Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

...the sleepy little town of Salem Falls and is offered a job in Addie's diner and tries to put his past behind him and build a new life. Addie Peabody has a few skeletons in her closet of her own. She lives a solitary life following the death of her only daughter; her life consists of running her diner and keeping tabs on her widowed alcoholic father. She is curious about this stranger who is obviously well educated, what has led him to washing dishes ...
...The townsfolk of Salem Falls are not happy to have a convicted rapist in their midst and try to run Jack out of town fearing that their own daughters will be his next victim. One night the worst does happen, a sobbing Gillian Duncan is discovered by the edge of the woods with her clothes dishevelled and sporting bruises and scratches. Forensic testing shows that Jacks DNA is found underneath her fingertips and semen is found on her thigh. Jack swears ...

wigglylittleworm 07.03.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

Salem Falls, the 2001 novel from celebrated author Jodi Picoult, is, by her own admission, a reworking of Arthur Millers "The Crucible", taking contemporary issues and fashioning them into a modern day witch hunt. It centres around a sleepy New Hampshire town of the same name. The town, like many, seems entirely innocent on the surface, but hoards a past of corruption, assaults, greed, violence and (intriguingly, but less dangerously) witchcraft. ...
...by the same author!). Salem Falls isn't her best, but that doesn't mean that it's not brilliant. In my opinion, she is a very talented, precise and thought provoking author. I'm about to embark on a quest to read the rest of her back catalogue (having only come across her a few months ago!). Happy reading! ...

cocoklo 23.12.2005 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

Salem Falls reminded me of another of Jodi Picoult’s books, Perfect Match; perhaps partly because it’s a novel that doesn’t realise its full potential, but also because it deals with the difficult topic of sexual abuse and false accusation, albeit in very different circumstances. This time, the main character is not the victim, but the accused. Jack St Bride arrives in the small New Hampshire town of Salem Falls in a taxi. He has ill-fitting clothes ...
...greater than theirs. Salem Falls is a highly enjoyable novel that, in true Picoult style, creates more questions than it answers and provides the perfect platform for debate. The most important question is whether an accusation of rape should be enough to convict someone. There is a huge problem with the appallingly low conviction rape for rape and, at one point, even Jack muses that imprisoning innocent people is worth it if it protects rape victims. ...

DoubleFantasy11 13.08.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

...Bride has stumbled upon quiet Salem Falls after serving an eight month sentence in jail for taking a plea bargain on sexual assault. He swears he’s innocent and was pushed into taking the plea bargain as his lawyer told him it would be the shortest sentence he could have, get out of jail and then live his life again. He used to be a history teacher, and it was his student Catherine that came up with the sexual assault charges against him. When he ...
...as a dishwasher - a far cry from his old life back in Loyal but he’s happy all the same. However this time round, he falls in love with Addie, a woman who lost her child to meningitis almost a decade ago. Everyone has ghosts in their closets, and Addie especially. However one evening after a fight with each other, jack goes out drinking and stumbles upon a group of four young witches in the forest celebrating Beltane, the witches festival for love, ...

angiebabyqueen 15.07.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

...same. So when I saw Salem Falls in a charity shop whilst perusing for books for my latest holiday, I decided to give it a go. Now, whether it was the sunny disposition I was in whilst in Greece, or the jugs of wine I was drinking whilst reading the book, I was pleasantly surprised by it all. The book focuses on the main character Jack St Bride who has been released from jail after being wrongly accused of raping an underage pupil at the school where ...
...and of course with the Salem references. It's witch-hunting with a modern and more relevant twist. Picoult addresses a controversial and very topical subject with the girl who cried rape, and this is a subject close to my heart. The book highlights the turmoil a man can go through when wrongly accused, rather than typically focusing on the woman's view. This makes a refreshing change and I believe that Picoult really hit the note right with Jack's ...

charlie-clough 19.12.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

...it on? And now - Salem Falls, yet another great read. The Hook: As with all of the books that I have read by Jodi Picoult it is her style of writing that I find to be the hook. No matter whereabouts in the book I am I just do not want to put it down. I literally have to be falling asleep, (or recently glancing at the clock just knowing that there is no chance that I will get up for work in the morning.) to put these books down! As with the other ...
...a range of characters in Salem Falls. Having read the Pact only a few months ago, I was pleasantly suprised to find myself reading a familiar name as I got about a third of the way through the book. Jordan McAfee and his son Thomas appeared in Salem falls. As a started to read this section I wondered if the author had simply re-used the name, but as I read on I realised that it was indeed the defense attorney who had defended the boy from The Pact. ...

lynh17 11.01.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult Can a leopard change its spots? Can people really be given a second chance? Can you always believe what you hear? Are things EVER what they seem? All reasonable questions and ones to make you think. These are the sorts of questions you begin to ask yourself whist reading a Picoult novel and this one is no exception. Jack St. Bride the main character in this book, Salem Falls, was only a short time ago a respected teacher ...
...to a small town called Salem Falls where he thinks he will be able to start from fresh and get his second chance at things. After starting a job in the local diner as a washer-upper things seem to be looking up for Jack St. Bride. His boss Addie is a complicated woman with troubles of her own with a lost life of a child whom she can never forget and a alcoholic father. Both are struggling to let go of the past and live for the now. Jack begins to ...

newby2 26.05.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

...feeling the full wrath of Salem Falls. The name of the town creates associations with the witch trials of 1692 but, ironically, the witches in this instance are leading the witch hunt against Jack. The reader is aware of the girl's dubious behaviour and this involves you in the novel when characters are slow to discover key exculpatory evidence. Furthermore, until very late on in the novel, we do not learn exactly what did happen that night, although ...
...Adie, Jack's new love, we have to trust Jack to believe in his innocence. Altogether then, after the initial explanatory chapters which seem to introduce far too many characters to keep track of, this is a strong plot. The false accusation is balanced by the treatment of another character to allow Picoult to represent a balanced account of how rape affects women and how false accusations of it affect men. However, by the end of the novel it seems ...

brokenangelkisses 04.08.2008 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

This story is outstanding.and I love Jodi Picoult... so much so that she's my new favourite author! In this book Jodi tells the tale of Jack McBride, an 'innocent' sex offender who has served jail time for sex offences to a minor. The story goes on to involve everything and anything you can imagine... witchcraft, teenage love, teenage hormones, adult love, death, jail, and small town people who like to gossip! One of her more developed books, this ...
...hours straight reading this thing! It was well worth it, I was amazed, if a little tired, at the end that she managed to write such a fab and throughly interesting novel. The characters in this are very much beliveable, something I find Picoult does well in all her books, however this time I felt something more and thought it was just that bit better than her others. As with all her books which I have experienced so far, this also featured the legal ...

skye_hoppus 23.01.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

...their victim. Jack arrives in Salem Falls after having done time in prison for a sexual offence he did not commit. This becomes common knowledge in Salem Falls and his life then becomes a nightmare as the adults of the community try to get him to leave the town whilst 4 teenage girls use his weakness to test their budding witching powers. It's a very good story with a lot of twists and turns but yet again, as in the Pact there is an underlying ...
...is more apparent. Again in Salem Falls, I did find that there were chapters that brought nothing to the book such as a lot of flash backs to Jack's childhood or more specifically to his mother. You keep expecting her to appear later on in the book to give some answers but that is not to be. It's just a few chapters that seem to be there only for the purpose of making the book thicker. On the whole I did enjoy the book and it will definitely make ...

sevyg18 07.03.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

I recieved this book in the post for my birthday and was dubious about having the time to read it, however once started I made sure I made the time! I was even reading this whilst breast feeding my baby! I dont want to spoil the read for anyone, so i will try and give an essense of the story without revealing the plot. The book follows a story of a teacher accused of sex offences, who moves towns after serving a short sentance in jail. In the new ...
...finds himself in love. However his past catches up with him and the town quickly turns against him. Before long he is accused of rape by a local girl who's father is a promanent member of the town and you are taken on his journey through prosecution and involve yourself with the lives and past of the other town members. This book is excellently written and deals with some serious issues, without flinching. You quickly become captivated and find yourself ...

mussonanna 19.02.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

...book store i decided upon Salem Falls. Salem Falls is the story of Jack St Bride, a former teacher who is wrongly accused and charged with rape against a minor (one of his students), he ends up in prison for 8 months and the book starts as he is released. He ends up settling in a small town called Salem Falls and working as a dishwasher in a diner, keeping his head down and out of trouble he still manages to attract trouble from the towns folk who ...
...teaange girls who fancy themselves as witches. The almost as history repeats itself he is accused of raping one of the wealthiest towns folk's daughter (who is also one of the witches). The trial and courtroom drama ensues and provides for a fast paced and entertaining read. I enjoyed the book, it was a good holiday read and the characters were well written and drew you in to the story. This would make me read more of Jodi Picoult's book - next problem ...

iallan 11.10.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

This was the first book i read of Jodi Picoult's. I only got it cos it was on one of those offers of 4 from 50p for a book club. However, i couldn't put the book down. It had me gripped from start to finish and i was even trying to work out the answer to it all as i was reading. I was close to working it out apart from the last twist at the end. i won't spoil it for anyone. As i was readig i was feeling sorry for the guy who was being accused. You ...
...was fine, it wasn;t him, he was being set up. If you are looking to enjoy a good book from a good author with plenty more to read then i would suggest buying this book. You certainly wouldn't regret it. If only it lasted me longer though as i tend to read quite quickly. The book is about a man who gets out of prison and goes to live in a nice little town where everyone else know each other. He is given a job in a restaurant by a local lady who later ...

kerry2706 15.01.2008 (16.01.2008) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

Ok, im not going to talk about the book that much due to not wanting to waste it for you all. The book sets about getting the reader very involved in Jack and his new girlfriend, Jodi makes the reader fall in love with him before telling them about his past. He goes into the woods drunk and soon gets arrested for raping a femal The story then ends up in the court-house when his attorney is trying to get him aqquited. The story ends in a great way ...

martyaber 16.07.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult

...quiet New England village of Salem Falls. But just when Jack thinks his life is starting to turn around, 4 teenage girls with a secret turn his world upside down once again, and sparks a modern day witch hunt when the police chief reveals details of his past to the town. Another great book, and you are unable to put it down with twists and turns and revelations all the way through. It has so many themes that can be easily picked up on as well. Although ...

coleen783 16.02.2007 (19.02.2007) · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: not helpful
Review of Salem Falls - Jodi Picoult