Review: 'Defending Jacob' is an engrossing drama about a family torn apart by a murder

Apple TV+ is still new at the limited dramatic series game, but if "Defending Jacob" is a harbinger of what's coming, it's clear that they're not only on the right track, but they should stay on it, full steam ahead.

Writer and showrunner Mark Bomback ("Live Free or Die Hard," "The Art of Racing in the Rain") and director Morten Tyldum ("Passengers," "The Imitation Game") have turned William Landay's 2012 novel about the crumbling of a tight family after the son is accused of murder into an eight-part potboiler of a series. They've gone about it with strong material, concise writing, a risk-taking cast, and have been graced by that often-elusive ingredient: chemistry between all of the actors.