This is actually the second time I have read 'The Pact'. Not because I loved it that much the first time I read it, but because the first time I read it was years ago and I didn't think I gave it the attention it deserves! Since then, Jodi Picoult has become a much bigger name and therefore I thought I'd re-read this, for enjoyment (and reviewing purposes!).

'The Pact' centres on two main characters - Emily and Chris. Both are 17 when we meet them in the first Chapter and Emily, very strangely is pronounced dead on the very first page - cause of death: a bullet wound to her head. The only other person there is Chris.

The first page makes this book a mystery almost instantly. We soon find out that Emily and Chris were a couple, and had been since the day that Emily was born, and Chris was just six months old. So why is Emily lying dead in Chris' arms some 17 years later?

The book unravels all the events that lead to the current day, and goes some way beyond that too. Because of this, and the fact that Emily is dead in the 'present' of the book, Jodi Picoult takes us back into the past so that we can learn about Emily and get to know her. The book does this throughout - we are taken via a path where we are constantly moving through the past and present in order to pick apart what has happened between Chris and Emily - why Emily is dead and Chris is still alive.

The parents of both Chris and Emily also have important roles in the story. In fact, it is because of their friendship with each other that Chris and Emily end up being as close as they are. In some ways, all the connections between these families and the way that they have become intertwined with each other makes you wonder if they are too close for comfort.

Naturally when Emily dies, the ties between Chris and Emily's parents become to loosen with suspicions surrounding Chris' involvement in Emily's death. This is where I thought it got really interesting. Some loyalties in the two families weren't what you thought they might be. It certainly made for a very interesting read!

I liked the way that this book was written. Jodi Picoult did a great thing by switching between the past and the present. It could have potentially been very confusing, but the timing of the switches was brilliant and I never found myself unsure of what was happening.

Having read this for the second time, I can definitely say that I am impressed. This was a brilliant read and I am now quite keen to go off and read other books by Jodi Picoult. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fictional reading. It might be more for the girls but then again, it's not a conventional love story so I think most people (of either gender) would enjoy it!