Plain Truth

A bit of a soap.

This book kept me up until the wee hours of the morning. (Curse you, Jodi Picoult!) The story grabbed me (mystery of infant found dead in a barn), but the setting (Amish country) really knocked me out.

Ellie is a big city lawyer whose had enough of the rat race. She comes back to Amish country where she used to visit as a child. She returns just in time to get roped into representing an Amish girl, Katie, indicted for killing her newborn baby. Most of the plot twists in this story are initiated by Amish customs. I was particularly fascinated when the court case–it's vintage Picoult, you knew there'd be a court case–finds the accused insisting on telling the truth. If only she could remember what it was.

Ellie brings in an old friend (read: flame), Coop, who is a psychologist, to help Katie remember (and deal with the loss of her infant.) Sparks reignite between Coop & Ellie, but Ellie is still trying to avoid stress, including those from failed relationships.

The twists and turns in the plot made me want to finish, but then bummed out when I did. That's a sign of a great story.

Many of Jodi's books have the same details, amnesia, the love story, same names even. While this book was very predictable, I didn't hate it. I love the time that Jodi spends researching her subject, it really comes through in her writing.

Probably the best thing I got out of this book was a realistic look into Amish life. The way it ended was a bit unsettling to me though. But it was definitely worth the read, if only for the journey into a world within a world, and a culture which seems a bit extreme in some ways, but on the other hand, they just might have the right idea.