Second Glance by Jodi Picoult

Second Glance

by Jodi Picoult

(Stephen's updated bibliography of short fiction)

(Review first appeared in The West Australian)

Second Glance is an amazing novel, which careens across genre boundaries so energetically that it's difficult to describe (or design a cover for, judging by the results). It is undeniably a ghost story, and a murder mystery with strong police procedural elements, as well as a romance or two, plus a fascinating slab of historical novel about one of the lesser-known real horrors of 1930s America. Even if you don't normally enjoy any of these types of book, you may want to read this just for Picoult's skill at creating fascinating characters.

Beginning with a great first line - "Ross Wakeman succeeded the first time he killed himself, but not the second or third." - Second Glance introduces so many characters so quickly that you may find yourself having to take notes before the first chapter is done. Ross is an investigator of alleged hauntings, who has given up suicide because he suspects he's invincible. An ancient professor hears a baby crying in an old people's home. A cop rousts teenagers from a cemetery as it snows rose petals. Ghostly flies spell out a Native American word for 'baby'. A mother with a nine-year-old son fatally allergic to ultraviolet light has exchanged day for night, and has nightmares while she's awake.

Slowly, these threads and others begin to weave themselves into an intricate tapestry. When Ross discovers that his boss, TV ghost-hunter Curtis Warburton, is faking evidence, he quits his job and seeks refuge with his sister Shelby and her son (Ethan, the nine-year-old slowly being killed by sunlight) in Comtosook. The professor, Spencer Pike, has just sold land in Comtosook to a property developer, enraging the local Native American tribe, the Abenaki. The Akenaki maintain there's an ancient burial ground on the land that Pike inherited from his wife, but no remains have been found there - only some pottery shards and 1932 pennies.

Picoult then takes us to 1932, and the events leading up to the death of Pike's wife Cecelia, supposedly murdered by an Abenaki called Gray Wolf, who later disappeared. The younger Pike is revealed as an avid supporter of a eugenics movement as vicious as Nazi Germany's (whose laws it inspired). Seventy years later, Cecelia's ghost sets Ross, Ethan, and Abenaki cop Eli Rochert on a quest to discover the truth about her death - and her life. Eli uses a mixture of modern forensic techniques, including DNA fingerprinting, and old-fashioned detective work, to reveal that Cecelia and Pike's story has twists that even they had never suspected - and that it isn't over.

As a supernatural thriller, Second Glance is on a par with The Sixth Sense or The Others, or one of Stephen King's novels without the more visceral elements. Running parallel to the ghost story is an equally well constructed scientific detective story, complete with coroner's reports and detailed DNA charts. The real strength, though, is the troubled but likeable characters - Ross, Ethan, Shelby, Eli, Cecilia, and others.

Second Glance is not without flaws. The plot occasionally hinges on coincidences which verge on the miraculous. Some of the clues might as well have neon signs attached, so some of the 'surprises' aren't particularly surprising. Picoult's children seem too mature for their age - much less convincing than those in Stephen King's It or The Body. There are inconsistencies in the timeline, such as a character in 2001 having newspaper clippings from 2002. And the romance subplots and writing become a little mawkish in places, especially near the end. On the whole, though, this is a thoroughly intriguing novel which should appeal to a wide variety of reading tastes.

Publisher: Atria (hardcover 2003) ; Atria (hardcover Large print edition 2003) ;

Atria (hardcover signed edition 2003) ; Washington Square Press (paperback, 2004);

Hardcover is 432 pages ; Hardcover (large print edition) is 560 pages ; Paperback is 448 pages

ISBN: 0743454502 (Atria hardcover) ; 0743462661 (Atria large print hardcover)

0743477359 (Atria hardcover signed edition)

0743454510 (Washington Square Press paperback)