Change of Heart - Jodi Picoult

Another Jodi Picoult one, Change of Heart centers around June, twelve years ago her youngest daughter and her cop husband where murdered by a man she hired to do some home improvements, the only thing that kept her going was the baby she was carrying however, her baby is now twelve with a serious heart defect and a clock that’s quickly running down unless June can find a suitable donor.  

Enter Shay Bourne, a prisoner on death row who wants to give Claire his heart, but there’s a catch, he’s the man convicted of murdering her husband Kurt and daughter Elizabeth. Oh and Shay is no ordinary man, he’s the second coming of Christ and his prison miracles are all over the front page. His cell neighbor Lucius who is HIV positive and the only friend Shay has is enamored with Shays miracles.

Then there’s Michael, a priest, who Shay is happily spilling his guts too however Michael has a secret, he served on the jury that sentenced Shay to death and of course Maggie, an up and coming lawyer who wants to help Shay achieve his goal and raise questions about the use of the death penalty.

And it all hinges on this, Shay can’t donate his heart if he dies by lethal injection, so it’s up to Maggie to ensure he can be hung instead.

For me June was too tragic of a character, her first husband Jack died at the hands of a drunk driver, so she married the cop who gave her the bad news and he became step-daddy to Elizabeth, except then he and Elizabeth are slaughtered in Junes home and now her second daughter, the only thing that kept her going could drop dead any bloody second. I mean Christ, what sins is she paying for?

Shay is frustrating, his miracles are often random and his demeanor does make you think he’s pretty guilty and it’s tough to sympathize with him at all.

Michael is a bloody mess considering he’s a priest, lying left right and center and omitting to let Shay know that’s he responsible for the death row he’s now sitting in.

Maggie however is a serious ray of light in an otherwise bleak group of people, her desperation to raise questions about the death penalty, her self-deprecating personality and her determination to win her case help her win over the reader.

As for the twist, and here’s your big warning, major spoiler coming up, I saw it coming. I literally googled when I was about four chapters in to see if I was right about Kurt abusing Elizabeth and Shay having only killed him in anger after walking in on the abuse. It seemed really obvious and I was disappointed when Picoult wrote June as kind of glossing over it? Mentions of her having found her daughters underwear in odd places and him lingering when perhaps he shouldn’t but she didn’t really give it much thought after that and I wanted to choke her. Especially as she buried poor little Elizabeth in the arms of her abuser.

I gave it a very obvious three out of five, it was good reading, but the twist was guessable and some of the characters were unlikable despite the tragedy of the novel overall.