Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult deals with the issue of what to do when the "right" thing is illegal.   Charles is married to an alcoholic and has a 4-yr.-old girl.  Not only that, but he discovers his wife is cheating on him with Victor and they get divorced.  Charles "rescues" his little girl by taking her from Arizona to live with him in New Hampshire under new names (Andrew and Delia) instead of returning her home after his day with her.  Delia grows up happy but doesn't remember much of her mother.  Ironically, she grows up and helps detectives and police search and rescue missing people with her dog, Greta.  Thirty years later, he is arrested for kidnapping.  Will he be found guilty and spend 20 years in prison?  What will Delia think of him for lying to her practically her whole life?  He told her that her mother died in a car accident.   Will she marry her long-time friend, Eric, a recovering alcoholic and lawyer, or choose her other long-time friend Fritz, a journalist.

This book was pretty good because it had a surprise ending and I liked the tension between liking Andrew even though he did technically kidnap his daughter.  I felt a little bad for the mother and Delia.  There were some parts that I did not care about, but they didn't last long.  I did not like the way the book jumped around between the past and present, but the story line was good and I did like Delia and her father, Andrew, the main characters.
(Karen's review, 4 stars)

Teaser from page 75:  On the one hand, I was his child, and he must have been doing what he felt he needed to do.  On the other hand, I'm a mother now, and he committed my worst nightmare.

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"a spark of light" by Jodi Picoult

In a spark of light by Jodi Picoult, Hugh McElroy is a police hostage negotiator.  When he gets a call to go to the Center to talk to a gunman who is holding multiple hostages.  He soon finds out that his daughter, Wren, is one of the hostages.  The Center is a health service clinic.  This book tells the story backwards in time which is different for sure, but not that bad.

I enjoyed how the author told the story of all the characters in the book.  The background material brought it home to me!  This is not my favorite book of hers, but it's good enough to get 5 stars!
(Gerard's review)

Teaser from page 6:  The others held their breath with her.  They had, in the past few hours, become a single organism.

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"Small Great Things" by Jodi Picoult is Thought Provoking--A Must Read! (UPDATED)

 Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult is a contemporary fiction about racism that is absolutely very thought provoking and educational.  It is about Ruth, a black nurse, who is charged with murder and negligence because the newborn, the son of white supremacist parents, that she was watching over dies.  Ruth is a widow with a son who is a high school honor-student.  

There are so many good scenes in this book!  It started a little slow for me with all the baby deliveries at the beginning, but that just was a small part and soon moved along.  That was just to show what a good nurse Ruth was and that she really loved her job.

This is such a remarkable story that helped me look at blacks in a whole different light.  I never realized before reading this how it really is to be black.  I would love to hear a black person's views about this book!  I really did not enjoy the chapters about Turk and Brit, the parents of the baby who died because they were horrible people!  I really liked the chapters about Ruth's public defender, Kennedy and the chapters about Ruth.  In typical Picoult style, chapters are written from different characters' points of view.  I felt the characters were well developed and the plot had an unexpected twist that shocked me!  I loved this book and highly recommend it to anyone--must read.  It has lots of great lines and the author used the experiences of some real people that she interviewed to get a feel for what it's really like to be black in the United States.  I loved the surprise ending!  Must Read! 
(Karen's review, 5 stars)

My husband and I both loved this one, here's his review:

In Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult, Ruth Jefferson is a delivery nurse in a small hospital.  She has been one for 20 years and is very good at it.  One night a newborn baby is having serious problems and Ruth is left alone with the baby.  The baby is white, and Ruth is black, with orders not to touch this baby.  When the baby dies, the parents blame Ruth!  Did she do something to the baby or did she try to save it?

WOW!  This book is GOOD!  This story is true to life and the characters are well developed.  The trial part alone is worth reading for sure but I enjoyed the whole book!  A must Read!!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

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Shared this with Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop - the prompt was share a book review.  I was pleased to see she is reading many of the books we have recommended and loved!

"Leaving Time" by Jodi Picoult

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult is about a young girl named Jenna who is searching for her mom.  She enlists a psychic and a detective to help her.  Her mom worked with elephants.  As the story leads back to why her mom is missing, you learn a lot about elephants.  I found the information about the elephants interesting, but the story about her mom missing was good too.  I liked it but didn’t love it.  

(Gerard's review, 5 stars)

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"The Storyteller" by Jodi Picoult

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult is so good! Wow, oh wow, where to start? It is about an old man who was a German S.S. guard at a Nazi war camp. Now he wants a favor from a woman, one she is not sure she can do. There are several good story lines in this book. You get the Nazi guard story, a fantastic story from the young girl’s Jewish grandmother who was in the death camp, and the story that she was writing, which is sort of what the book is based on. I just loved it! As usual for Jodi Picoult’s books, the ending is shocking!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars)

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"Between The Lines" by Jodi Picoult/Samantha Van Leer

Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer is a fun fantasy read. Did you ever read a book and think to yourself "I wish that character was a real person I could talk to"? Sure you have. Well, in this book a young teen girl reads a children's fairy tale book and falls hard for the young prince. Together they hatch a plan to meet! Yes, I said together. How is that possible? You will have to read the book to find out. I got into this right away and especially liked the conversations between the girl and the prince. I enjoyed this one very much!
 (Gerard's review, rating: 5+ stars)

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"Lone Wolf" by Jodi Picoult (Updated)

 Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult tells the story of Luke Warren who has two families.  A wolf one and a human one.  Both are very entertaining and you will learn a lot from both.  I loved this book very much!  The characters of Luke and his daughter, Cara, were my favorites.  There is not a lot of twists and turns in this one, but the main story is so gripping that you don't need all that.
(Gerard's review)

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult is an interesting read and also thought provoking about Luke, a family man who is also a naturalist who chooses to join a pack of wolves in the wild for two years.  He is divorced and shares custody of his 17-yr.-old daughter.  His gay son left at age 18 to live in Thailand after he and his dad had a falling out.  The dad and daughter were in a car accident which left the dad in a vegetable state hooked up to a ventilator to stay alive.  The brother came right home when he heard and insists that Luke would not want to be kept alive in that condition but the daughter holds out hope that he will get better and they need to give him more time. 

I liked this book pretty well but thought it dragged out more than necessary.  There was a lot about wolves that I found quite interesting, but thought Luke was nuts for living with them.  My favorite part was when Cara got her brother to bring in one of her dad's wolves into the hospital to try to get him to wake up when only the ventilator was keeping him alive.  I also like the brother-sister relationship.  Jodi Picoult tackled yet another controversial topic, euthanasia, in an interesting way.  
(Karen's review)

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"Plain Truth" by Jodi Picoult Is Fascinating

Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult is about an Amish teen girl who is charged with murdering her illegitimate baby.  At first Katie denied even having a baby and consistently denied killing it.  Ellie reluctantly volunteered to be her defense attorney who becomes her friend while staying on the farm with Katie to comply with the court order as a condition while awaiting her trial.  Jodi Picoult shows the contrasts of the Amish and the English cultures in this intriguing novel of ethics, psychology, mystery, romance and judgment. 

I was drawn into this story immediately and had a hard time putting it down.  The story is told from Ellie’s perspective, and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her when she was trying to get the truth from Katie as to what really happened. The trial was interesting and I definitely came away with a better understanding of the Amish community after reading Plain Truth.  I highly recommend this book, especially to women.
(Karen's review)

Other related reviews:  Debra's Book Cafe
Here is our teaser for this book
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"The Pact" by Jodi Picoult

In The Pact by Jodi Picoult, Chris & Emily grew up together and then became lovers (although Emily really didn’t want to marry Chris ). She became pregnant but didn’t tell anyone. Went for an abortion but changed her mind. The jail time and trial was very interesting and I liked the parents perspective—seeing their kids as perfect.  I liked the attorney very much too.  Great book about young love.
(Karen's review 9/06)

The Pact was the first book either of us read by Jodi Picoult and we loved it!  She is an amazing writer who can really hold your attention and keep you interested right from the start.  Her books go quick because they are so good, you can't put them down!  This one keeps you wondering if Chris is really guilty or not.  
(Gerard's review 9/06)

Please tell us: What categories of literature do you like? What are you reading now? Who are your top five favorite authors? Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

"Salem Falls" by Jodi Picoult

"Salem Falls" by Jodi Picoult is a good book right from page one about a girls nice soccer coach who was falsely accused of rape twice. First time he took a plea bargain and served 8 months in jail. Second time, Jordan McAfee, got a "Not Guilty" verdict so he was set free, but most town people didn't want him around and were still afraid of him. He was a master at Jeopardy and fell in love with Addie, the diner owner who he washed dishes for when he first came to town after getting out of jail the first time. I could hardly put it down. 

I liked this book a lot except for the witchcraft in it, but even through that I learned more about it.  I found myself despising the girl who cried rape and ruined the coach's life. I highly recommend this.  It's one of my favorite Picout books!
(Karen' review 12/07)

Please tell us: What categories of literature do you like? What are you reading now? Who are your top five favorite authors? Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

"Handle With Care" by Jodi Picoult

Can't Put It Down--Jodi Classic (100 stars!) First off, for anyone who has Osteogenesis imperfecta (O.I.) and their families and friends, my prayers and thoughts are with you.  As for Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult, I loved it!!  This is a hard-to-put-down book.  I went back and forth with how I felt about the people in this book.  So many twists and turns and story lines everywhere.  It's just awesome!!!!  It left me wanting more, and then, if that's not enough, the last 50 or so pages were even better!!  I finished it three days sooner than I expected I would.  Nineteen Minutes is the standard I judge Jodi's books by because I really liked it a lot! That was one awesome book and this matches it.  I cried at the end, hated the ending!!!  Read this book, you will never forget it!
(Gerard's review 5/09)

Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult is about a family who has a baby girl, Willow, born with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) and each member has a different way of protecting the girl.  OI is a rare bone disease where the slightest bump can cause factures.  In an effort to get more money to pay for her care and special needs, the mother sues her best friend who also the mother’s ob-gyn.  This book is very thought provoking and shows how far a mother will go to help her daughter.  It gives insight into how this disease can affect the entire family and really all who know the person.  The book deals with the issue of is that life worth living or would it have been better if the girl was never born.  It ended very differently from what I expected and held my attention, but not one of my favorite Picoult books.
(Karen's review 5/09)

Please tell us: What categories of literature do you like? What are you reading now? Who are your top five favorite authors? Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

"Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult

I found Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult almost impossible to put down. There are a lot of similarities between Peter, who was the main character and got picked on all through school, and myself who was picked on throughout my school years except I didn't shoot anybody like he did. He went on a shooting spree at his high school. I found all the characters to be very real and true to life. It had a good ending. I highly recommend it to everyone.  
(Gerard's Review 5/2007)


Much can be learned from this book about how to treat people.  I loved it!  It kept my interest all through and liked how all the characters were developed.  I think any teen would really get into it. 
(Karen's review 5/2007)

Please tell us: What categories of literature do you like? What are you reading now? Who are your top five favorite authors? Have you read this one? What did you think of it?

"House Rules" by Jodi Picoult

House Rules by Jodi Picoult is outstanding!  It’s the story of Jacob Hunt, who has Asperger’s.  He is accused of murdering his tutor, Jess.  The writing is outstanding to say the least.  You get into it right away and you really get to care about the characters in the book.  This book is actually laugh out loud funny some of the time.  I highly recommend you read House Rules.  It will make my top 5 books of the year easily and I read a lot!
(Gerard's Review 6/22/10)


House Rules by Jodi Picoult is about Jacob, an 18 yr. old boy who has Asperger’s that is charged with murdering his social skills tutor.  He was obsessed with watching “Crime Busters” to the point where he would take notes on every episode, even those he already saw.

I really liked this book a lot because it was funny and interesting.  The trial really cracked me up.  I also liked when the author outlined Jacob’s thought process.  He thought cats must have Asperger’s too because they are very smart like him and also sometimes just want to be alone like him.  The defense attorney was funny too--not being a criminal lawyer made his character humorous. 

Some books I have to make myself finish but this one I looked forward to reading and found it hard to put down.  I think it’s one of Jodi’s best.

(Karen's Review 6/19/10)

See another review:  Debra's Book Cafe

"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult is a story of a family coping with a daughter who has Cancer and the sister who is destined to be the donor for her.  It also has an interesting subplot of romance between the lawyer Anna hires and the lady appointed to make a recommendation to the court as to what she thinks is in Anna’s best interest.  This would be a great book for a book club to discuss.  It’s about feelings, ethics, motivations and relationships.  It kept my interest all the way through and as usual in Picoult’s books, has a surprise ending.

(Karen's review 8/14/09)

"Change of Heart" by Jodi Picoult

Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult moved much slower than the others I read by her. I was a bit disappointed in this one. It was very philosophical about Shay, a convicted murderer, sentenced to death. The priest who was his spiritual adviser while he was on death row was a member of the jury that found him guilty. His only concern while on death row was that he be able to donate his heart to the victim's sister once he heard she needed a heart transplant. It was a strange book with religious undercurrents and far out "miracles." I had to really work my way through this one, but it did get better near the end and had a "happy ending," well, sort of. It was a great finish! No peeking!!!
(KAREN'S REVIEW 6/1/08)


I have read better by Mrs. Picoult but this was good enough for me. A real page turner with interesting characters. It kept me guessing all the way to the end and speaking of the ending, a real good one!! It left me wanting more!!! I would recommend you read this book.

(GERARD'S REVIEW 6/6/08)

Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult

Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult is an excellent book about a parent taking the law into her own hands and the devastating consequences. Nina, a prosecutor of child molesters, finds out first-hand what parents go through when it happens to her own 5-yr.-old boy, Nathaniel and refuses to trust the court system to administer justice because she is so familiar with how things usually go. This novel is about love, justice, right and wrong, and poses the question, "Just how well do we really know ourselves"?

The story is told from the perspective of the mother, the father and the little boy. I particularly enjoyed how the author let the reader inside the boy's head to know what he was thinking and his take on things. I found myself sympathizing more for the victim than for the main character.

I think any parent will be drawn into this book very quickly and won't be able to put it down! It has some surprising twists and turns as well as a shocking ending which makes for a great story but really makes one think about the ramifications! The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because I disagreed with the ending. Read it and judge for yourself. Turns out Caleb was Nina's hero.

(Karen's review 4/12/08)

Other Reviews On this Book:  Reading Without Restraint