I am currently in the office while others are happily lazing around in their own comfort of home. It’s not like I’m workaholic or whatnot, its just – the management need at least a person or two to be on site, every time. Every time, and that includes any public holiday that Malaysia had. It’s just my turn.

It’s not like there’s any work to do either. *sigh* (yeah yeah.. I always argue with my boss, why can’t we just work from home for the same thing..)

So I’m deadly bored. Luckily I bring this novel; managed to finish it and I still have like.. 4 hours to spend?? :’( So here goes some review about the finished book.

If previously I was obsessed with books from Dean Koontz, Dan Brown, or Agatha Christie, I’ve found another good author to be read. This is not the first Jodi Picoult books that I’ve read, in fact, this one is her fourth novels that I’ve devoured. I’ve read Mercy, Nineteen Minutes and Change of Hearts.

Bought this one online from TheBooksLover, courtesy of Dils promotion for the online bookshop (ye dils, aku click dari banner kau. Leh claim kat kau tak? HA HA). The blogshop owner is nice, packaging is good (siap dia balut macam hantar hadiah lagi!), book looks new, price is low. So oklah! No further comment required.

Thing that I like about Jodi Picoult’s novel is her mind-provoking statement. In The Pact, the questions rings something like this..

Do you really know your children?

The Harte and the Golds are neighbours; both have children – a boy and a girl, who grew up together, a long life friend, and in their teenage time, they becomes lover. Everything looks fine. She’s happy, he’s happy, everyone’s happy. Until one night, both families got a phone call from hospital.

The daughter of Golds, named Emily – shot dead. By his boyfriend, Chris Harte.

He claims it was a suicide pact between both of them. He claims Emily is suicidal, and ask for his help. He claims, he’s going to kill himself too, only that the police arrive first and he’s fainted when Emily was killed.

So the question struck both families. Why? What happened? Is it Chris who killed Emily? Or did Emily killed herself?

And that’s when everything is being revealed.. slowly.. twisted.. and gripping.

Jodi Picoult is known to start her novels quite slow, and too much attention in details for description. But once the storyline getting hotter, you can’t just let the books go. In The Pact, she touched primarily on:

• Parental issue – do we really pay attention to the child / teen? Or are we assuming that they’re fine? Or.. are we assuming they’re just going a phase?
• Incestuous relationships – when a girl and a boy have been close since they’re small, does it feels like a brother and sister, and the relationship can turn like.. incest? (Is that why Emily killed herself? )
• Suicidal tendencies – how can we identify whether a teen is suicidal? Why do they want to kill themselves? What is the psychology behind these kids head?
• Freedom of life – when your life turns 360 degree upside-down, e.g you’re suddenly in jail. What happened? Is jail the worst place ever?

Its ending is twisted, albeit guessable. This book is suitable for light reading, or when you’re boring and don’t want to think too much, but at the same time it can touch your emotions deeply.

(lagi2 kalau tengah jiwa kacau. peh sentapp!! )

But.

Readers need to be old enough to understand about the parental parts.Even though the words are simple and not too bombastic, the explanation and the moods between adults and teens – and a little sex scene, might be a bit confusing (and not suitable for underage children).

Shit. Does that mean I’m too old now?