Salem Falls

I have been hearing so much about Jodi Picoult's writing lately and so I decided to give her a try and I grabbed Salem Falls when I was last at the library. While the subject matter and tone of the book is a bit heavy, I decided to go for it and see if I would also enjoy Picoult's work.

When Jack St. Bride was released from prison, after serving eight months for a crime he says he didn't commit, he was looking for a quiet town where he could try to rebuild his life. What he found was Salem Falls, a sleepy little town in New Hampshire, and Addie Peabody, a woman with ghosts of her own. Just when Jack thinks he has found someplace he can stay, four bored high school girls are at the center of the shattering of this life.

This book is the same story of the Salem Witch trials in many ways. In fact, I could call this story a modern incarnation of the witch hunts - Picoult re-enforces this similarity by choosing to place her story in the town of Salem Falls, though I think she may also mean that here, Salem, and the story of those times, falls. I am not sure about that but I do know I enjoyed the book. The characters were human, some with lots of flaws and some with just a few, but all humanly flawed. It was a great depiction of small town life, with all the secrets buried under the skin of the town's life. There were some characters that I grew to detest, based on their actions, but I disliked them more because they were realistic in their thoughts and choices.

All in all, I was very happy with this book and am now very interested in other books by Picoult. Luckily for me, I have a copy of My Sister's Keeper waiting on the nightstand for me to pick up and I think I will be diving into that as soon as I next sit down to read.

Rating: 4.5