In this legal thriller, Picoult delves deep into the legal system and questions of morality, right and wrong, fate and circumstance. Readers are forced to consider their own choices and take a good look at the legal process and wonder – is justice blind? Are people, in fact, innocent until proven guilty?
The Mother: The Lawyer
Nina Frost, a prosecutor for seven years, prides herself on control. Control of the courtroom, self-control and control over the direction of her life and that of her family. However, the reader soon learns that Nina will be faced with a tragedy of monumental proportions that forces her to question all of her previously held beliefs. Her young son is sexually molested and the events that follow create a snowball effect that threatens to topple Nina’s life, her marriage and her family.
The Law and Fiction
The reader is soon absorbed in a world of DNA analysis, legal statutes and testimonies as Nina’s son, Nathaniel, becomes mute as a result of the trauma and uses American Sign Language to name his attacker. As a prosecutor, Nina knows all too well how the court system works and refuses to allow her son to endure more than he already has by testifying. She is torn between understanding the honor of the law which has become her life and understanding that her job as a mother is to protect her son – at all costs. Nina chooses to take the law into her own hands and does what any parent in her situation considers, but never acts upon.
She kills the attacker that her son named; however, a DNA report representing the .1 percent chance of inaccuracy reveals that Nina has murdered the wrong man. What results is an education in trial law, the bonds of marriage and the challenges of parenthood that no reader will soon forget.
The Verdict
Picoult uses her seemingly boundless knowledge of the law to create a murder trial that, once completed, makes the reader feel like an expert in all things legal. Nina Frost, her husband, her son and her best friend of thirty years, experience the fears that readers hope to never encounter. Throughout Nina’s murder trial, her husband loses faith in her. He leaves with her son and she is alone with the knowledge and guilt born of murder and innocence. Enter Patrick Ducharme, her best friend and confidant of many years, and his unrequited love for Nina.
In the end, Nina’s relationship with her husband is restored with forgiveness and new perspectives. She is found guilty of a lesser charge of Manslaughter and sentenced to probation. Patrick decides to move away to save their friendship and move on with his life. Nathaniel begins to recover and Nina learns that she isn’t the only one who goes above the law in the name of love.
Lessons in Love and Life
In Jodi Picoult’s Perfect Match, legal fiction meets emotional drama. Picoult submerges the reader in the facts surrounding sexual molestation and murder while maintaining the human elements of relationships; especially that of a mother and her child. Readers find themselves questioning their ideals: morality, right and wrong, love, loss and law. The plot is cleverly crafted, swift and delivers a pulse-pounding climax and a surprise ending that does not disappoint.
Perfect Match by Jodi Picoult originally published in 2002 by Atria Books. ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-1873-7
Heather Robertson - Heather Robertson, Freelance WriterMy career as a writer actually began as a child with my first published article in a local newspaper. I ...
