27. Lone Wolf - Jodi Picoult

2012/Emily Bestler Books/ ATRIA/ Simon & Schuster
HC $28.00 TPPL
for: adults
421 pgs.
Rating:  It was okay (the 2nd half was more engrossing than the first)

1st line:  "In retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have freed the tiger."
Setting:  Contemporary Beresford, NH
OSS:  After Cara and Edward's dad, Luke Warren, a famous wolf scientist, suffers severe brain trauma in a car accident, the estranged family tries to decide what's the next step....sustaining his life or pulling the plug?

There were many things I liked about this story.  Each short chapter was in the voice of one of the key players....Luke, the father, Edward, the son, who had left at 18 for Thailand because of some sort of argument with his dad, Cara, the younger sister who lives with and idolizes her dad, Georgie, the ex-wife and Edward and Cara's mom, and Joe Ng, Georgie's new husband and the lawyer that defends Edward.  Each character is given his own font.  Luke's pieces, all italicized, are the story of the wolves and his obsession with them.

This is the story of a family that has had a tough time from the beginning.  When you have a dad that would rather live in the wild with wolves, you have a dysfunctional family, right?  So for most of his adult life Luke was lost between two worlds, never able to fully participate in either (except for the two years he actually lived in the Canadian woods and joined a pack).  There are little mysteries to be solved, actually quite evident ones, that come out as the trial proceeds.  What trial?  The trial that pits brother against sister in who will have legal guardianship of their father.

If you're an animal lover, especially a lover of wild animals, the story would probably be quite enthralling.  For me, a little bit of the wolf information went a long way.  I guess it was entirely based on the work of Shaun Ellis, a guy in England on whom the character of Luke is based.

My daughter loves Jodi Picoult, so I thought I'd try this new book.  The only one I read previously was not a favorite.  Laura says this one has not had the greatest reviews.  I think I'll wait awhile before reading another.