The Pact by Jodi Picoult

Since reading My Sister's Keeper and Nineteen Minutes, I've been wanting to read another of Jodi Picoult's books. Her courage to write about such controversial topics that require so much research and fact-checking has been remarkable. From a girl who sues her parents over the right to her own body to school shootings and The Pact's focal point of teenage suicide, Jodi Picoult has covered many issues that plague the world today that most authors dare not touch. When I read her books, it's as if I'm journeying into the minds of all those who took part in the events to see what was really going on. It's this and the many other aspects of her writing that led me to read The Pact: A Love Story.

Chris Harte and Emily Gold are lifelong neighbors and best friends. Their parents are best friends too and the two families are practically inseparable, so it's no wonder that both sets of parents have always hoped that they would end up together. Then suddenly, Emily is dead from a gun shot while Chris is in the hospital and being investigated for her murder. He initially claims that the two were planning to kill themselves together--a suicide pact.

Through the use of flashbacks and the present state of all the characters during the trials, Picoult conveys how they feel well. The point of view is from Chris, his lawyer, Emily, each of their parents, and even more. However, some characters' stories are a little more interesting than others which made the pace feel very slow at times. The book is also split up into three parts: Part I: The Boy Next Door; Part II: The Girl Next Door; and Part III: The Truth. The title of each part tells exactly what it was mainly about.

The one part of the book that I really felt the emotion in was Chris' "confession" during the trial. I won't give anything away, but the description of what actually took place that fatal night was so emotional that I even cried. I felt how Emily felt, I felt how Chris felt and I knew exactly how both of them felt about each other even if they didn't know it themselves. It was the deciding factor of the whole trial.

All in all, I really enjoyed The Pact. Learning about the characters' true feelings and dark secrets allowed me as a reader to put some of the pieces together myself. There were only some minor flaws like the epilogue and some of the ending. Still, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Picoult's books.