Before I go on, I just want to make it clear, I am not a fan of ghost stories. I don't mind suspense films or books, but ghosts? It's not that I do not believe in them, I can't disprove they don't exist so I am willing to keep an open mind. I don't watch the endless amounts of 'ghost hunter' programmes that litter the TV channels, nor do I wish to. I would rather not go messing around in that world thank you very much.

Having said all that, this is a Jodi Picoult book, and regardless of the subject matter, you know you are in for a great read and a whole new perspective. Yes she will include your viewpoint, but she'll also include everyone else's too, just to make sure you have seen the debate from all sides.

Combining the world of ghosts, Native American history and burial grounds, the past and the future, a multitude of characters connected in every way imaginable, without being contrived, was a task and a half. And Jodi pulled it off like a dream! She captured the times so well, you know that whilst writing this book her walls must have been covered with family trees, organagrams, images and photos, maps and goodness knows what else. How she manages to research all the things she does for her books the technicalities of law, medicine and the subtleties of cultural understandings, I am amazed she has time to write the amount of books she does.

I was engrossed from the first page, with 480 pages read in 3 days, I was blown away by this book. The story of how a man is constantly searching for something to fill the void after the love of his life dies, made me wonder what my own husband would be like if I died. Reading about the treatment of the Native Americans in the early 1900's came as no surprise and made me realise that 'Red Queen' theory (Matt Ridley) is still very much at play even today. It also made me keen to learn more about Native American people, having 2 friends with Native American heritage, it now seems more important than ever. One of the gifts Jodi's writing gives to people, she makes them wake up to things that they should have been aware of previously.

At several points in the story, I found myself hoping, and wondering whether the skin disease Ethan suffered from, keeping himself and his mum Shelby from living a 'normal' life would go away once the issue around the burial grounds had gone away, but it didn't, and it was good that it didn't; it was also good to re look at my view of normal lives, do any of us have them?

As the story progressed it was interesting to see how people were reacting to the changes in the world around them, views they held about the Native Americans, about ghosts and about themselves. I was shocked to see HELLP syndrome mentioned when Lia's notes were examined. I had at moments suspected it whilst reading the story, but seeing as though my own midwife had not diagnosed it within me, the chance that Jodi had it in her book were very slim in deed; so to see the words HELLP syndrome jump out of the page at me, I will admit brought tears to my eyes and a flicker of hope. It also raised the level of respect I had for Jodi to an even greater level, making me think "well if a writer can research it and make mention of it in her fictional book, then why the heck did my midwife not research it? She is a midwife afterall!!"

This was a huge plot with so many story lines to consider, and yet, it all flowed really well. It was seamless, the twists and turns, the yearning for the characters to connect the dots and finally the joy when they did. A few nice surprises at the end and overall another great read from Jodi. Not what I expected, but then are any of Jodi's books what you expect; we may be in the same sport but I doubt any of us are in the same league.

I have another four Jodi Picoult books to read, and even my husband is in agreement, if Jodi's written it, we'll read it!