A Spark of Light

August 1, 2018
A day at a Mississippi abortion clinic unfurls backward as a self-appointed avenging angel wreaks havoc.Picoult's latest takes the unusual tack of proceeding in reverse. At 5 p.m., the Center, Mississippi's last remaining abortion clinic, is awash in blood as Hugh McElroy, a Jackson police negotiator, is still bargaining with George Goddard, the deranged gunman who has occupied the Center for hours. Five hostages have been released, two gravely wounded: Hugh's sister, Bex, and Dr. Louie Ward, the Center's surgeon (whom, according to her author's note, Picoult based on the outspoken abortion provider Dr. Willie Parker). One person inside is dead, and Hugh is still waiting for word of his teenage daughter, Wren, who had gone to the Center for a prescription for birth control pills, accompanied by her aunt Bex. As the day moves backward, several voices represent a socio-economic cross-section of the South; a few are on the front lines of the anti-abortion vs. abortion-rights war--but most are merely seeking basic women's health care. Olive, 68, is at the Center for a second opinion; Janine, an anti-abortion activist, is there to spy; Joy is seeking an abortion; and Izzy is pregnant and conflicted. George wants revenge--his daughter recently had an abortion. A third father-daughter story runs parallel to the hostage crisis: A teenager named Beth, hospitalized for severe bleeding, is being prosecuted for murder after having taken abortifacient drugs she'd ordered online at 16 weeks pregnant. At times, Picoult defaults to her habitual sentimentality, particularly in describing the ties that bind Hugh, Wren, and Bex. This novel is unflinching, however, in forcing readers to witness the gory consequences of a mass shooting, not to mention the graphic details of abortions at various stages of gestation and the draconian burdens states like Mississippi have placed on a supposed constitutional right. For Dr. Ward, an African-American, "the politics of abortion" have "so much in common with the politics of racism." The Times Arrow- or Benjamin Button-like backward structure adds little except for those ironic tinges hindsight always provides.Novels such as this extensively researched and passionate polemic are not necessarily art, but, like Sinclair Lewis' The Jungle, they are necessary.

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August 20, 2018
Drama abounds in Picoult’s latest issue-driven novel (following Small Great Things) in which a hostage crisis in a women’s health center/abortion clinic provides a look at a volatile subject. George Goddard, a lone gunman seeking revenge for his daughter’s abortion, busts into the clinic in Jackson, Miss., killing and wounding several staff and patients. He holds a handful of them hostage, including Wren and Bex, the 15-year-old daughter and adult sister of Hugh McElroy, the police hostage negotiator assigned to the crisis. Meanwhile, Beth, a teenager in a hospital in Oxford, Miss., whose attempts to have a legal abortion were thwarted, takes medication to abort her 16-week-old fetus and nearly dies from blood loss. She is brought to a hospital and her life is saved, but the state prosecutor’s office accuses her of murder upon finding out the reasons for her condition. Picoult’s extensive research shines throughout, but the book’s reverse chronological structure interferes with the complicated back stories, which include the gunman’s reasons for going on a rampage; a doctor’s path to performing abortions; why a pro-life believer goes undercover to the clinic to obtain damaging evidence; Beth’s thwarted attempts to get a legal abortion; and the relationship between Wren, Bex, and Hugh. Nevertheless, this is a powerful story that brings clarity to the history of abortion and investigates the voices on both sides of the issue.

August 1, 2018
Following up her hit Small Great Things? (2016), Picoult delivers another riveting yarn about a hot-button issue?this time, it's abortion rights, with a unique narrative format: the story is told backward chronologically over the hours of a tense hostage situation in a women's clinic. When we meet hostage-negotiator Hugh McElroy at the climactic showdown with George Goddard, the father of a teen girl who recently visited the clinic, we know that Hugh's own daughter, 15-year-old Wren, is one of the hostages; Hugh's older sister, Bex, who took Wren to the clinic that morning, has been shot; and that Hugh, like George, is a single father. As the hours tick backward, Picoult reveals what brought each of the characters to the clinic, from a struggling young waitress to an undercover anti-abortion activist to the devoted and devout doctor working at the clinic that day. Even though she's rewinding the story, Picoult manages to keep the tension high as we learn about the characters' personalities and situations. And there's a surprising reveal in the final pages that readers will likely find provocative. Picoult explores both sides of the abortion debate in this carefully crafted, utterly gripping tale, which acknowledges that there are no easy answers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)

Starred review from October 1, 2018

Picoult (Small Great Things; Harvesting the Heart) is known for taking contentious issues and addressing them from a variety of angles while telling compelling, complex stories. Her latest novel hews true to form and centers on the only women's health clinic left in the state of Mississippi to provide abortions after draconian restrictions squeezed others out of existence. After a gunman enters the clinic, shooting at will and taking hostages, police negotiator Hugh McElroy learns that inside are his 15-year-old daughter Wren and sister Bex. The narrative unfolds in an hourly countdown backward, revealing the sequence of events that coalesced in order for each individual to be in this place at this fateful moment. With fully fleshed-out characters and thoroughly realistic storytelling, Picoult pushes readers into the most uncomfortable places, where alternate perspectives are presented without kneejerk reaction and considered without outright rejection. VERDICT Picoult has achieved what politicians across the spectrum have not been able to: humanized a hot-button issue. Excellent for book clubs, this should also be considered for discussions in critical thinking and political debate. [See Prepub Alert, 4/23/18.]--Julie Kane, Washington & Lee Lib., Lexington, VA

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 1, 2018

The author of nine consecutive No. 1 New York Times best sellers, Picoult returns with topical fiction involving a gunman taking hostages at a women's reproductive health services clinic. What's especially tough for Hugh McElroy, the police hostage negotiator, is that daughter Wren is inside. With a focus on characters, from the medical staff to the patients to the gunman himself.

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.