How well do you know your child? How many parents knew their child was suicidal before they killed themselves? As parents, we like to believe we know our children, that we are close to them and that they tell us everything. Those of that remember being teenagers ourselves, know that isn't actually true ;)

I was up until 3am finishing this book. I could not put it down. In typical Picoult style, there's the "shocking twist", but the deeper levels of the book - how much you really know about your kids - is what kept me interested. I have a 4 and 6 year old. The fact that they will one day be teenagers scares the heck out of me.

I'm glad I read this book. I almost didn't because of the teen suicide subject. But it was an excellent story. I did have a few issues with the things the character did but as usual Ms. Picoult made me love her characters and gave me a lot to think about. The story did not bore me at all and I couldn't wait to find out how it ended.

Jodi Picoult does indeed write well. Her prose and character development make it easy to get drawn into her books, however I simply did not like these people, except for the defense attorney. I finished the book because of the talented writing technique of Ms. Picoult, however, I am not inspired to pick up another of her books. Ms. Picoult prides herself on her research prior to writing, but along the way her editors missed 3 glaring errors that had me stopping and searching back among the chapters to make sure that what I had read earlier was indeed the correct point Ms. Picoult was attempting to make. If the errors were just slight, it would not have been so irksome, however one of the errors constitutes a major point in the defense's case.

Clear some time to read this book, you will NOT want to put it down. My poor house, husband, and children were neglected while I read this book. I COULDNT STOP!! Ah, my stomach turned, and my hands were white knuckled till the very end. I LOVED IT!!! Love it when a book can have that kind of effect.

Hard to put down. I also had a hard time with the ending but I guess it goes along with the story line...it doesn't always turn out the way you plan. Enjoy!

A wonderful book that delves into how little you can really know another person, even if that person is your best friend, husband, even child. Makes you question how much influence we really have over our children's lives, and how strong our relationships with our friends really are.

I may be the only person here who did not like this book as much as I had hoped I would. I think it was the idea that the idea was actually more interesting than the delivery.

The subtitle "A love story" is grossly understated. It seems everyone from the kids' parents down to the PI working for the defense is trying to get a little action from somewhere. It gets kind of ridiculous after awhile.

The beginning is interesting enough to get you into the story, the middle flounders, and by the end the poor misrepresented teenager who is on trial for the murder of his lifelong friend/girlfriend seems like an annoying wretch you're just kind of hoping gets locked away. I also had little sympathy for Emily (the girl who committed suicide), being it just ended up feeling like two spoiled kids gone wrong.

In the discussion part of the book Ms. Picoult said that it was just as much of a love story about Gus and Chris (mother and son) than anyone else. Really? It was hard to even really see that between Emily's parents forsaking their own marriage with hopes of trying to woo their neighbors away from their respective spouse. Chris' father, James, was also portrayed as an unbelievably cold hearted jerk but he redeems himself at the end so you feel that he got the short end of the stick in all this which I didn't like. If James was a victim, give me more than the last 3 pages of the book to say "Oh hey, he's really not so bad" which was pretty much what ended up happening.

I gave this book a 3 out of 5 because there were some qualities of the book such I liked. The emotions the parents were feeling on both sides (except Melanie Gold, Emily's mother, she just went psychotic) feasible and at some parts you kind of forgot about the 2nd rate soap opera going on and really felt your heart strings tug for them.

If you don't go into this wanting a compelling read on the subject of suicide, but a book about everyone else's drama that just somehow revolved around a suicide you can get something out of it.

This was just "okay" for me. I found that it was easily predictable, however my heart was racing towards the end just wondering what would happen. Jodi Picoult books always have a great ending, but when I went to bed after just finishing the book I kept thinking about the vivid descriptions of the sucicide. Needless to say, I didn't sleep well and while this was a great read, it just didn't sit with me well afterwards.

This book was okay, but not one of Jodi Piccoult's better ones. I found it predictable, although one of the things I do love about Jodi Piccoult's writing is how close you get to the characters. I find her books slow in the beginning and this one followed that path. There were things touched on in the book that never really developed, and I'm not sure why. True to form, however, Jodi Piccoult puts a twist on things at the end, which makes her one of my favorite writers. Even if it doesn't turn out to be one of your favorite Piccoult books, it's a good read.

The first time I read this book, it was in one sitting. And even though I remembered more-or-less how it would end, it still made for an exciting re-read.

It follows the time-skipping format, concluding in the same court room drama as _Mercy_ and _Nineteen Minutes_. It is a very realistic novel and more true-to-heart and it's no coincidence that the cover of my copy advertises that it's going to be made into a Lifetime movie. I wonder if it ever did...

It also introduces the recurring character, defense attorney Jordan McAfee who is quite likable in each of his sporadic appearances, especially his close relationship with his son.

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The book was very enjoyable with its twists and turns and it was a quick read! However, this being the second Jodi Picoult novel I've read, I've found the characters and the roles of each character rather formulaic and recylced. I also didn't enjoy the ending; it didn't tie together well enough and there were quite a few characters that simply just "walked out" of the book without any idea of how the outcome of the trial affected them.

Excellent Read

I thought this book was a great read. Although I was confused as to why Emily was so depressed.

This book is as usual, a very good Jodi book. It makes the reader want to continually read to get to the bottom of what really happened. It is about true love that most of us could not comprehend.

A book that twisted and turned it's way through love, betrayal, and sadness. Amazing Picoult seems to write every angle of the story.

I couldn't put it down! I read this book in a day! Excellent book, with every page drawing you in until you are certain you know the outcome... but do you? I really recommend this book!

Just never finished reading this one...for some reason it sounded to depressing to me ..I hear it was great...I just must not have been in the right frame of mind to read it.I really do like all of her books.

Depressing but really good. Picoult is one of my favorites.

This is one of the best books i have read recently. It was my first book read that was writen by Picoult. Anyone can relate to the love that Emily and Chris had.

It's sad, but I think this book is more timely than I would care to guess. Have you seen the movie on the Lifetime movie network? I haven't! I'm just resting in the belief that the book is always better!

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