Jacob Hunt is shockingly smart. Offputtingly so. At eighteen, he can tell you virtually anything about dogs, dinosaurs, or forensic science that you never wanted to know. Thanks to his police scanner, Jacob's shown up at more than one crime scene and told the officers what they're doing wrong in their investigation. But Jacob will also melt down a the simplest deviation from his routine and it will take his mom singing Bob Marley to him while making herself a human blanket to calm him down. Jacob has Asperger's Syndrome and all of the characteristic traits of his disease go a long way toward making him look guilty of the murder of his social skills tutor, Jess.

I didn't love last year's Picoult so I was nervous to read House Rules because it holds all the elements of fascination for me. But what if it didn't? That worry was all for naught. Formulaically(I guess this isn't a word but I'm keeping it), this was classic Picoult. The guessing throughout, the differing narratives, the courtro0m and the twist. Well worth the read. The last sentence is still something I'm mulling over. I think that after Change of Heart, this is my favorite Picoult's since Second Glance in 2001.