House Rules by Jodi Picoult

Fascinating...

I had some big problems with this book, but was also spellbound.  I listened to it on Audible, and there was a different narrator for each chapter that was told from a different character's viewpoint - I liked that actually. Emma is a single mom to two teenage boys, one of whom has Asperger's Syndrome, is obsessed with forensic science and is accused of murder.  Their lawyer Oliver decides to plead insanity, using the Asperger traits to explain why Jacob could not have understood what he was doing when he rearranged the crime scene like they do in the Crimebuster's show he watches every day at 4:30.  I have read other reviews that criticize Picoult's  overuse of Asperger traits - Jacob apparently has every single marker - and there is a mention of the immunizations he received as a toddler that supposedly changed his behavior.  So just be ready for that side.

But you cannot deny that Picoult did a tremendous amount of research here.  She touches on how Jacob sees and navigates the world.  She delves into how his younger brother Theo feels like he doesn't matter, because his mom focuses only on Jacob's (many, many) needs.  She digresses in Jacob's character into the factoids that he obsesses over, the cases he knows about, the Crimebuster episodes he likes best - to the point of distraction for this listener.  She goes deep into Emma's feelings of love for her son but curiousity about what her like could have been like, and her deep devotion to bringing Jacob back into high functionality.

However,  did no one think to ask Jacob what REALLY happened the day Jess Ogilvy died?    Seriously?  Maybe he did kill his tutor, maybe he didn't.  All Jacob wants to do is follow the rules, the House Rules, and tell the truth.  He is not capable of lying due to his Asperger's.  So why doesn't anyone just ask him a simple question:  What happened when you got to Jess' house, Jacob?  I realize his lawyer won't ask him, and his mom is taking the stand, so maybe she shouldn't ask him either.  But they jump into a trial without even knowing what happened - they just assume he killed her "accidentally" and build a defense based on insanity due to a mental condition. (There is a lot of assuming going on here actually.....) And (spoiler) once he does take the stand, he is never cross-examined.  WHAT?  I am not a lawyer, but this left a gaping hole for me - that prosecutor surely would have said, "Jacob, did you kill Jess??" and then we would have known what you can see coming from the get go.  "I didn't mean to hurt her."  Literally.....  everything is literal....

But overall, I could not stop listening.  I wanted to get in my car and drive around the block to see what would happen next.  So if you can get beyond the gaping holes, this was an interesting story.  A bit of an abrupt ending, but loved the reference to My Sister's Keeper near the end - look out for a title chapter reference....  wink!!!