I'm not quite sure why, but 
Salem Falls initially didn't draw me in as other Jodi Picoult books have done. It may have been the talk of paganism and witchcraft that I'm not too fond of, but luckily as I carried on the strength of the characters came through and it ended as a reasonably good read.
Salem Falls initially didn't draw me in as other Jodi Picoult books have done. It may have been the talk of paganism and witchcraft that I'm not too fond of, but luckily as I carried on the strength of the characters came through and it ended as a reasonably good read.Jack St. Bride arrives in Salem Falls having been released from prison where he was serving a term after being accused of raping a pupil. He is determined to pick up the pieces of his life and takes a job washing dishes at the local diner that is run by Addie Peabody. Sadly not everyone in the town is as prepared as Addie is to give Jack a second chance. A group of four local girls become somewhat obsessed with this local character and their allegations against him bring Jack's dreams of restarting his life crashing down.
Although I was drawn in by the end I finished this book just feeling a bit disappointed. It just wasn't quite a good as her other books and I felt a bit flat by the end of it. Possibly due to a bit of a predictable ending. A shame when so many of her other books have stood out as being so well researched and drawing the reader into the lives of the books characters. Time for me to pull another author's books from my to be read pile.
I felt much the same after reading the book – it isn’t my favourite JP (I’ve recently read Nineteen Minutes which I can highly recommend) but it was an OK holiday read. After seeing your post about it, I was prompted to buy a copy of Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Glad you enjoyed Miss Pettigrew Liz. That reminds me – I must check when it’s out on DVD here in the UK…