I took a detour from what I called the "let's re-read all the novels in your library" spree to read book 7, The Commitment. After I finished the book, I immediately started the spree back up again! I was organizing my bookshelves, and had put my Picoult books in order. As I was doing so, I realized that after The Tenth Circle, Second Glance was my next favorite.
Second Glance tells the story of a number of characters, so it is hard to summarize. The story is about love that is timeless, about ghosts who are so tied to the world that they cannot leave, and the sacrifices that everyone makes for the people that they are tied to. It also spans across decades, taking place in the 1930's, and the current days of the 2000's. There is romance, there is death, there is life, and there is hope. On top of that, there is an unsolved mystery of a murder, a missing baby, the sordid history of eugenics, and the study of the paranormal. I know it sounds like she's grasping at plot-straws and trying too hard, but it all works and comes together.
This is Picoult at her finest. There are so many characters in this story that I worried, the first time I read it, that I would get certain people lost with others, or that there wouldn't be enough character development. Within just a few pages I knew that I had been wrong, and that the story needs all of these characters, and Picoult does not let one of them fall through the cracks and get lost. By the end of the book, you know exactly why each and every character was there, and what their lives and actions mean to all the other characters.
I give this book a 5 out of 5.
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