| BOOK REVIEW |

Title: The Holdout
Author: Graham Moore
Format: 🎧
Rating: ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩

An interesting mix of a murder mystery and a courtroom thriller. Ten years ago, a jury made the controversial decision to find a defendant not guilty. In present day, those jurors get together for a documentary, only to find one of them dead after the first night.

The Holdout scratched my true crime itch while diving deep into how one decision can change people's lives. We follow Maya the most, but the flashback chapters are each told through the POV of one of the other jurors. While it wasn't long enough to really dive deep (or frankly to tell them apart after their chapter), there is enough complexity there to be interesting.

There were a couple of wild twists and turns toward the end, which were really surprising! At first I wasn't sure if I cared for the ending, but after a few days of sitting on it, I actually loved how things came around full circle in a nod to how jury's make decisions. Nicely satisfying!

Key Points:
• Murder mystery
• Courtroom thriller
• True crime vibes
• Flashbacks

I didn't find The Holdout particularly interesting. The main character was fine, though I wasn't emotionally attached to her. The mystery wasn't to my taste, though that doesn't reflect on the quality of the author's writing. I enjoyed the look into the American jury system, but I was otherwise not invested.

WHAT A WILD ENDING. That ending made the whole book worth it. The beginning was great, middle was shaky, and the ending brought it back together.

I did feel like the author was trying to write about racism and just kinda missed it...didn't love that...

But overall writing style and plotting was fantastic.

Read like movie in all the best ways -- great dialogue, pithy descriptions that kept the action moving, clear characters who held my interest and drew me to care about them, plenty of surprises. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for more Graham Moore novels. This was an intriguing fast read, and great for book club discussion -- so many angles and viewpoints to consider. Having been on several juries myself, it was interesting to read a novel from the jurors perspective rather than the lawyers' -- which often seems the case with legal thrillers.

I am a sucker for legal thrillers and this one was a perfect mix of smart and thrilling. I have read a few books lately that the story line has involved the jury and this has been one of the very best. This book tackled social issues and did an excellent job. I loved the multiple perspectives and timelines in the story. If you are a fan of legal thrillers, please add this to your TBR!

I thought this book was just OK. I expected it to be a bit more suspenseful. Overall it was just Ok.

DNF - did not finish. I was excited to check this one out. I tried to read it but did not connect with the writing style. Thank you for the early copy!

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this book. It was extremely well written and thought out. I liked the dual timeline format, so it was almost like two books in one. I felt the characters were well developed and relatable. I felt the story almost played out like a real event. There was a thing or two that was sort of over the top, but for the most part I really enjoyed it.

I loved The Last Days of Night which inspired me to reach for this title. The Holdout will make you miss the heyday of legal thrillers and should inspire the return of their pub frequency. Weaving in complex issues in a skillful way, you read the story with compassion while also trying to solve the mystery. Already wondering what Graham Greene will write next!

The Holdout is about a panel of jurors who reunite for a documentary special on a high profile case that resulted in an acquittal despite popular opinion that the contrary should have happened. This would have been a great movie and it is no surprise since the author wrote the imitation game bur as a novel it was too quick. Even for a thriller there was too much going on and the characters became flat. With so many characters in the book, it left the reader overwhelmed. Overall it was an exciting read but lacked depth or substance.

This book was exactly what I needed. It was a great story, well packed, and left me wondering what was going on throughout the story. Worth the read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishing house for providing a review copy of this novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Courtroom dramas are rarely my thing, but once in awhile a book packs the perfect punch and The Holdout ended up being a book that I just couldn’t put down.

When a fifteen-year-old girl goes missing, her teacher (Bobby Nock) is the prime suspect.

The prosecution believes that they have an easy case for conviction on their hands, but one juror manages to convince the jury to deliver a verdict of not guilty.

Ten years later, a docuseries decides to explore what happened. When they gather to film, one of the jurors is found dead and just so happens to be in “the holdout’s” room, making her the top target for the next investigation.

This fast page-turner is perfect for true crime lovers and the perfect little read-it-in-a-day kind of book that is guaranteed to pull you out of a book slump.

Graham Moore is one of those new writers who have never failed my expectations.
The story follows he trial is for Bobby Nock, African American teacher accused of killing one of his white students. Maya Seale, picked as a juror, becomes friendly with another selected juror, Rick Leonard, on the very first day in court. Little did they know how involved they would all become.

After 10 years, Rick has written a book and Maya is a defense attorney. On request of a production company, the group of jurors meet again. Everyone in the jury remembers that Maya was the one who convinced them to acquit Bobby Nock. And Rick's book doesn't particularly favor Maya. To solve the differences Rick and Maya meet in her motel room and Rick ends up dead.

Moore did a great job with twists and turns with Human psychology. A well crafted Murder Mystery and legal thriller.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC in exchange of a Honest Review.

Thoroughly enjoyed this quick read! Great character work and an interesting murder mystery to unravel. Makes me want to rewatch Knives Out.

10 years ago a jury finds a black man accused of killing a wealthy white student not guilty. But some members of the jury are no longer sure that he is innocent. They get together to go over the details but one of the jurors ends up dead. Good plot but I found it too slow moving. I got a quarter of the way through and the juror had just died. I had to abandon but I'm sure other more patient readers will enjoy this book filled with racial tension.

How often does just one juror change the conviction of the defendant? Maybe more times than we know. In "The Holdout" we meet Maya Steel, a young woman with justice on her mind. What she does is work the room to convince the other jurors to see the case her way. Did the defendant have an inappropriate relationship with his student? Did he kill her to keep the relationship secret? Fast forward to the trial's 10th anniversary and Maya is involved in another killing. The two murders unfold as one with some detective work and a true pursuit of justice. You won't figure out the good guys and the bad guys until the final pages. Thank you to the author, publisher Random House, and NetGalley for the ARC.

4.25 stars. I really enjoyed this legal thriller and honestly couldn’t figure out what happened in either case - present day or the past. The ending had some suspension of disbelief but I guess it could happen.

I was in the mood for a courtroom drama and this one hit the spot. I loved hearing about the jurors, their backstory and how the jury worked behind the scenes. While the book primarily was told from the perspective of Maya, each of the other jurors had their own chapter (or more) to tell a bit of their background as well. I was left wanting to know more about each of them!

The book starts with a case that Maya is working on (she's a lawyer now) in the present day. This case as nothing to do with the rest of the book, so this part was a little weird. However, she is invited to a juror reunion of sorts, from a case that they tried ten years prior. A girl disappeared, presumed murdered by her African-American teacher. There are raunchy text messages, an alibi that didn't hold up, but no true evidence. As a result, Maya believed that Bobby Nock was innocent. And she convinced the other jurors of this as well.

Turns out, the rest of the country disagreed with Maya and the jury and life hasn't been easy. When the jurors reunite for the reunion, on the first night, one of the jurors is found dead in Maya's room.

Who did it?

Was Bobby Nock innocent?

The book follows both of these storylines, tying them together and jumping a bit from the past to the present, but it was easy to follow. I loved the little bits we kept getting and how it all came together at the end.

A Legal Thriller that I just couldn’t quite get into. As a former Litigation Paralegal with 24 years of experience, who also attended several trials, this novel just didn’t quite ring true to me. (I admit to yelling “Objection” several times.) That said, I did however enjoy the pacing of this novel and felt that the characterizations were well done. While I didn’t love the courtroom aspect of this novel, I enjoyed the writing style and would definitely read another novel by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the arc.

This book is great! Would definitely recommend. Thanks so much to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.