The Holdout

Chapter 1

Ten Years in L.A.

Now

Maya Seale removed two photographs from her briefcase. She held them face-in against her skirt. This thing was all going to come down to timing.

Ms. Seale? came the judge s voice, impatient. We re waiting.

Belen Vasquez, Maya s client, had suffered terrible abuse at the hands of her husband, Elian. There were extensive ER records to prove it. One morning a few months back, Belen had snapped. She d stabbed her husband while he was sleeping and then cut off his head with a pair of garden shears. Then she d driven around for an entire day in her green Hyundai Elantra with the severed head mounted on the dash. Either nobody noticed or nobody wanted to get involved. Eventually, a cop had pulled her over for running a light and she d managed to stuff the head in the glove compartment.

The good news, from Maya s perspective, was that the prosecution had only one piece of solid physical evidence to use against Belen. The bad news was that the evidence was a head.

I m ready, Your Honor. Maya placed a reassuring hand on her client s shoulder. Then she walked slowly to the witness box, where Officer Jason Shaw sat waiting, his Distinguished Service Medal displayed prominently on the lapel of his blue LAPD uniform.

Officer Shaw, she said, what happened when you pulled over Mrs. Vasquez s car?

Well, ma am, like I was saying, my partner remained behind Mrs. Vasquez s vehicle while I approached her window.

He was going to be one of those cops who did the ma am thing with her, wasn t he? Maya hated the ma am thing. Not because she was thirty-six, which she had to admit was probably ma am -worthy, but because it was such a transparent attempt to make her seem stuck up.

She tucked her short, dark hair behind her ear. And when you approached the window, did you observe Mrs. Vasquez sitting in the driver s seat?

Yes, ma am.

Did you ask her for her license and registration?

Yes, ma am.

Did she

Graham Moore is the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Days of Night and The Sherlockian, and the Academy Award winning screenwriter of The Imitation Game, which also won a Writers Guild of America Award for best adapted screenplay and was nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe. Moore was born in Chicago, received a BA in religious history from Columbia University in 2003, and now lives in Los Angeles.

A spicy stew of intrigue replete with buried secrets and unexpected motives. The New York Times Book Review

Wow! I loved The Holdout, in which author Graham Moore does the impossible, creating a page-turning legal thriller with a twisty and absolutely riveting plot, as well as raising profound and thought-provoking questions about the jury system and modern justice. All that, plus a strong and compelling female heroine in lawyer Maya Seale, whom you ll root for as the tables turn against her and she finds herself behind bars, with everything on the line. You won t be able to put this one down! Lisa Scottoline, #1 bestselling author of Someone Knows
 
Graham Moore s heart beats on every page of The Holdout, a murder trial as only he could have written it: secrets and lies, mysteries upon mysteries, and a cast of characters each with their own dubious motives. This is a tense, emotionally charged, scary-good, standout read that hooked me till the last page. Caroline Kepnes, author of You
 
The most gripping and satisfying thriller I ve read in more than a decade. Sophie Hannah, New York Times bestselling author of The Monogram Murders
 
This stellar novel from bestseller [Graham] Moore takes a searing look at the U.S. justice system, media scrutiny, and racism. . . . Moore has set a new standard for legal thrillers. Publishers Weekly (starred review)

The twists are sharp and the flashbacks that uncover what each juror knows are placed for maximum impact in this rollicking legal thriller. . . . Moore expertly combines deft character work with mounting bombshell revelations in a story that will attract new readers and also seems primed for the big screen. Library Journal (starred review)

[A] stemwinder of a murder mystery wrapped in a legal thriller . . . The story is gripping, and the pace is furious. Booklist
 
Quite the tour de force! Twelve