“This would've got 5 stars - because I'm a sucker like that and absolutely loved this book to no end - however, Nineteen Minutes, although a great book, enraged me in a way that only Picoult fans will know about. Her previous book, The Pact, which also had Jordan McAfee in it, was the novel that got me into Picoult's writing, and I loved it. Alot. However, although the stories were different, I did find so many similarities between the plots.
**
For example, the fact that Peter and Chris (from The Pact) had fathers who were hunters, and therefore took their guns to do the shooting with. The fact that Chris and Emily grew up together, and Peter and Josie grew up together. The fact that Melanie and Gus were best friends then broke up, and the fact that Alex and Lacy were best friends then broke up. The fact that Emily got pregnant, and Josie got pregnant. The fact that Chris went up on the stand in court, as did Peter, and both ended up saying things that Jordan hadn't told them to.
**
Overall I loved the book, but there were enough similarities - those I mentioned are just the memorable ones - to fill like, two pages in an A5 notepad. The twists at the end were similar, too. So, really, unless you couldn't give a crap about things like that - the similarities may have even been intentional - I don't recommend this to anyone who's already read The Pact. Likewise, don't read The Pact if you've read Nineteen Minutes. The Pact was so much more thrilling than this one in the twists and turns, probably because they were new and exciting, so it's a bit unsettling reading a book written ten years after that is literally the same story but with different characters and a different circumstance. But don't let that put you off, because again Jodi Picoult has managed to produce a great and thought-provoking story that I will definitely read again.”
Aimee wrote this review Friday, January 2 2009.
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