Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Piccoult
I've read this one before, but no matter how many times I try to recall the ending, I just keep thinking that there was some twist at the end that I'm forgetting. Not that that part will matter to you (because I just can't spoil the ending), but that (and the fact that I remember loving the book the first time I read it) are the reasons I am re-reading it. :)
The story revolves around a school shooting. Peter is the shooter (a student at the school), and while everyone in the community is mourning those who were killed, Peter finds himself fighting to prove that he is the victim. Josey is the judges daughter. Her boyfriend, Matt, was killed in the shooting (one of the "popular guys" in school who used to pick on "geeks" like Peter), her mom is the judge on the case, and her and Peter have a history (even if it was elementary school). With all of these things mixing themselves together in Josey's life, she finds herself confused. She is rethinking her plan to commit suicide, she is rethinking her life and how she was living it, and she is rethinking her relationships with her friends as well as her mother (who has been her only parents growing up).
Also thrown into the mix of this story is Judge Alex Cormier's feelings (about her daughter and her position as a judge among other things), as well as the life and stories of the head investigator on the case and Peter's attorney, and Peter's parents. Each character brings a new aspect to the story. Each new twist makes you wonder if you should be hating Peter, or believing, as he does, that he is the victim in this horrible situation.
Emotions take on many roles in this story, and as a reader, my emotions have gone all over the map with this one. There is sadness intermixed with happy memories. There is heartbreak intermixed with love. There is a feeling of losing one's self intermixed with development and discovery of one's self.
Jodi Piccoult is one of my all time favorite authors, and this is one of my favorites or her books that I have read. Going from memory (since I haven't finished the book this time around) I would say...3.5 out of 5. Over all a good plot and a great read.
