold letters.  I loved the complex relationships between all the jurors that were revealed throughout the story.  I loved that Maya went to law school immediately after one of the biggest trials in history because she wanted to help ensure other people weren’t railroaded.  Most of all, I loved that nothing was as it originally appeared.  As the story wound on, everything I thought I knew about what I was reading slowly unraveled.  I’m sure people not weird like me may find parts of this book (like the description of all the trial info) slow, but I was fascinated the entire time.  I was like a child with an iPad.  Once I was finished with this book, “I immediately thought I can’t wait for _____ to read this,” and came up with at least 10 people off the top of my head.

This rating is a no-brainer.  If you’re into true crime, courtroom drama, or mystery of any kind, you’d be doing a great disservice to yourself if you didn’t pick up this book.  Now go read it in 2 days like I did so we can chat about it!

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟/5 Stars
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