Brad Parks: Recommended Read of 2011

Brad Parks is the author of “Eyes of the Innocent” and “Faces of the Gone,” which won the Nero Award for Best American Mystery and the Shamus Award for Best First Mystery. Parks was the first author in the combined 60-year history of the Nero and the Shamus to win both awards for the same book. The hero of Parks’ first two books, Carter Ross, will soon be back on your bookshelves in “The Girl Next Door,” which is due out in March.

Parks’ recommended read of — which is really a recommended read for 2012 — 2011 is “Defending Jacob” by William Landay. About “Defending Jacob,” Parks’ wrote:

“New York Times bestselling author Joe Finder said of this book, ‘A novel like this comes along once a decade.’ He’s not wrong. ‘Defending Jacob’ is a riveting tale that mixes the best of a legal thriller (think Scott Turow) and the best of a family drama (think Jodi Picoult) into something completely engrossing. This is the story of an ordinary family thrown into turmoil when its youngest member, 14-year-old Jacob, is accused of a shocking murder. The prose is top-notch, the pacing is superb and the ending — which will surely blow your mind — is what propelled to my favorite read of 2011. You can’t actually get this book yet — it releases in January — but go ahead and pre-order it now. Once you get your hands on it, it’ll be the earlier frontrunner for your favorite book for 2012.”