The first book by “New York Times” bestselling author Picoult available in mass market paperback is a riveting, timely, heartbreaking, and terrifying novel of families in anguish and friendships ripped apart by inconceivable violence.
After you’ve read a few Jodi Picoult books, you come to expect certain things. A compelling, flashpoint topic (teen suicide, stigmata, school shootings, sexual abuse, etc.) that rips a small New England community apart. Courtroom drama. Finely wrought family dynamics. A maverick lawyer, a quirky judge, and a lot of angst. Tons of plot twists and turns. All of the above were present in “The Pact,” a story of the death of a teenage golden girl, with her longtime boyfriend accused of the murder — which he claims was a double suicide gone awry. The defendant bobs and weaves as news of Emily’s pregnancy comes to light, and plenty of red herrings are thrown into the mix. But still something was missing. I felt like there just wasn’t quite ENOUGH drama in this book… I expected one more horrifying secret to be revealed at the end. I did not believe that Emily’s reasons for killing herself were sufficiently grave. And I couldn’t believe that NO ONE — not the police, not his parents, not the lawyer, no one — asked Chris what really happened that night. Still, with Picoult’s wonderful writing, this book is still worth reading
