Book 12- Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult
12. Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult. Frustrating. That's the best single word to describe this novel. There was so much to like about it. The characters are the strongest feature. Each of the main characters are so well fleshed out. They all have their flaws but remain sympathetic. Their reactions to the school shooting - the central event - are realistic. The writing is well organized, going back and forth between the present and moments in the past. Bit by bit, the reader pieces together the whys of what happened during those 19 minutes at Sterling High, a fictional suburban school set in New Hampshire. The ending has a twist that took me by surprise, but on reflection it was believable, and the clues were there. Just about every angle - bullying, tough love, parenting, societal masks, self-awareness - are weighed here.
However, there are a few issues. There's a romance that crops up between two of the characters that felt a bit contrived. If that were the only issue, I'd let it slide. Another issue involves the plot twist, which was satisfying and cleared up a couple issues. But to get to that point, the defense attorney essentially had to break an agreement outlined by a signed affidavit, which I find hard to believe that it would have been that easy. There's a couple other issues but I'm trying to stay out of spoiler territory and the plot twist makes up for and even resolves the other issues.
But the main problem I have is, to me, a fatal flaw. A lot of the court procedure was well-researched, so it's jaw-dropping that this issue would have been brought up as a plot point. And here, I have to go into spoiler territory.
SPOILER ALERT
There's a plot arc where one of the characters, Alex Cormier, a recently appointed judge, has been assigned the case involving Peter Houghton, who has been accused of killing 10 students and injuring 19 others. The problem is that her daughter Josie was injured that day (although not by Peter). Very early on, it is established that Josie was a witness to what happened, and her boyfriend Matt was a main target and one of the ones killed. This plot arc involves Alex struggling whether to take this case because it has the potential to make her career, or recuse herself to spare her daughter, who is struggling with what happened.
As the story unfolds, far more is revealed setting up multiple links between Josie and Peter, and even between Alex and Lacey, Peter's mother. Indeed, there are a lot of ties that become known to the other characters well before Alex goes so far as to hear Peter's plea.
This would never, ever happen. The connection between Josie and Matt- again, known early on, even before there's any trial-- would have been enough grounds for Alex to have to recuse herself from the case or, failing that, for someone to step in and bring it to a higher authority. Alex tries to brush off the conflict, thinking that her experience as a defense attorney can make her a good judge for the case. No, just no. No one with any legal training would buy that. Eventually, both the prosecution and defense bring up a possible conflict but it's too late to be believable, and I don't feel they pushed nearly hard enough. Neither side would benefit for having her as judge. In the end, Alex does decide to, reluctantly, step down, after the plea is entered. But things would never have been allowed to go so far, someone would have brought up the conflict well before that plea hearing. It's also unbelievable that Alex wouldn't have been censured or even suspended for not recusing herself earlier in the process. Public officials have been disciplined for less. In the end, that bit of drama wasn't even needed. There was enough going on without this arc. This just soured the book for me.
Currently reading: Bluebeard, by Kurt Vonnegut.