REVIEW

Blind Faith
by Pamela Vanden Bos

To save your child’s life, would you want the black-heart of a deranged killer, transplanted into your sweet innocent baby girl's body? This is what June Nealon must decide in Jodi Picoult’s novel Change of Heart.

The reader becomes a voyeur as several characters narrate chapters. Jodi Picoult creates individual viewpoints rationalizing their past, present and possible future. Various perspectives add dimension and intrigue to the work.

June Nealon has the perfect husband and a beautiful daughter. June is living and loving the American dream. But Shay Borne, the carpenter working in her home, turns June’s life into a living hell. Shay kills her husband and her daughter. How much can one human endure?

Shay is a convicted child killer on death row. “She was better off dead,” Shay mutters. “Take my heart you have my life already.” Is he a simple minded man or a master of deception? Shay wants to die for his sins. But he only wants to donate his heart to one special little girl.
 
Father Michael has a 1969 Triumph Trophy and a past. Does Father Michael feel compelled to save Shay’s soul because he played a major part in Shay’s death sentence or because Shay’s nick name is the “Death Row Messiah”? Father Michael calls himself a priest, yet he questions the church’s tradition and now readers question his faith.

Maggie Bloom is a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union. She is fighting for Shay. Not for his life, but Shay’s right to pick how he will die. Maggie’s narcissistic mother has other ideas; Maggie should lose weight, dress better, get rid of her nasty companion Oliver, and find a nice Jewish husband. How can Maggie find a quality man when she must unearth the perfect way to kill Shay, without damaging his heart?

Sprinkling Change of Heart with humor and divine mysteries, Jodi emotes compassion and understanding when she allows the reader to walk a mile in each of her character’s shoes. For me, a story is all about the ending and how it makes me feel. As I read Jodi’s last sentence in Change of Heart, heavenly tears trickle down my face. You’ll have to read the book to understand why.

Pamela Vanden Bos is a freelance writer who can be found walking her devoted rescue dogs on the sugar white sands along the Gulf of Mexico. Her three grown children and four grandchildren inspire her stories, much to their dismay.

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