House Rules by Jodi Picoult

"Frankly, I wonder who Frank was, and why he has an adverb all to himself" (pg 101) Great question! Jacob has Asperger's syndrome and he asks great questions! He also makes me question my family. Most of the topics that he is told are inappropriate, have, at some point, been fodder for our dinner time conversations.

 I know, I know ... Jodi Picoult = formulaic writing, no surprises, basic and easy to read. It's true. You know there will be a twist and, because you are looking for it, it's pretty easy to figure out. The characters are all intrinsically flawed and lovable anyway.

Still, 'House Rules' is a, mostly, fun read. The dialog is fast and smart and there's a bit of a love story sub plot for romance fans. Sometimes the forensics talk in the book gets bogged down and, I confess, I skipped ahead when I got bored. Thinking about it later I had to wonder if Ms Picoult did this on purpose to help us understand what it would be like to sit and actually talk face to face with Jacob, or if she just got lost in the facts. Being a bit of a forensics fan myself, I am now heading to google to check out some of the cases referenced in the book, that I've never heard of.

Worth a read. Especially if you liked "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime".

To order this book from amazon, click here: House Rules: A Novel