House Rules

House Rules
By: Jodi Picoult
FOUR out of FIVE stars

my thoughts:
Oh Jodi, you did it again. If you haven't ever read Jodi Picoult's books. DO IT! She always gives you something to ponder, life doesn't always give you an easy answer.

I should tell you this from the start, I do not know a lot about Autisim or Asperger's syndrome. I did read a few reviews and they were not favorable towards the book because it did not portray either of these syndromes correctly. To that I do not know.

I can tell you the underlying story of a brother's faithfulness to his brother. Sigh!

Something that I can say that this book made me think about though is our legal system. What measures do we have to truly protect those that have special needs? Granted maybe we do have a better system than what is portrayed in this book... I really really hope so. Lets be honest though, the court system already doesn't treat a person inisent until proven guilty. So would they really have a good system set up for those that need the extra?

There were so many places in this book that I just wanted to shake some of the characters. Again to me a sign of a good book, when they pull my emotions out.

Yes, there were a few patches of predictability. There is, with Josi ALWAYS that twist in the end  that always sets your mind racing wanting more.

the run down:

When your son can't look you in the eye...does that mean he's guilty?
Jacob Hunt is a teen with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, though he is brilliant in many ways. But he has a special focus on one subject - forensic analysis. A police scanner in his room clues him in to crime scenes, and he's always showing up and telling the cops what to do. And he's usually right.
But when Jacob's small hometown is rocked by a terrible murder, law enforcement comes to him. Jacob's behaviors are hallmark Asperger's, but they look a lot like guilt to the local police. Suddenly the Hunt family, who only want to fit in, are directly in the spotlight. For Jacob's mother, Emma, it's a brutal reminder of the intolerance and misunderstanding that always threaten her family. For his brother, Theo, it's another indication why nothing is normal because of Jacob.
And over this small family, the soul-searing question looms: Did Jacob commit murder?