Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

I have turned in to a huge Jodi Picoult fan. Her books are always about topics with grey areas between what you typically think of as right or wrong and always make me stretch outside of my normal thinking about situations. They are the kind of books you can't put down and have you talking about the topics of the book with anyone who will listen.

I don't ever remember being a bully or getting bullied in school. But apparently it happens often. In Jodi Picoult's book Nineteen Minutes, Peter is terrorized by bullies from the moment he steps on the school bus on his first day of school. Throughout elementary school he has his one and only friend Josie. But when Josie finds popularity, she feels it is so precarious a status and is so afraid of losing it, that she stops being friends with Peter. Peter endures the physical and mental abusive throughout high school until one final event sends him over the edge and he commits an act of violence that can't be taken back.

The book follows Peter, his parents, Josie, her mother, and basically the whole town through the aftermath, investigation, and trial. It is so interesting to see how the different characters in the book react and cope with what has happened and there is a twist in the end that you might not see coming.

Again it was another great book from Jodi Picolt and one of my all time favorites.

I give this one 4.5 out of 5 stars!