Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Oh my god.  This book was awesome.  It's definitely in my top 3 Jodi books.  It dives right into the story, right into the good part, which I love, because it captivated me from the beginning.  It's about a school shooting and it jumps back and forth in time as it goes through the story which makes it interesting.  You want to know what happens but you have to wait to the get to the point in time in the present when it makes sense to go back into the past to explain what happened there.  Does that sound confusing? 

Anyway, it goes through the story of the shooter and what his life was like in high school, what led him to the day of the shooting, and then there is another twist at the end.  Which I can't believe I didn't figure out until they were explaining it at the end.  I should have seen it coming.  It wraps everything up at the end too.  Which rarely happens in the books I read. 

I would recommend this book, unless you aren't interested in the subject matter.  It's completely 100% based around the shooting.  And of course there is a trial and a side love story that just happens...classic inclusions in Jodi's books.

Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult

I just finished this book yesterday.  It's a book club book.  It's about a man who is convicted for raping a teenage girl (he is a teacher).  He spends eight months in jail and then tries to settle into a small town called Salem Falls.  He picked the wrong town.  It's small, picture perfect, with no trouble.  Pretty soon the whole town discovers his previous conviction.  And one thing leads to another before he is being accused of rape from another teenage girl.  A girl who has a group of three friends, and all of them are witches.  There is a twist at the end.  One I had figured out this time by the middle of the book.  But it is written to make you question whether or not the twist you think you've figured out is the right one.  I won't give any more away.  It was pretty good.

Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult

I love Jodi.  I've run out of things to say about her books.  They follow the same general pattern but it's always a different story.  This one is about a little girl who thinks she can see and talk to god.  But god is a woman.  It goes through the life of her mother, who gets a divorce, and then has to deal with the media attention Faith receives.  There is a custody battle, a side love story, and a bitter sweet ending.  I enjoy all her books but this one doesn't spring out as a favorite.