Customer Reviews
A modern-day Crucible? - By: SugarGlass, 28 Aug 2008 
A story of lies, betrayal, sexuality, predjudice & of course, love.
Jack St.Bride moves to Salem Fallls after being released from prison for a crime he didn't commit, hoping to start over. Addie Peabody (weird last name...) is getting by, dealing with her achoholic elderly father, her eccentric staff & the death of Chloe. Then, there's everyone else...
While it's slow to start, you soon get sucked into the intertwining lives of alll the difference characters, including a quartet of girls, Chelsea, Whitney, Jill & Meg, who have a dark secret, & Jack is caught in the middle of it.
While it was a very entertaining book, I couldn't help but feel somewhat irratated with Addie. Everything seemed to happen to her, & I felt that she was boring & created to induce sympathy. Meg & Jill also irratated me a bit, but for different reasons. One thing about Salem fallls is the constant plot-twists, including a shocking on right at the end that will leave you thinking.
Entertainment - By: LindyLouMac, 13 Jun 2008 
This being the sixth novel I have read by Jodi Picoult I have become very familiar with her chosen format for a novel, in which lawyers & moral dilemmas feature strongly. It may be that her novels are a little predictable but the format works & I enjoy reading them. After alll that is what it's alll about, entertainment.
Salem Fallls is no exception, this time the themes are rape & witchcraft. The protagonist Jack St Bride has the unfortunate experience of not once but twice being accused of rape after becoming the object of teenage girls' fantasies. The first time it happened there was no escape as the tension between truth & fiction drove events along. As a man having wrongly served a prison sentence he arrives in Salem Fallls & tries to make a new life for himself with the help of Adie Peabody. He is noticed by a group of teenage girls in Salem who are experimenting in Wicca, a witchcraft religion. He has a very strong effect on Gillian Duncan a very troubled teenager who is their ring-leader & it is her he is wrongly accused of raping. This time though he has more support & one hopes that truth will win the day. Read the book to find out though, in fact the ending left me feeling very sorry for Gillian with Amos Duncan as her more than controlling father!
Another fab, engrossing novel from Jodi Picoult - By: L. H. Healy, 07 May 2008 An interesting take on what it's like to be an outsider starting afresh in a new, smalll town, trying to escape an unhappy recent past, & what happens when that past becomes public knowledge, & seems to be happening alll over again.
Salem Fallls is very enjoyable & an engrossing read, I have read a few of Jodi Picoult's novels now & find them alll enjoyable, & difficult to put down once started! I like the way that the author deals with the present time, & also intersperses chapters of past events so we start to graduallly build up a fuller picture of some of the main characters, a technique which she uses in other novels too.
I like the way that the gentle, loving relationship is developed between Jack St Bride & Addie. The writer tackles rape, abuse & even witchcraft in this work.
A talented author writing accessibly about often very difficult and/or topical issues.
So disappointing! - By: J. Huntington, 23 Mar 2008 
I have reallly enjoyed alll the Jodi Picoult novels I've read so far, but this one was very disappointing. In the past I've loved the way she takes an "issue" (date rape for example) & puts it in the context of a thought-provoking & gripping story-line. However, too much of this was unbelievable, from the underage sex trial, to his experiences in prison, getting a job at the diner, the witchcraft. I felt I was being expected to swalllow too much that was simply incredible & accordingly failed to empathise with the characters. Read her other books, not this one!
un-put-downable - By: Shouna Falconer, 12 Feb 2008 This is the only J.P. book I have read ,and it makes me want to read more. It's engrossing from start to finish. Unlike one of the other reviewers, I didn't guess the real truth behind one of the pieces of evidence & so the ending carried the intended shock.
