Salem Falls

In her novel Salem Falls, Jodi Picoult, not for the first time, managed to allow me to soar into a story that took my breath away. The complexity and intricateness of the book really impacted me. This book showed me what can happen when the smallest of actions are misconstrued, or what a lie can bring about.

A theme of the story is that a rumor or lie can always outrun a truth. In the book, Catherine Marsh, a fifteen-year old girl, wants to bad to believe that her soccer coach, Jack St. Bride loves her. She thinks she is completely in love with him, and starts to write fictional accounts of her day’s events including Jack. When her father reads of these fake inappropriate stories, he gets extremely mad and decides that he wants Jack St. Bride locked up. Jack’s lawyer, knowing Jack will be convicted of sexual assault because of the evidence collected and Catherine’s testimony convinces Jack to accept a plea bargain sentencing him to eight months in prison, instead of seven years, and instructing him that he is required to register as a sex offender wherever he chooses to live.

Another theme of the story is that people don’t often know others as well as they seem to think they do. When Jack finishes serving his sentence, he takes the few belongings taken with him to jail and immediately leaves his former home of Loyal, New Hampshire and goes a little way down the road to Salem Falls. When he arrives in this new place he sees a “Help Wanted” sign sitting in the window of a small building entitled the Do-Or-Diner and is hired as a dishwasher and busboy. The owner of the diner, Addie Peabody is curious about the man, and in just a few short weeks realizes that her mangled heart has made room for Jack. She falls for him, only knowing a handful of information about him, but trusting nonetheless. When Jack is once again wrongly accused of a crime because of his reputation, Addie begins to second guess her choices and does not know if she can put her faith in Jack. While Addie searches for answers, Jack is locked in the county jailhouse and is desperately hoping that someone will believe his story this time.

The character in this story that intrigued me most was Gillian Duncan. Gillian lives in Salem Falls, and like everyone else, wonders about the past of the mysterious and handsome stranger who has just moved in. Though Gillian is curious to know of Jack’s demons, she has secrets of her own. With no one but her coven made of her three best friends Chelsea, Whitney, and Meg knowing, Gillian practices the Wiccan art of witchcraft. Though she eventually learned of his shady conviction, Gill soon becomes obsessed with Jack and uses her powers to try and make him fall for her, or at the very least be attracted to her. When it becomes clear however, that Jack is not going to do anything with Gillian, she decides to cry wolf to punish Jack: she reports to the police that he raped her. Now everyone in the town of Salem Falls is focused on only one thing: whether or not Jack St. Bride is guilty of this crime.

Will Jack once again fall victim to the lies and slander of a teenage girl? Will he have to return to jail and serve another sentence for a crime of which he was wrongly accused? Will he ever get to truly be with Addie, or will he be destined to a life of rotten luck and routine? Read Jodi Picoult’s Salem Falls to find out. I would recommend this book to teenage or adult girls. Because it is a story of love and lies, most boys probably would not enjoy the novel, but I would recommend it to anyone who loves a good mystery or romance.

434 pages= 2books