Say what you want about Jodi Picoult's writing, but nobody can deny the woman knows how to write, and pulls out every stop she can to do her research and drive her point home. People have stopped me on the metro when I'm reading one of her books (side note: Please wait until someone's closed their book to interrupt them. You never know when they're at an integral part of the storyline.) and asked me if I'd recommend her, told me that they hated fiction, but she's the bridge that connects their non-fiction predilection to a foray in fiction. My least favorite thing about reading her in public is the people who like to point out that she's become predictable in her unpredictability. Really? Her books are known for courtroom spins to be sure but not all of them have it. Case in point? My favorite book of hers: Second Glance.

Ross Wakeman has merely existed for a couple of years now. Not by choice, as he's tried to end his existence for the same duration. When he lost his fiancée in a horrific car accident, going to help the other driver as Aimee appeared unhurt, he realized how wrong he was when he went to tend to her, only to find her already gone. Since then, he's become a ghost hunter. To no avail, but he won't stop searching for her. After finding out his boss is a fraud, Ross quits and heads to his sister's house in a town where a burial ground has been sold to a developer who plans a strip mall. Strange events begin occurring and Ross investigates. On the grounds, he meets a woman, Lia, who makes him feel for the first time in a long time.

Intersecting Ross' story, is the tale of Cissy Pike, a pregnant woman in the 1930s who's never felt as though she measures up to the ideals of her father and her husband Spencer, two eugenics professors who believe something very reminiscent of Hitler's one true race. Although Cissy doesn't feel absolute love for her husband, she does care about him and knows that he does love her, and that is reason enough for her to try to meet the standards which he expects.

There are so many things going on in this novel that it's hard to pick a favorite plot. Picoult has drawn parallels between today's stem cell research and compared it to the Eugenics projects of the 1930s. She's also told the love stories between a mother and a son, and a man who lost the love of his life and blames himself. Interwoven in this is a ghost story. I'm wrong, I've picked a favorite. The supernatural aspect was such an unexpected development in the plot but became such an integral part of pulling everything together. For those who say that her unexpected twists have become predictable, I'd have to say pick up Second Glance or Keeping Faith, or Change of Heart. While you're surely expecting a twist, you never know where the twists will be thrown in.