Best book I’ve read in a long time. Loved it. ( )

(2013) Pretty good tale about the mysterious death of a women who appeared to be trampled by elephants. The real story is about elephants and their behavior. Well crafted.KIRKUS REVIEWA decade after the disappearance of an elephant researcher, her 13-year-old daughter, a washed-up private detective and a has-been psychic team up to find answers.As in Lone Wolf, (2012) Picoult uses fiction to illustrate the plight of animals who are being decimated by humans, in this case elephants who are endangered by everything from poachers to circuses. Teenage Jenna, daughter of missing-scientist Alice, launches a search for her mother, who vanished from the hospital after being found unconscious on the grounds of a New Hampshire elephant refuge where a co-worker was fatally trampled. Jenna's father, Thomas, has been in a psychiatric hospital since the incident, and she lives with her grandmother, who refuses to discuss Alice's fate. Jenna shares narrative duties with three others: Virgil, a police detective?turned?drunken private eye whose law enforcement career crashed and burned as a result of the botched investigation into the trampling death; Serenity, a clairvoyant, who was a national celebrity until her spirit guides deserted her in the middle of the search for a senator's kidnapped child; and Alice herself, who details past events leading up to the pivotal crisis. As a young graduate student doing fieldwork at an African game preserve, Alice studied the grieving rituals of elephants, which include revering the bones of departed ancestors and burying deceased loved ones with leaves and grass. In Africa, Alice recognizes a kindred spirit in a visitor, Thomas, who runs a New Hampshire sanctuary for abused elephants rescued from circuses and zoos. She joins him there, marries him, gives birth to Jenna and begins to question her husband's sanity. Thus the seeds are sewn for a thriller that involves noble pachyderms, adultery and a breathless chase across several states. The pages turn apace, though Virgil labors under too many noir clich?s, and wisecracking Serenity seems to be on loan from a Susan Isaacs novel.The ending borrows unforgivably from a source it would be equally unforgivable to reveal.Pub Date: Oct. 14th, 2014ISBN: 978-0-345-54492-6Page count: 416ppPublisher: BallantineReview Posted Online: July 31st, 2014Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15th, 2014

I love elephants. I do not love Jodi Picoult.

There were parts of this book I enjoyed quite a bit but overall I feel like I spent too much time with it. The elephant education got repetitive and dry after awhile, the characters eventually turned into caricatures and the final twist....it surprised me (in retrospect it really shouldn't have) but I also found it ridiculous and not particularly satisfying.

I have been annoyed with all of her books even though they are very readable. I think if you typically enjoy her you will like this. If you don't enjoy her - skip this. ( )

this was a fabulous read. The entire plot is heavily centered on elephants-- how they grieve and how scientists try to reckon what can be observed logically and what can be discovered by observing emotion. It ties in so well to the human drama, that the elephants aren't a background, but they're just as vital in their personalities as the people are. Family dynamics and their impact are the heart of the book.

It's a very matter-of-fact book at the start, our hero is an intelligent, funny young teenager named Jenna, who is a great mix of curious and stubborn without being annoyingly precocious. The book slowly starts descending into metaphysics/psychics, and one of the main characters is a disgraced psychic, so we are given hints at it. Still, bringing that element into a book centered around an endangered species and a skeptical ex-cop and scientists could have REALLY failed, if not for Picoult's deft touch. It really felt like she lived with her cast as she created them, and sometimes I was gripping the book hard, worried about them. As much as I love reading, that doesn't happen often.

A mix of thriller, mystery, family drama, love story and more... if you're a Picoult fan, I can't imagine you'd be disappointed. If you're a new reader to her like i was this was a fantastic place to start. ( )

Loved it, of course. ( )