House Rules
by Jodi Picoult
Jodi Picoult's novel, House Rules, is a real page
turner because it is about a family who is trying to fit in but is suddenly the
talk of the town. One of the main characters is Jacob Hunt, who is a teenager
with Asperger’s syndrome. He cannot express himself to others and is hopeless
at reading social clues. However he has an interest in forensic analysis which
could be the cause to why he is involved with a murder in his town. Emma is the
mother of Jacob and has been protecting him from any dangers. Theo is Jacobs’s
brother who constantly feels like he is left out because his mother's focus is on
his brother. Rich is a detective who is facing problems of his own but is now
involved with Jacobs’s family. Oliver is a lonely lawyer who is representing
Jacob through a murder case. Lastly, Jess is the girl who gets murdered, or in
better words, is found dead. The muder of this girl causes Jacob to be suspected as the killer but could it really be logical for him to be able to commit such an act?
This novel is
not just about the murder that has occured but it is also about a family bond. In
the Hunt house there is only one rule that Jacob always follows which is “Take
care of your brother; he’s the only one you’ve got.” Jacob has just been
charged with murder and he keeps telling officers and detective Rich that he did
not kill Jess. He tells them that he just simply moved her body but all the
clues lead to him. Detective Rich does not understand why Jacob keeps lying to
him because he is clearly guilty with all the clues but Emma tries to explain
that he did not kill Jess. Jacob does not know how to explain himself to the
court because he has never been comfortable around a crowd that he doesn’t
know. Oliver is trying to defend Jacob but with so many clues that scream
guilty, he starts to believe that Jacob is indeed guilty of murder. When
all the clues begin to unwind, Jacob tells his story of how he found Jess in
a pool of her own blood and how he cleaned the whole scene to make it look
like something else had happened. He appeared very guilty but when the court asks him
if he killed her he keeps responding with “no, I just moved her body”. In the
end it is discovered that Jess' death is an accident because she
was startled when Theo was snooping through a house she was watching. Jacob was on his way to her house for
a meeting with her when he realized that his brother had been there before him.
Jacob cleaned the whole scene so that his brother would not be at fault for
this accident because he was simply following the family rule.
Jodi Picoult's way of write is very interesting because with each character she writes
in a different font and their own thoughts are described in the chapters. It's incredible how the readers are able to read and understand all the characters' thoughts including
Jacob who has trouble displaying his emotions. The readers get to understand what every
character is going through because Jodi Picoult gives brief background history as well
as details to what is happening outside of their life. Picoult has been known for starting the first chapter with the climax and from then on she makes the readers
wonder throughout the whole story on what really happened to Jess and how she
was killed. Of course any reader could go to the end of the book and read the final
thoughts to see what actually happened. Readers don't really know which characters to trust and Jacob was just automatically blamed because he seemed like a shady person. House Rules is a very exciting book that everyone should read because
of the high and lows of each chapter.
Great review! Sounds like a good read . . .
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