
New York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult, known for tackling today's hot-button issues, delivers the riveting tale of one small town's entanglement with high-school violence.
New York Superior Court Judge Alex Cormier is assigned to preside over the case of the alleged Sterling High School shooter. Lawyer Jordan McAffee represents Peter, the boy who, on the day of the shooting, was found in the corner of the gymnasium holding a gun to his head with a shaky hand. Detective Patrick DuCharme has one star witness, but her story keeps changing. And then there's the biggest problem of all: the star witness happens to be Judge Cormier's daughter.
Picoult, acclaimed for her penetrating explorations of the gray areas in modern society, asks difficult questions in Nineteen Minutes, which may be her most powerful and important novel yet.
Don't miss more from Jodi Picoult.
©2007 Jodi Picoult; (P)2007 Recorded Books LLC
"Brilliantly told....The author's insights into her characters' deep-seated emotions brings this ripped-from-the-headlines read chillingly alive." (Publishers Weekly)
"Every bit as gripping and moving as Picoult's previous novels, Nineteen Minutes will no doubt garner considerable attention for its controversial subject and twist ending." (Booklist)
"Picoult spins fast-paced tales of family dysfunction, betrayal, and redemption....[Her] depiction of these rites of contemporary adolescence is exceptional: unflinching, unjudgmental, utterly chilling." (The Washington Post)
Recent events and Picoult's powerful description of the horrors of a school shooting make this a hard story to hear. Carol Monda's voice is calm as she leads listeners back and forth through time, revealing the shooter, Peter's, torment. Bullied since kindergarten, he can't put up with it a moment longer and in 19 minutes guns down 10 students and injures many more. Peeling back the layers of story until black-and-white becomes gray, Picoult reveals the stress of high school social structures, parents' pain, and characters who come to see deeper truths about themselves. Monda's gift is her ability to shift seamlessly among the many roles, imbuing each with a meaningful characterization. (c) AudioFile 2007
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