Book Review: Lone Wolf

Jodi Picoult knows how to write an engaging tale. Lone Wolf is no exception. I like her method of intertwining stories, so the book pulls together from multiple perspectives. Voices are distinctive, characters are human, motives are muddled at times, and the reader will keep turning pages.

From the book blurb: In the wild, when a wolf knows its time is over, when it knows it is of no more use to its pack, it may sometimes choose to slip away. Dying apart from its family, it stays proud and true to its nature. Humans aren't so lucky.

Lone Wolf is about Luke Warren, a scientist who's studied and lived with wolves his whole life. His bonds with a wolf pack are almost tighter than with his own family - ex wife Georgie, son Edward who fled to Thailand for a new life, and daughter Cara, who lived with her father and is fiercely loyal. But she was in the pivotal car crash that brings them all back to the hospital to make life/death decisions.

Here's Cara talking about her father to a court psychologist: "Have you ever been swimming in the summer when a cloud comes in front of the sun. You know how, for a few seconds, you are absolutely freezing in the water. But, then all of a sudden the sun's back out and you're warm again and when you tell people how much fun you had swimming you wouldn't even think to mention those clouds." Cara shrugged. "That's what it's like with my father."

Family secrets, motives, relationships, and love are written in the layers of this story. Picoult writes human emotions in depth, and it's easy to sympathize and empathize with each character. Lone Wolf will keep your interest and keep you guessing as to whether this family can pull together for tough choices.