Reviewed by bumblingbookworm on
Picoult has been an auto-buy author for me over the years, despite the fact that it's been almost 10 years since I last read one of her books. I decided to pick this up as part of my project to read all the books on my physical TBR, to see if Picoult is still an author I want to read. Unfortunately, the answer to that is no and I've given all her books to my mum because I know she'll enjoy them. On a positive note, I felt that she dealt with the sensitive and still controversial topic of abortions quite well, and the author's note at the end of the book makes it clear that this book was very well researched, with a lot of effort put into it.
Picoult remains the master of weaving together a complex story, but unfortunately this felt too clinical for me and I don't think that a story about such an emotive subject should feel so clinical. On top of that, I really didn't enjoy the reverse-timeline method, where the story is told from the end to the beginning - it loses all intrigue for me and doesn't make me want to pick up the book as a result. This is the second book I've read with this format and I disliked it in both. I also picked the 'twist' pretty much straight away, and wasn't at all impacted when it was revealed. This book was solidly written but ultimately not for me.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 22 January, 2020: Finished reading
- 22 January, 2020: Reviewed