The Pact by Jodi Picoult

Year Published: 1998
Publisher: Avon Books
ISBN:0061150142
Pages: 496
Classification: Fiction
Media Format : Book
Genre: Drama
Interest Level: 9-12
Reading Level: 6
Subjects: Teenagers, Death, Fiction

Reader's Annotation: Emily is dead at seventeen from a gunshot wound to the head, inflicted by her childhood soul mate, Chris as part of an apparent suicide pact, while families struggle with the question of whether they really knew their children.

Summary: Chris and Emily are inseparable since birth. They become so close in their teenage years that they even made a suicide pact and planned to carry it out except Chris did not die. Chris had to live through the investigation and the emotional court scene that puts him in the center stage for Emily’s death.

The truth is revealed in the flashbacks of Chris and Emily’s life from birth to the night of Emily’s death. Emily had suicidal thoughts because of her childhood molestation and her untold pregnancy.

Reviews and Awards: Kirkus Reviews, New York Times Book Review, Publishers Weekly

Author Website: www.jodipicoult.com