REVIEW: The Holdout by Graham Moore

Member of the jury, have you reached a verdict?

THE HOLDOUT by Graham Moore Published 20th February 2020 by Orion Publishing

I’ve dived wholeheartedly into the legal thriller in recent years, devouring Take It Back by Kia Abdullah, Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh and several of John Grisham’s backlist to satisfy my craving for more courtroom hijinks, so when The Holdout popped up on NetGalley as a clever new take on the genre from bestselling author and screenwriter of the fantastic film The Imitation Game, I knew I had to take a look, and I was delighted when I was selected by Orion as one of the first jury to make a judgement on the novel.

The Holdout follows the jury tasked with deciding the verdict of the case of the decade, where Bobby Nock, a 25-year old African American teacher is charged with the murder of fifteen-year old Jessica Silver, one of his students. So far, it’s an interesting concept but not so unique in the genre.

Here’s where The Holdout really begins to stand out. The book picks up 10 years after the case in question had concluded, with the jury finding Bobby Nock not guilty of the murder, after Maya, initially the only holdout claiming Bobby’s innocence, manages to convince all 11 other members of the jury to flip their votes.

10 years later the case is still a huge part of every juror’s life. Some have written bestselling expose memoirs, some have lost their jobs and some, like our protagonist Maya, have built their career around it, as she becomes a defence attorney herself. She can’t get rid of the case but her life has settled down a little.

But when Rick, one of her fellow jurors, gets in touch to say they’re filming a reunion TV special where he’ll expose new evidence about the case and they’ll have a landmark ‘re-vote’, secrets from ten years ago threaten to spill out all over again. And when one of the jurors ends up dead at the reunion, all eyes turn to the remaining members as suspects.

The story takes place in 2019, with flashbacks to the original trial in 2009, and primarily follows Maya, though each of the jury members has a POV chapter at some point throughout the novel, giving a great glimpse into each of their personalities and situations. Some of the characters were definitely more developed than others, but when you’re basing a novel on a 12-person jury, there’s always going to have to be some characters who’re more peripheral, and this doesn’t interfere with the reader’s enjoyment at all.

The writing is brilliant. It’s got a cinematic flair, as you’d expect from an author with this background, and it maintains a snippy pace throughout, constantly driving from revelation to revelation. Description is sparingly used but powerful when it is, with several of the more outlandish settings still firmly etched in my mind even a week or so after finishing the book.

The biggest standout for me, as someone who is both a voracious reader and an aspiring writer, is the dialogue. Often one of the more challenging parts of a book, the author is spectacular here. Every line feels real and authentic, and most importantly, sounds like something a real human being would actually say, while maintaining the bite that great written dialogue needs.

Of course, I can’t talk too much on the intricate details of the plot, but safe to say that you will not be disappointed. There’s several fantastic twists, all of the storylines are bought together brilliantly and the climax is inventive, if perhaps slightly twee, though I’m not sure it’s a bad thing. All-in-all I was very disappointed to find myself finishing the last page, and desperately hope for more from the author in the near future.

Your honour, on charges of being an inventive, cinematic and utterly gripping legal thriller, this member of the jury finds The Holdout guilty.

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I received an advanced NetGalley review copy in exchange for a unbiased, impartial review. Many thanks to Orion for selecting me as one of the first jury to read!