3.75 stars

Nina is a lawyer, a prosecutor who usually takes on child sexual abuse cases. She is horrified (this happens very early in the book, so not a spoiler) when her 5-year old son, Nathanial, stops talking and she learns that he was molested. She knows how traumatic it is for kids to have to testify to put their molester away and if they are convicted, they aren’t in jail for nearly long enough.

This drew me in right away with the intro/set up, but I didn’t like the ending (I took ¼ star off for the end). I didn’t like many of the things Nina did/didn’t agree with her logic for some of it; I did, for the most part, agree with her husband Caleb and how he saw things. I learned something new about DNA that I found that very interesting. There were a few twists, and I did figure a couple of them out ahead of time (but not all). ( )

Not too bad. Read a couple of other Jodie Picoults. The worst one was on Aspergers. So far this is the best. Not the fastest moving or best written book. But I guess something any parent anywhere can relate to. ( )

There’s no doubt that Jodi Picoult is a gifted writer and wonderful story teller. She has the ability to leave the reader breathless with awe and emotion, tale spinning into despair from an unforeseen plot twist. This book – well, it’s not that it doesn’t have the unforeseen plot twist, it’s just that it’s rather predictable.

The book was good, it kept my attention, but I had several eye rolling, “Yeah, right,” moments. Jodi Picoult, you’re better than that. When I read your books, I want to be shred into a little pile of kleenex bits and then scattered in every direction.

I want to feel the strength of your typing hand as it reaches inside my chest, grips my heart in a cruel fist, and wrenches it from my body. I want to feel . . . something. This book did not any much emotion in me. It left me feeling meh. No tears, but not a complete waste of time. 4 stars. ( )

This is a review I wrote in 2007:

If you're already a Picoult fan, you won't be disappointed here. There's her usual great writing style, drawing you in as a reader, right from the start and getting you hooked and emotionally involved from the very beginning. This is another heart-wrenching story, exploring dangerous moral and legal ground, and it's impossible to leave the book alone until you know how the story ends. However, I've only rated this one 4 stars because I get the impression with this one that the author herself has got so caught up in the emotions of her characters that maybe the book doesn't quite end how the story would end in real life. It's a small niggle but I'd have preferred to see the book end in a more realistic way. That said, still worth reading!

Nina Frost, assistant district attorney, is married to Caleb (he works in construction) and between them they have a delightful five-year-old son, Nathaniel. They are a happy family & their lives seem content and rounded in every way, both parents sharing roles in Nathaniel's life. Nina's job is harrowing. Every day she is involved in prosecuting people involved in child molestation. She sees first hand the trauma and devastation that families experience as she, the prosecutor, tries to have someone locked up and put away for the crime, and she also knows how difficult it can be to secure a conviction....

All this knowledge makes it all the more difficult to deal with when she and her husband discover that their happy-go-lucky son, Nathaniel, has been sexually abused.

This can be at times a harrowing read, but also plausible in the main. Full of suspense, heightened emotion and difficult moral choices, watch as the case unravels & I'm sure you won't be able to put it down until you've finished the last page. ( )

Although the behavior of the Mom upset me, I enjoyed the way it made me think about how people handle abuse when it happens to your own family. The Mom works as an attorney for the department for child abuse. Then her son stops talking when it occurs to him. Too quickly accuses husband then her priest. Knows how to use system to get off murder charge by being temporarily crazy. Puts her son who acts older than 5 through more traumas. Questioned her friendship with cop, Patrick. Husband Calab at first comes across as too much of a doormat to her steamroller behaviors. ( )