SOME SPOILERS BELOW!
Another Jodi Picoult read! I admit though, i'm a big fan. This novel is one of her longer ones along with Nineteen Minutes and The Pact, it comes from five different perspectives, Mom Emma is tired, over wrought yet dedicated looking after her son Jacob, who has high functioning autism and Aspergers, Jacob lives his life with a very strict routine, he doesn't understand emotion, he hates the color orange, he is fascinated with forensic science and he has an incredibly dry sense of humor. Brother Theo feels neglected, hes holding in years and years of angst, frequently jealous of his brother, sometimes wishing he was an only child. Detective Rich is juggling his family and his job, he feels connected and responsible for Jacob but often that clashes with his responsibilities. Lawyer Oliver is barely out of school and has never tried a big case.
When Jacobs social skills tutor Jess goes missing it becomes clear that both Jacob and Theo have something to hide, when Jacob is arrested Emma and Oliver are forced to try make a court understand how Jacobs condition affects his ability to live the way the rest of us do, Jacob is bound by rules, order and routine, Emma and Oliver try desperately to get a jury to understand that his lack of emotion is not the hallmark of a sadistic killer, but of a boy who doesn't understand emotion, grief or loss.
The book had me gripped, Emma's chapters are tiring, you can see the weight she carries everyday worrying about each son in turn but knowing Jacob will always end up coming first, she is clearly torn on whether or not she believes her son could do what hes accused of. Theo is shady from page 1, hes lonely and its clear hes had a difficult life but the way he expresses that frustration is immediately a warning signal, i was convinced, from the start that Theo was the killer (i won't reveal if i was right!). Jacobs chapters are fascinating, his understanding of the world is on a completely different level to the other narrators and therefore he is the most interesting character throughout, his sense of humor is wickedly funny at times too. Oliver was a little blah for me, he jumped between good guy and total asshat, Rich was the same, you could understand his feeling of responsibility but he fully stitched Jacob up without caring about his conditions even though he already knew about them, it seemed like the kind of error that would result in some serious questions in court. The Judge frustrated me too with his complete lack of understanding and it seriously left me questioning whether in reality Jacob would have ended up in the dock.
My one annoyance with the novel is the ending, there is no real feeling of satisfaction for the reader, the mystery of Jess Oglivys murder is unraveled but we don't get to see a conclusion in court. Aside from that however its definitely another winner from Picoult, she always has me completely involved in her stories, nervous for the charecters and desperate to see what happens. This is easily one of her best novels, falling just behind Nineteen Minutes and The Pact! Four stars!
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