Jodi Picoult is one of "those" authors for me. I have really liked a few of her books, and I have really disliked a few of her books. The rest just fall somewhere in the middle for me. For the most part, her books are easy to read and I do find her to be a fairly decent writer.
So, when this book was published, I made a mental note that the subject actually looked pretty interesting, and I filed that mental note away for a later date. I came across a copy of this book at a thrift store and purchased it.
The two main characters are Josie and Peter, who are old childhood friends. However, as time passed by, they grew apart and now that the two are in high school, Josie is popular and Peter is not.
The book is set in Sterling, New Hampshire, where 17-year-old high school student Peter Houghton has endured years of verbal and physical abuse at the hands of classmates. His former best friend, Josie Cormier, succumbed to peer pressure and now hangs out with the popular crowd that often instigates the harassment. One final incident of bullying sends Peter over the edge and leads him to commit an act of violence that forever changes the lives of Sterling’s residents.
The book tackes the very disturbing, and unfortunately, most current topic of school shootings. Jodi Picoult tackes the subject with grace and is really able to give us a look inside the minds of the people involved on all sides, from the shooter himself, to the victims, to the parents of the shooter, to the cops involved in the investigation.
I don't know that I love how the book ended, but it was an overall interesting read for me. Not my favorite Jodi Picoult book, but better than most of the others I have read.
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