Book Review- Perfect Match

I just finished reading the book Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult.

The basic storyline is interwoven with the theme of how much is covered by a mother's love?  When is it taking it too far?

The mom in this book, Nina Frost, is a district attorney.  She sees kids every day who have been sexually abused.  She sees the horrors they have been through and the torture it puts their moms through to deal with not only the scars of the abuse, but the terror of testifying in court.  Most of the time it is very difficult to obtain physical evidence in these types of crimes because children often delay reporting.  They are often very close to the abuser and feel scared to tell.  By the time they do divulge, evidence is long gone.  In most cases, it ends up being the child's word against the accused.  Nina has watched this play out many times.

Fast forward a bit and her son has stopped talking - seemingly for no reason.  Eventually he discloses he has been abused.  Nina thinks it is by their parish priest.  She goes to great lengths to prevent her son from having to go through the horror of a trial.  But did she go too far?

I don't want to give away everything that happens in the book.

I do want to say that it was very difficult to read this book.  It was easy to feel judgmental and righteously indignant at first.  Then I saw the other side too.  Is it EVER ok to break the law?  Is one human life valued above another?  How far is too far when it comes to protecting your child?  These are all questions racing through my mind.

I CANNOT fathom going through this with one of my children.  I honestly can read through a Picoult novel fairly quickly.  But I had to keep walking away from this book.  It just tore at my heart.  It left me with conflicting emotions and a need to process my thoughts.

No matter what conclusion you end up with at the end of this book, it is definitely a book worth reading.  These are definitely questions worth asking and thinking about and discussing with trusted friends.