Second Glance
Jodi Picoult
(Reviewer - Narayan Radhakrishnan)
2003 Atria Books/Simon & Schuster
ISBN: 0743454502

An intricate tale of love, haunting memories & a crime of passion.

Sr. Associate Reviewer Narayan Radhakrishnan writes:

Second Glance is a ghost story, but not a horror story--well at the most, it can classify as a tender & romantic horror story.

Picoult, the acclaimed author of The Pact & The Perfect Match has in Second Glance devolved on the study of paranormal effects--in the background of a murder mystery--as the theme for the novel.

The story begins with the sale of a plot of land in Vermont, however, the local tribal people protest the sale as the same was an ancient burial ground. All the efforts of the developer to convince the local people to shed their superstitious believes have ended in failure. When certain odd events take place in the area, he calls upon Curtis & Maylene Warburton, proclaimed ghost hunters, to help him to find out the “real truth.”

Accompanying the Warburtons is suicide maniac Ross Wakeman. Ever since his fiancée's death, Ross has been desperately trying to kill himself--making sure he was struck by lightning--driving his car into a lake, but all his best attempts at suicide end dismally. The only thing keeping Ross alive is an uncanny feeling that he might be able to communicate with his deceased fiancée--& it is only for that he joins the Warburton team.

Ross, however, is in for shock when in an astounding development he feels contacted by a ghost, a woman who was murdered in 1932. Her death was reported as a suicide. Together with police officer Eli Rochert, the duo investigates--opening some closed old secrets, that will change the whole history of this sleepy Vermont town.

With a colorful cast of characters including the oldest resident in town, 103-year-old Az Thompson, Ross' nephew Ethan, who suffers from a rare & near fatal skin disease &, of course, the Ghosts themselves, Second Glance provides interesting reading.

It is fast paced & a wonderful “whydunnit.” In the end it is immaterial whether you believe in ghosts, Second Glance is a mighty good read.

Then why, you ask, only 3 teapots? Well, Picoult is a great storyteller, & Perfect Match & The Plain Truth had provided intense reading pleasure--I was expecting something on those lines--& Second Glance is not up to that level.

For the uninitiated Picoult reader, however, Second Glance will provide great reading pleasure.

More from Jodi Picoult: Perfect Match
Plain Truth
The Pact
Keeping Faith: A Novel
Harvesting the Heart
Songs of the Humpback Whale: A Novel in Five Voices
Salem Falls.
(07/13/03)

Narayan
2003©Narayan Radhakrishnan
A RebeccasReads.Com Sr. Associate Reviewer

Reviewer's Bio:
I am a 26 years old lawyer practicing in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Along with my legal practice, I have finished post-graduate studies for both Business Law & Human Rights. I am a self proclaimed numero-uno legal thriller lover & am the proud owner of all of Grisham's & Turow's novels. I enjoy John Mortimer's Rumpole & relish an occasional Martini & a rare Scot(ch)t-oline with a Patterson on the side.

My work A FICTION OF LAW is now about 500 pages in length & features 500 lawyer authors & 2000 legal thrillers covering a 300 year period - inclusive of entries from the USA, UK, Asia, Europe, China, Middle East etc. Still in search of a publisher.
www.keralatourism.org