*'A shield that covered his heart but had not been able to protect it'* (Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult)

Member Name: angiebabyqueen

Product:	Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult
Date:	29/06/09 (40 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: lets you think for yourself along the way

Disadvantages: a couple of long technical jargon words to get your head around

Well having just finished this book I can safely say Jodi Picoult has still yet to disappoint me. I have been an avid fan since reading a review of my sister's keeper back in 2005, and so far I haven't looked back as her books are the best I have ever read. They are all about factious moral dilemmas, and she takes every characters viewpoint in the books to give all sides to the same story. This is a brilliant author who researches every point of the court, police procedures, jailhouses and any type of evidence collected to make her books seem real - she has friends on hand that help her understand procedures in place to help you gain a sense of reality that this book could have been a real life story. The details are realistic and amazingly accurate - however some of the terms in her books can be difficult to understand need some further concentration if for example you aren't a biologist or forensic expert.

*Salem falls*
Jack St Bride has stumbled upon quiet Salem Falls after serving an eight month sentence in jail for taking a plea bargain on sexual assault. He swears he's innocent and was pushed into taking the plea bargain as his lawyer told him it would be the shortest sentence he could have, get out of jail and then live his life again. He used to be a history teacher, and it was his student Catherine that came up with the sexual assault charges against him.

When he gets to Salem falls, he starts working at the do-or-diner as a dishwasher - a far cry from his old life back in Loyal but he's happy all the same. However this time round, he falls in love with Addie, a woman who lost her child to meningitis almost a decade ago. Everyone has ghosts in their closets, and Addie especially. However one evening after a fight with each other, jack goes out drinking and stumbles upon a group of four young witches in the forest celebrating Beltane, the witches festival for love, sex and rituals. Gillian, the daughter of a wealthy townsman claims that she was raped by jack St bride and so the nightmare begins again for jack, however this time his lawyer Jordan listens to him, but does a defence lawyer believe his client?

This book explores how love can be lost and then found elsewhere again, overcoming separation and heartache. It explores trust within love, and how to gain or lose it. It explores that everyone has secrets and ghosts hidden but what will we do to keep those memories and secrets locked in Pandora's box. You as a reader have to make a decision - bad things don't happen to good people and those with a higher belief in a just world with think immediately he is guilty - lightning can't strike twice in the same place surely? There is no way that a miscarriage of justice can occur twice to the same man without there being some smoke to a fire. This book will enrapture your hearts and test out the moral issues within the book, and let you make up your own mind as to who is guilty and who is not, whilst putting yourselves in every characters shoes, making you feel what they feel.

This book is fantastic, with some amazing quotes along the way which grabs your attention. And the constantly changing between different characters constantly changes your perspective of the situations on hand. I recommend this book to everyone to read as it is truly magic, however it isn't my top Jodi Picoult book to date.

*Quotes*
'A shield that covered his heart but had not been able to protect it'
'Thinking all the while of Pandora's box: of what he had let loose by breaching the seal of this room, and of hope, which might still have been trapped inside'
'What Addie didn't understand was that you couldn't make up 4 what you had lost'
'...And gently fit themselves together. Addie thought he fills me whilst jack thought this is what i have been missing'

Overall, this book is a fab ten out of ten for everything - the situation, the writing of the book, the quotes, the twists and turns - it really is completely entrapping and it's a book that you will find hard to put down.

Where to buy: any good bookshop or online I think eBay sells them for 1p so grab it while you can!

Angiebabyqueen copyright 2009

Summary: absolutely fantastic - I recommend you buy this book!