Second Glance by Jodi Picoult

From the moment Ross’s fiancé Aimee was killed in a car accident, he’s been trying to die too. But life won’t let him go. His only hope now is that Aimee will come to him. So when he hears of strange happenings at an ancient Indian burial ground near his sister’s home, he heads to Comtossok- desperate for the rumours of a haunting to be true. What he finds there is not Aimee’s ghost, but Lia, a very real woman whose life is filled with as many troubled secrets as his own. Ross helps the residents of Comtossok uncover long buried secrets and face their own ghosts.

★★★★★

I am so excited about this book, for two reasons other than the fact that it was amazing! It is my first Jodi Picoult read and my very first book club read! Clearly I have done well since I finished our February read in the first week of March, but I’ve already read the March book twice so I guess it evens out.

I struggled with this book in the beginning, as the first part switches points of view often. Trying to keep up with what was happening in all the different characters lives was made harder by the fact that it seemed like random stories that would never connect. How all of the characters and stories connected throughout the story was amazing, not one loose thread left! Even though it was a bit tough in the beginning, once I started to recognise characters I wanted to learn more about them and find out what or who was haunting them.

My favourite part of the book was part two. As it was mostly, if not all, from Lia’s point of view. Which made it easier to read, and it was like reading the beginning of the story in the middle. I knew that something wasn’t adding up about Meredith and Ruby’s relationship, that Spencer Pike’s story didn’t make any sense and that all of the characters are haunted by some kind of secret. Then right after we’ve found out Ross is seeing a ghost, that Lia isn’t just Lia, the whole story changed. That one connection started to bring everything together and I started to piece together the rest of the puzzle. Though I certainly missed a few!

The way you learn different pieces of information at different times is simply amazing, the writing is incredible. The way each character has their own story but interacts so well with other characters is wonderful to read. That was what I’ll remember from this book, the way the characters all had their own story storyline, but co-starred in multiple stories.

Second Glance constantly surprised me and I know that I’ll be thinking about it for a while. Almost like this book about ghosts and love that stays with us will be haunting me. But isn’t that the mark of a great book? That it stays with you long after you’ve read the last page.