Ben Rifkin is found dead in Cold Spring Park by a jogger, stabbed three times in the chest.

Andy refuses to recuse himself from investigating Ben's murder despite his son attending the same school as the victim.

Andy discovers a Facebook post from Derek Yoo accusing Jacob of murder and finds a folding knife in Jacob's bedroom drawer.

Andy disposes of the knife found in Jacob's drawer rather than reporting it to the district attorney's office.

A bloody thumbprint on Ben's sweatshirt is matched to Jacob, confirming him as the primary suspect.

Andy is placed on paid leave and Jacob is arrested and charged with Ben's murder.

At Jacob's arraignment bail is set, and the family returns home to find 'MURDERER WE HATE YOU' spray-painted on their house.

Andy confesses his family's multi-generational history of violence and murder to Laurie after Jacob is arrested.

Dr. Vogel formally diagnoses Jacob with narcissistic personality disorder and identifies a violent gene variant shared by Jacob, Andy, and Billy.

Jacob's trial opens as Logiudice argues Jacob snapped from bullying and Jonathan urges the jury to avoid a second tragedy through wrongful conviction.

Derek testifies that he saw blood on Jacob after Ben's death and knew of Jacob's knife, decisively shifting the courtroom's mood against Jacob.

Patz is found dead with a signed confession, and the judge dismisses all charges against Jacob.

Father O'Leary stops Dan Rifkin from attacking the Barber family with a knife and identifies himself as a friend of Billy's.

The Barber family travels to Jamaica to recover, where Jacob's girlfriend Hope Connors disappears and is later found drowned.

Laurie drives her car into a concrete barrier killing Jacob, and it is revealed the grand jury has been investigating her.

These events trace the central spine of the novel, from Ben Rifkin's murder through Andy's compromised investigation and Jacob's arrest. The trial pits Logiudice against Jonathan in a battle of competing narratives, with the Barber family's survival hanging on the verdict. Andy's evidence tampering and refusal to recuse himself haunt every stage of the proceedings. The shocking dismissal of charges following Patz's death brings temporary relief, but the family's trip to Jamaica introduces a second tragedy. The arc closes with Laurie's devastating act and the revelation of who the grand jury has been targeting all along.

The core murder case from discovery to verdict and beyond.

Andy is subpoenaed to testify before Logiudice's grand jury, learning his former mentee is now building a case against someone in his family.

The Barber family attends Ben Rifkin's shiva, where a grieving Dan Rifkin asks Andy what separates a killer from an ordinary man.

Students give evasive answers during questioning, and Sarah privately asks Andy whether anyone investigating the case has spoken to Jacob yet.

Andy learns that pedophile Leonard Patz lives near Cold Spring Park and orders him brought in for questioning.

Jacob denies the knife in his drawer is the murder weapon, and Laurie privately expresses doubt about her son's innocence to Andy.

Jacob is released on bail and the Barber family hires Jonathan Klein as his defense attorney.

Andy and Laurie take Jacob to psychiatrist Dr. Vogel, where Laurie confesses she has long suspected something is deeply wrong with her son.

Jacob creates a secret Facebook account and posts an image of Norman Bates with his own face superimposed, provoking Andy's furious outburst.

Andy walks into the Yoo residence uninvited and questions Derek, who describes Jacob's cruelty and a likely incident of killing a neighborhood dog.

Andy discovers a torture porn story on Jacob's iPod that mirrors Ben's murder in precise detail and smashes the device.

The Barbers encounter the Rifkins at a grocery store, where Joan Rifkin spits directly in Laurie's face.

A car with stolen license plates is repeatedly spotted parked outside the Barber family's home at night.

Duffy testifies at trial that certain aspects of the murder investigation had to be conducted without Andy's knowledge.

Facing a hopeless trial outcome, the Barber family imagines Jacob escaping to Argentina to live freely and happily far from Newton.

Andy confronts Billy in prison after the trial about Patz's death, and Billy denies knowing Father O'Leary with a winking smile.

These events capture the procedural and family-level moments surrounding the central murder case that reveal how deeply the Barbers are affected. Beginning with Andy's forced appearance before the grand jury, the arc shows how the investigation developed and how the family fractured under mounting public pressure. Laurie's growing certainty of Jacob's guilt, the family's social humiliation, and the menacing presence of a mysterious sedan compound the tension ahead of trial. Evidence presented at trial — including Duffy's revelations and the Cutting Room connection — deepens the case against Jacob. The arc concludes after the verdict with Andy's chilling confrontation with Billy in prison.

Behind the scenes of the Barber family's unraveling ordeal.

Andy admits to the reader that he lied to Logiudice — he has no faith that the justice system reveals the truth.

Sarah sends Andy an anonymous email linking him to a Facebook group where students are openly discussing Ben's murder.

Andy chooses not to report Derek's accusation against Jacob to the district attorney's office, concealing a crucial lead from his own department.

Jacob hears his family's violent lineage for the first time and asks his father what if something dark inside him is uncontrollable.

Jonathan proposes collecting DNA from Jacob, Andy, and Billy to build a murder gene mitigation strategy for the defense.

Andy physically forces Matthew Magrath to reveal that Patz owned a knife and had become obsessively interested in Ben before the murder.

Andy stalks Leonard Patz for weeks and then confronts him directly outside his home, convinced the pedophile killed Ben.

Andy visits his estranged father Billy in prison for the first time in years to collect a DNA sample for Jacob's defense.

Billy calls Andy from prison and ominously declares that he is not in prison but everywhere, implying his criminal reach extends well beyond bars.

Jonathan wins a pretrial ruling excluding all evidence about a genetic predisposition to violence from being presented at Jacob's trial.

A grand jury transcript reveals that Andy knew from the very beginning that Laurie had planted a kitchen knife at the crime scene.

Criminalist Karen Rakowski testifies that the knife described in Jacob's Cutting Room story would perfectly match the dimensions of Ben's stab wounds.

Duffy identifies the sedan's driver as professional criminal fixer Father O'Leary, and Andy concludes Billy arranged Patz's death and confession.

Laurie presses Andy the night before trial about whether he truly has no doubts about Jacob's guilt, and Andy refuses to engage with her logic.

Hope's body is found drowned with evidence of a crushed windpipe, and it is finally revealed that Logiudice's grand jury is investigating Laurie for Jacob's murder.

These events focus on the pivotal choices, concealed truths, and key revelations that determined the course of the investigation, trial, and its aftermath. The arc opens with Andy's admission of deception and traces the concealed decisions — from burying Derek's accusation to visiting Billy in prison — that shaped the entire case. Crucial discoveries about the murder gene strategy, Patz's true motives, and Father O'Leary's criminal identity expose the fragility of Andy's version of events. A series of pretrial and mid-trial revelations reveals that Andy has been withholding far more than anyone suspected. The arc reaches its grim conclusion in Jamaica as Hope's death and the grand jury's true focus are finally brought to light.