Change of Heart

Do you ever run across a book that is so engrossing you almost want to stay home “sick” and finish the book? That’s the way I felt while reading Jodi Piccoult’s latest book Change of Heart. I’ve only read three of Piccoult’s book so far and I have yet to be disappointed. Her books are thrillers, but not in the sense of guns, car chases, and things of that nation. The stories are intense and move at an incredible pace. Your heart races right along with the characters as you find yourself pulled into their stories.

Change of Heart is about a young man, Shay Bourne, who is on death row, having been convicted of killing a six year old girl and her step father who was a policeman. The policeman’s wife was pregnant at the time of the killing. That daughter is now in need of a heart and Shay wants to be executed in such a way that will allow him to donate his heart transplant. To add to the mix: once Shay moves on to I-tier at the prison, events reminiscent of Stephen King’s Green Mile begin to happen.

It is told in first person from the points of view of all the key characters, the policeman’s widow, the inmate in the cell next to Shay, the ALCU lawyer who wants to use Shay’s case to strike a blow against the death penalty and Shay’s spiritual advisor (who just happened to have served on the jury that convicted him and gave him the death penalty.)

I always tell friends who catch me reading a Piccoult book that I enjoy her books because there’s always a twist you were not quite expecting. That is true with this book. I had a worked out a few things before the end of the book, but Piccoult still had a surprise or two in store.

If you can get a copy from your local library this is an excellent book to read. It won’t take you long because you won’t be able to put it down.