Salem Falls

A handsome stranger comes to the sleepy New England town of Salem Falls in hopes of burying his past: Once a teacher at a girls' prep school, Jack St. Bride was destroyed when a student's crush sparked a powder keg of accusation. Now, washing dishes for Addie Peabody at the Do-Or-Diner, he slips quietly into his new routine, and Addie finds this unassuming man fitting easily inside her heart. But amid the rustic calm of Salem Falls, a quartet of teenage girls harbor dark secrets -- and they maliciously target Jack with a shattering allegation. Now, at the center of a modern-day witch hunt, Jack is forced once again to proclaim his innocence: to a town searching for answers, to a justice system where truth becomes a slippery concept written in shades of gray, and to the woman who has come to love him.

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All Customer Reviews
Average Customer Review:
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Just fair plot with good character development, 2008-09-30
While I appreciated the careful and thoughtful character portraits, I thought the plot was somewhat unbelievable. Overall I was disappointed in Salem Falls after truly enjoying most of Picoult's novels.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Jodi Picoult Does It Again, 2008-09-05
Jodi Picoult is one of my new favorite authors. She certainly knows how to write a page-turner and how to straddle the line between "serious" and popular fiction. So far I have read Plain Truth, Harvesting the Heart, My Sister's Keeper, and this novel, Salem Falls. My favorite is a toss up between this and My Sister's Keeper.

The reviews on this book are mixed, with some readers like me loving it and others accusing it of being predictable and unbelievable. I, personally, didn't find the book to be predictable or unbelievable at all, though I could understand how one might perceive these flaws in the book if he or she were reading from a very cynical point of view. Actually, if it is a fact that such cynicism does indeed pervade our society so often, the argument of the novel's predictability is weakened. If cynicism is the norm, then the logical prediction would have been that Jack would be convicted, he and Addie would have broken up, etc. (In my opinion, if any one of Jodi Picoult's books is predictable, it's Plain Truth, not Salem Falls. Then again, I was trying to figure out Plain Truth's ending from page one, whereas I simply allowed Salem Falls to unfold before me as I immersed myself in its characters and story instead of trying to dissect the plot from the beginning.) I found Jack to be both a believable and sympathetic character. Just because a man is highly educated doesn't mean he can't also be naive - intellectual and emotional intelligence are two unique entities. Though such a heart of gold, a childlike innocence, is rare in an adult in this often cruel world, it does exist, and Jack won me over with this precious quality.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

A Touch of Witchery, 2008-08-29
Jodi Picoult has woven a tale about another cast of characters for her readers' enjoyment. She carefully tells a story in parts concentrating on each character then moving to another part. Her technique keeps the reader hanging in suspense until the conclusion.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

3.5, Just An OK Book, 2008-08-23
This book was fair. The story moves along until the Wiccan theme takes over. That is when the story lost my interest. The whole idea of the group of girls casting spells, etc. was just to bizarre. I think it had a negative effect on the story.

I would not buy this book. Get it from the library.


0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:

Not what I would expect from Jodi Piccoult, 2008-08-04
I've had mixed experiences with Jodi Piccoult. While her books "19 Minutes", "My Sister's Keeper" and "Plain Truth" are some of my all-time favorite books, this is the second one of hers that I have not liked at all.

This book has characters that are difficult to like, a story that ranges from uncomfortable to downright ugly, and a plot that plods along too it's invevitable and predictable end.

If you would like to try Jodi Piccoult, try one of the three books above, and you won't be sorry. If you start with this one, I'll guess you'll never read another one of her books.

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