I loved it!

A great read that drew me in and enticed me from the opening page. I will not say anything about the storyline as I see that it has already all been said beforehand.

It was an original plot that was credible and the strength of the book was the characterisations and sent eof time and place as the book ranged between the past and ten years' on.

An author that is new to me but this is an excellent legal thriller and well worth reading.

Although I love a courtroom drama this was a bit of a let down for me, after my expectations were raised by the hype from fellow crime novelists. It has a rather hackneyed premise which has been done better before, but the dialogue is convincing and I think it would work much better as a screenplay.

An intriguing courtroom drama. The story is well constructed and told in both the present and the past, when the jury make a decision that will change their lives.

25 year old black teacher Bobby Nock, is on trial for killing white 15 year old pupil Jessica Silver, heiress to a billion dollar fortune. Her body hasn’t been discovered, but that isn’t going to stop this trial going ahead.

There are 12 members of the jury in this high profile murder trial, and it’s expected that Bobby Nock’s conviction is a foregone conclusion - that is until jury member Maya Seale manages to persuade the other jury members to vote not guilty.

Fast forward 10 years, and Maya is now a successful lawyer - but she’s also the prime suspect in the murder of one of the jurors after a reunion at the hotel in which they were sequestered during the trial.

I think it’s a case of the less you know, the more interesting you’ll find this one. As legal thrillers go it’s pretty good, though I personally didn’t identify with any of the characters for some reason. Nevertheless this was a riveting read with twists and turns, and not least it was a cracking ending. If you enjoy legal dramas then look no further.

Not my usual type of read but I thoroughly enjoyed this excellent courtroom thriller which held my interest throughout.

I found it a bit of a 'cat and mouse' read but it had well developed characters.

Thank you to Netgalley and Orion Publishers for giving me the opportunity to read this book.

NO SPOILERS

Reading this book was, for me, another attempt to find something in this genre which I might enjoy and I was until the first murder; at that point I’m afraid I wanted it over and done with. I wanted to know who and why, although very early on I deduced the main twist so really I wanted to know if I was right. I was, mostly, but not on every point, and this is why I find this genre difficult; if I can see it, why can’t the characters see it?

I think a big reason why I do not enjoy such writing is I invariably find it predictable and contrived, although I understand by its very nature it has to be contrived. I know plot twists are compulsory but to me they are tedious. I know readers who love them and I know readers who will love this book but I was hoping for an in-depth study of perception versus knowledge. I was disappointed, ‘tis just another whodunnit.

Genre aside, I did not warm to any of the characters but I did like the way the back story of each juror was presented; not clunky, not irrelevant but smoothly placed. The writing is simple, but not simplistic and it is a fast, easy read. But I found the plot dull and frankly, I didn’t care who did it…

If I am not familiar with an author, after reading the book, so as not to have any pre-conception, I go a-Googling. About a third of the way in I thought this book would be very easy to transfer to film and felt it had been written with that in mind. My post-read googling told me that Moore is an Oscar winning screen writer!

But…I absolutely loved the tiny bit of the plot where the Daily Mail published a fake story, that was true to form!

As such thrillers go, this is one of the best I did not like. However, I know there are many people who will enjoy it so I should perhaps stop trying. I’m never going to say I loved it, just as someone who hates Marmite is never going to say it’s delicious. (Me? I love Marmite!)

Thank you to NetGalley and Orion for the Advanced Reader Copy of the book, which I have voluntarily reviewed.

A pacy and intriguing page turner. I raced through this courtroom/jury based drama. And I didn't see the ending. Very clever.

A surprising book, which certainly was not what I was expecting. A thriller that twisted it's way to a very interesting conclusion. I really enjoyed it.

Gripping tale of what happens when a jury decide a suspected murderer is innocent when the rest of the country believes he is guilty. Many fabulous twists and turns with plot scenes that you really won't see coming. This would make a great film.

Ten years ago, Maya was part of a jury that acquitted Bobby Nock of kidnap and murder. Her refusal to back down was instrumental in the verdict and it's been the subject of much speculation ever since. Now one of her fellow jurors wants to get everyone back together for a true crime podcast recording - but there are still secrets and a lot has changed. One of the jurors is dead, and everyone thinks Maya is responsible, but what really happened with the decision? Was Bobby responsible for Jessica's death and if not, who was?

I really enjoyed this. A mixture of flashback and modern day unravelling as Maya tries to find out what really happened. We get snippets of all the jurors lives and their motivations for the decision they made ten years ago, as well as how things have changed for them since. There are understandably a lot of people to keep track of, but it works, you get an impression of their characters if not a full idea. It would also work really well as a film or TV series!

I really did enjoy this book and the development of the characters. We see Maya ten years ago with her fellow jurors give a verdict on a murder case that overturns their lives. Ten years later theres a a meet up for a new documentary and another murder that brings past and present colliding in the forefront. I was gripped from the start and seeing how my opinion of characters changed throughout the story shows the qualities of a good writer. I loved the time lapses and the whodunnit style story. Mayas pursuit of the truth uncovering more problems than help and the ending with the ultimate twist was absolutely brilliant. I look forward to reading more by Graham Moore.

This is the first time I have read Graham Moore and I suspect I will be seeking out other novels by this author as it was a brilliant read.

It could be said that it was a courtroom drama with a murder or a murder embroiled in a courtroom drama. Whichever way round it was an addictive read that I was unable to put down.

‘The Holdout’ follows the lives of a jury which was involved in acquitting a man accused of murder ten years before against the belief of the general public at the time. Somehow the names of the jurors had been made known and they spent several months sequestrated. Maya appeared to be the one who persuaded the rest of the jurors that Bobby Nock, a black man, was innocent of the murder of Jessica Silver, a young while girl who was the daughter of a rich local businessman.

A ten-year anniversary meeting is arranged by a television network and Rick, the juror who had a book published condemning Maya, is found murdered in Maya’s hotel room. As the story unfolds with the narrative switching from ten years ago to present day the reader learns secrets and lies of those involved on the jury as well as others around.

Many thanks to NetGalley, Orion Publishing Group and Graham Moore for my ARC in return for my honest review.

Excellent Read. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed it and haven't read a courtroom drama for a long time. I like the way it was written in both the past and the present. You can tell the writer is a screenwriter and it would be suited to the big screen.
I would recommend it, but quite slow-paced for me.
Thanks to NetGalley for the early copy in which I give my honest opinion.

The Holdout is amazing!

Flashing back to 2009 Bobby was found not guilty of the murder of teenager Jessica Silver thanks to juror Maya, in the present day Maya is a defence lawyer....what happens when she’s charged with murder?

The book is full of action, dramatic storylines and the dilemmas of telling the truth. Dark and gritty. This is an absolute page turner!

A detailed thriller revolving around courtroom drama and the jurors. Full of tension and twists and turns,which I enjoyed, but felt it was a little drawn out in places.

#TheHoldout #NetGalley
And Then There Were None meets Twelve Angry Men
It was brilliant. I really couldn't have read such a good story from a long time. It reminds me of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. The writing was so intelligent that the writer couldn't allow you to think what's coming up next. My eyes became wide when i read that twist. The plot was so engaging that it kept me awake whole night. 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.
I didn't like Jessica but it doesn't matter because Maya was so great.
Thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for a digital arc of this book.

When reading the blurb of this book, I thought it sounded a little like Twelve Angry Men, but, you know... ten years later. Then as I kept reading, and realised there was extra murder involved, I was totally sold.
The book is told in a mixture of present-day murder investigation and flashbacks to the trial of Bobby Nock, a black teacher who was tried (and acquitted) of the murder of billionaire heiress Jessica Silver. Maya, our protagonist, was the turning point of the jury, convinced that there wasn't enough evidence to convict Bobby, who turned the rest of her jurors around to her side. But as the tenth anniversary of Jessica's disappearance approaches, the jury reconvenes for a retrospective, where one of them is found dead - in Maya's hotel room. Secrets unravel in present day and past day chapters, as Maya races to discover who the killer is - and where they might strike next.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, reading it over the course of two engrossing days, deeply engaged in the twists and turns of this mystery/courtroom thriller/detective novel. Past wrongs intertwine with present as characters who barely know each other and yet intimately know each other form allegiances and gang up against each other. And at the centre of the book is fifteen-year-old Jessica Silver - blonde, beautiful, billionheiress, her body never found.
This was actually my only problem with the book. Jessica, the central victim of the narrative, was never a person so much as she was an image on which to hinge the story. There were flashes of exploration of why that might be the case near the end of the book, but not really enough for me. I think there was a whole angle to be explored in this book about why the daughter of a billionaire - white, young, pretty, female - was the subject of a media frenzy, and whether that contributed to the excoriating backlash against the jury who failed to convict her purported killer.

But outside of that complaint, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Maya was a compelling and enjoyable heroine, a lawyer whose legal training fails to stop her from doing the eminently stupid things that the protagonist of every gritty thriller does. That is to say, investigating her own case. But that was knowingly presented in the narrative, with Maya's boss rolling his eyes in frustration at Maya's refusal to act in the way she knows is most effective. Maya's present-day narrative is interspersed with chapters from the other 11 jurors, each in turn. I didn't realise at the beginning that this was the format. Rick, the juror whose perspective is presented first, is perhaps the most central to Maya's story, so I thought they would be dual narrators. When he vanished, I realised I had been mistaken, and then a parade of other narrators began to appear, so I realised what was going on. There was, perhaps, a lack of depth to some of the other jury members, as they appeared only for their few pages, to present their view of how the court case developed, but I can appreciate the reasoning behind that narrative decision. It didn't quite work for me, and I'm not sure why - just didn't quite hit the right note. But it wasn't terribly off-putting either. That does mean that there are a total of 12 different POV characters in this book, some of which are only seen incredibly briefly, so if you're not a fan of multiple POVs, this will definitely put you off.

Overall, though, this was a thoroughly engrossing thriller, with enough elements of danger, mystery, and legal proceedings to keep things interesting. Maya was a relatable and sympathetic heroine, and the plot was littered with enough twists and turns to keep me guessing throughout. Very enjoyable, and I'll look out for more from Moore.

WOW!!! I absolutely loved this book, I read it in less than 24 hours and just couldn't put it down - I almost considered not sleeping so that I could finish it quicker!!

Easy, page-turning thriller following the fallout of a jury's non-guilty verdict a decade ago, and the effect on the accused and the jury themselves since. I kept thinking this was going predictably until it twisted, and again!

Recommended if you're after a thriller.

The Holdout by Graham Moore a thrilling four-star read. The characters and concept of this one is good, they will keep you on your toes and keep you wondering, but the wondering does go on. This story will make you feel like you are there in the jury room, you will taste the palpation in the air feel the tension that will make your Goosebumps rise. With some good editing and cutting down this could have been a five-star read.