'The most gripping and satisfying thriller I've read in more than a decade' Sophie Hannah 'Quite the tour de force! Twelve Angry Men meets Chinatown and creates something of its own' Sarah Pinborough One juror changed the verdict. What if she was wrong? 'This is a tense, emotionally charged, scary-good, stand-out read that hooked me until the last page' Caroline Kepnes
'Ten years ago we made a decision together...'
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.
[Maya Seale removed two photographs from her briefcase]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?
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(@orionbooks, 20 February 2020, 336 pages, ebook, #ARC from @orionbooks via # NetGalley and voluntarily reviewed, #popsugarreadingchallenge 2020, a book published the month of your birthday)
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I just realised this is the first thriller I've read this year. I read a lot of thrillers so this is unusual. Still, this is a great start. I don't often read courtroom type thrillers or drama. I've read a few in the past but they tend to leave me cold. Judging by The Holdout I just haven't read the right book before. I thought this book was great. It covers all the bases for me; interesting premise, great characters and compelling prose. It's a win-win situation. I loved the occasional flashbacks to the trial ten years before gradually revealing how Maya is able to persuade everyone to choose not guilty. I also loved the present story as a reckoning for the choice the jury made ten years ago is played out. This is a terrific book.
