This is my first book by Ms Picoult and I like her style. Who would have known you could artfully connect Eskimo culture, Dante's Inferno and real life teen culture and the story remain intact? Character development was excellent and the story was believable. Though I guessed the ending of this story, It doesn't spoil the experience. Thanks for a decent read- I'm off to find another one of your books. ( )

So dark and unsettling, as Picoult novels always are, but a page turner that keeps you up ALL NIGHT. ( )

Back when I was still working, Jodi Picoult was popular with our library patrons, so I figured I should give one of her books a try. I chose this one because one of the main characters -- the father -- was a comic book creator and I love omic books. So I bought the book and somehow never got around to reading it. Until now, a decde or so later.

The plot revolves around Daniel Stone, a comic book artist working on writing ann original comic based on Dante's levels of Hell, a subject his college professor wife teaches. A work-from-home parent, he has a strong bond with their 14-year-old daughter, Trixie. Life seems perfect until Trixie tells her father her older boyfriend raped her. From there, things spiral out of control

What once seemed perfect reveals itself to be full of lies and deceptions, all with consequences, from the aftermath of the rape accusation to Daniel's wife's infidelity. Slowly, Picoult peels back the layers until the truths are revealed. There are plot twists, some I figured out and some that surprised me, but this isn't a traditional mystery. It's more a look at a family that seems perfect until the family members are forced by circumstances to look more closely.

I could say more about the characters -- the blurb certainly does -- but the only other thing I'll mention is the comic book within the book, as Picoult got an artist to illustrate pages of Daniel's story of a man literally going to Hell to save his daughter, a knowing nod at life imitating art, fictional though both may be. That, and Picoult's easy prose that makes this a fast, compelling read. ( )

This is a review I wrote in 2007:

Essentially a story of a family that has become dysfunctional almost overnight. Without spoiling the plot, mum Laura, a university professor, hasn't been paying close attention to family life at home, dad Daniel has secrets from his past, and their daughter, 14-year-old Trixie comes home in the early hours of the morning and confesses to her dad that she's been raped.... more revelations follow.

For a Picoult novel, this one is particularly harrowing (given the subject). Although all her novels are deep and disturbing this one I have found the most difficult to read in terms of subject. However, she writes as well as ever and her style of writing makes the book a compulsive read. This one lacks the court room scene (her trademark) but it doesn't miss anything for this.

However, 3 stars because the book ends very abruptly. When I turned over the last page I was literally expecting another chapter and had to turn back to check I'd read the last paragraph right. In another way it's also quite far-fetched in its extremes, and didn't speak to me as well as some of her other novels such as "Plain Truth" and "Keeping Faith".

If you're new to Picoult, I'd start with a different novel. ( )

Like all her books, this one dealt with contemporary issues. Marriage on the rocks because one does not stay faithful, daughter given all the attention in the world still wants peer approval more than anything, teen behaviors that cross the line. The graphic novel part was OK but not my style and as a result did not add much to the story for me. I enjoyed the father with his past still haunting him, his behaviors understood when the Alaska way of living is more fully explained and actually being there by the end with the dogsled race. The mother did not win me with her actions or her reasons. ( )