#18 - Change of Heart

Book No: 18
Title: Change of Heart
Author: Jodi Picoult
Genre: Fiction
Published: 2008
Obtained: 2008
Completed: 3/15/08
No. of Pages: 464
Rating: 4/5*****

Boy oh boy, Picoult sure knows how to pick some hot buttons issues and put them into a story that you cannot stop reading, even when you know the outcome cannot be good.
In her latest outing we have Shay Bourne, a convicted murderer on death row and facing imminent execution. When he learns that the sister of the young girl he is accused of killing needs a heart transplant, he tells his spiritual advisor Father Michael that he wants to donate his heart to her. Enter Maggie Bloom, ACLU attorney, who sees this case as a way to make a stand against the death penalty, and to stand up for Shay’s belief that his only way for salvation is to make this organ donation; despite the mother’s decision not to accept the heart. When miracles seem to be occurring around Shay, many people come to believe he is a Messiah. The media picks up the case and soon people are protesting and picketing outside the prison and the courtroom when Maggie gets an expedient trail for his case.
Telling the story from the viewpoints of Maggie, Father Michael, another inmate and June, the mother of Claire the girl in need of a heart, we see the death penalty and religious beliefs in many different lights, always causing us to think about our own feelings to these subjects. This should be a hot book club book because there are so many things to talk about, not the least of which is the last sentence in the book.