Spoiler alert: I did not like Cam...he's a jerk who seems to resent his wife for loving him. Mia made no sense. She comes into town, gets hired immediately in Allie's flower shop and starts an affair with Cam. I kept thinking there'd be a back story that made it logical - that somehow they knew each other before and happen to cross paths again. Nope. The story of Jamie and his wife was the only redeeming part of this book. I'm glad he was found innocent. I didn't understand why the bit about Cameron's Scottish family history mattered....except it seemed like he got the position as Chief of Police just because he was family? It seemed extra. There were a lot of seemingly unnecessary characters (like the old girlfriend who comes to town to do a book talk? Nothing came of that. Even the MIL....totally periphery to the story and irritatingly not willing to stand up to her son when is doing something so terrible...but she did spread around some healing herbs....eeesh)
I don't like stories about adultery. I kept reading it because it was a book club pick and I kept hoping Cam would wise up. I don't think he ever does. Mia leaves town. Allie sells everything that is his (even his uniforms) and he has to go around town trying to buy everything back. He's frustrated that it takes Allie so long to get over the affair. He's a jerk. She does forgive him though. She's nice like that. I can't really say I don't like her. I just think she's a woman who didn't deserve what she got. I did like that Graham, the unproven lawyer who works in his dad's law firm, wins the case. Good job Graham. May this be the beginning of something great for you. I hope Jamie marries again and finds happiness.
Characters:
- Allie - flowershop owner (located close to the police station to bind him to her), doting wife
- Cameron MacDonald - police chief, feels caged, reads travel magazines secretly
- Angus MacDonald - grandfather? uncle? To Cameron MacDonald
- James MacDonald - murderer (cousin?)
- Maggic MacDonald - murder victim
- Mia - works in flower shop suddenly, stranger but hired and sleeps at their house, somehow familiar to Cameron, presented as someone who's free to travel the world
- Casey McRae - patrolman
- Graham McPhee - lawyer, Cameron has dirt on him from when he was 18, Cameron secretly hires him to represent James
- Martha Sully - magistrate at the courthouse
- Cleo - paralegal secretary in Graham's office
- Verona McBean - author Damnation in the 90's "To Hell and Back" The Nature of Hell (this character is only mentioned and not developed at all, only appears in the beginning of the book
- Jock Farquhason - bank teller
- Ellen MacDonald - Cameron's mother, husband, Ian, died 8 years ago, naturopath (Mothers of Light, New Age Community School)
- Emily Kerr - 80 years old, 5'0", gets a gun permit
- judge (name?) - has some funny quirks
- Audra Campbell - lawyer for the crown in court case
- Graham hired by Cameron to represent James
- Cam hired Gram
- Cam kissed Mia
- Allia visits James in jail
Goodreads says:
Police chief of a small Massachusetts town, Cameron McDonald makes the toughest arrest of his life when his own cousin Jamie comes to him and confesses outright that he has killed his terminally ill wife out of mercy.
Now, a heated murder trial plunges the town into upheaval, and drives a wedge into a contented marriage: Cameron, aiding the prosecution in their case against Jamie, is suddenly at odds with his devoted wife, Allie -- seduced by the idea of a man so in love with his wife that he'd grant all her wishes, even her wish to end her life. And when an inexplicable attraction leads to a shocking betrayal, Allie faces the hardest questions of the heart: when does love cross the line of moral obligation? And what does it mean to truly love another?
Praised for her "personal, detail-rich style" (Glamour), Jodi Picoult infuses this page-turning novel with heart, warmth, and startling candor, taking readers on an unforgettable emotional journey.
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