Jodi Picoult is an author who needs no introduction, and in her recent novels is proving that she is unafraid to tackle some of the biggest issues in our country. A Spark of Light takes on the issue of abortion, and Jodi Picoult takes on the challenge of writing about this issue with nuance and sensitivity.
This book is a little challenging to read as it is told in reverse chronological order (it’s told in sections of an hour at a time, with each section going back one hour earlier in the day). While it was not my favorite, I think that it was effective in allowing some of the inciting issues that led everyone who is at the clinic that day (both the shooter and the patients) to be revealed later.
The most heartbreaking story in this book took place outside the clinic, in a hospital room where a teenage girl lies in a hospital bed, finding out that she is facing criminal charges following her abortion (the exact circumstances of which are revealed in the story). Her pain, her isolation, her role in what is happening in the clinic were all devastating. The thought of stories like hers becoming more common as further restrictions are placed on women’s rights to safe abortions and healthcare? Terrifying.

4 and 1 / 2 stars

Lieutenant Hugh McElroy responds to a shooting and hostage negotiation at the local (and only), women’s health services clinic left in the state. His job turns to horror when he learns that his daughter, Wren, is one of the hostages. The hostage taker then releases all the hostages, some injured and some okay. Those left in the clinic are the gunman, Wren and a dead woman. They know the name of the gunman; it is George Goddard.

Hugh knows Goddard from before the incident. He offers himself in place of Wren. Goddard doesn’t go for it. Hugh walks toward the clinic. He convinces Goddard to reluctantly let Wren go.

So begins an excellent story.

Ms. Picoult has written a timely and powerful story about abortion; a woman’s right to choose on one hand and the life of the baby on the other. She presents both sides in a compelling and interesting way. As we get into the story, the reader learns the backstory of the various individuals caught up in the drama. We are not overwhelmed with information, but rather it enhances the story; it does not intrude. This is a very well written, plotted and thought-out novel. I recommend it to everyone, regardless of their stance on the subject. This is my first Jodi Picoult novel, and I immediately went to Amazon to look at others of her books.

I want to thank NetGalley and Random House Publishing – Ballantine/Ballantine for forwarding to me a copy of this most thought-provoking book for me to read, enjoy and review.

A Spark of Light was a captivating story regarding the controversial and emotional topic of abortion. The story took place within a time frame of several agonizing hours, but in reverse order. The reader already knew that a distraught father took the lives of several innocent people at the Center while keeping several hostages. As the story enfolded, we learned the reasoning for his violent actions as well as the background story of the rest of the people whose lives were forever changed by entering the Center on that fateful day.
The author, through her characters, argued in favor of both pro life and pro choice. She created an interesting complex set of characters that pulled you into their stories and what eventually brought them to the Center. This was an engaging read and highly recommended.

I really enjoyed this book as it dealt with many current day issues such as abortion and racism. Jodi Picoult manages to give both sides of the abortion argument while engrossing the reader in a gripping hostage situation. Well written and lots to think about while being a quick read. Interestingly the story is told in reverse order, i.e. it starts with the end and then you go back in time to find out why each person acted in the way they did. Quite intriguing. Especially as the book starts with a bit of a cliff hanger....

As usual, Jodi Picoult delivers a thought-provoking book. I love how she tells the story from multiple perspectives. It was obvious that Ms. Picoult did a tremendous amount of research before writing this book. I had empathy for all the characters including the “villain.” The manner in which the story is written might not be to everyone’s liking as the book basically starts at the end and works backwards. I received an advance copy of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

Initially I found the story being told in reverse a bit of a distraction but it soon became fine. The characters are believable, honest, and each one has their own spin on things. I really found this book riveting and each character felt real, almost as if I really knew them. The hostage negotiator is especially well fleshed out and his story, his sister’s story, a shooting victim of the gunman, and of course his beloved daughter, there for birth control issues, are all clearly and sensitively told. My favorite was actually the abortion doctor himself and his reasons why he felt compelled to continue on with his work.

The gunman and his own daughter who had come in earlier for an abortion but refused, were also presented in a balanced, nuanced fashion where the feelings of both pro abortion and anti abortion views are presented. For this young woman, a self induced abortion was the only option left to her, but she was likely to go to jail for her choices to terminate her pregnancy.

Because the debate over abortion still rages within the US, this is a very timely story. I can remover a time before abortions were legal in the US and women died seeking illegal abortions in dirty places with unqualified, untrained practioners. Here it is again looming as a possibility all over the US as clinic after clinic shuts down and the debate appears destined for the Supreme Court.

This is not just the story about legal vs illegal abortions but also about gun violence and the right to bring guns into totally inappropriate places to act out anger, frustration, rage and control issues. This is a sad story but one that needs to be examined and really thought through. Unwanted children born often into poverty or to parents who are still children themselves, have an enormously tough road to tread but unless there are homes with open hearts waiting for these children, these kids are doomed from the moment of conception for hard, Impossible lives. It is a tough debate and tough gut wrenching decisions for everyone involved.

I liked this book a lot and felt it dealt with a very timely subject between the Supreme Court nomination debate that may bring about a reexamination of Roe v Wade and the seemingly almost daily episodes of shooting violence that never seems to be dealt with due to the power of the NRA and lack of congressional action. This is a very powerful book. Thank you Jodi Picoult for once again giving us a most interesting book.

Jodi Picoult's latest is about gun violence/hostage crisis at an women's health & abortion clinic. In fact, it is the last remaining abortion clinic in Mississippi. [There is such a place in real life.] The cast of characters each have backstories; this is an ensemble cast.

One woman is there for questions about cancer of the reproductive system. One woman is there for her first birth control prescription, taken there by her Aunt. One is a spy from a pro-life group. Some women are there for abortion by surgery, some for abortion by medication. The hostage negotiator has a story, a rich one at that. The clinic owner, the staff and the doctor all have stories. So, too, does the gunman, who is after vengeance. Another story plays out, a woman whose options disappear quickly and she faces legal prosecution for murder for acting to harm the life of her unborn child.

Pro-lifers [Called Anti's for being Anti-Abortion] come from a place of deep personal conviction, that much is discussed. However, the doctor and staff do come to this with their own deeply personal commitment. They make the point: if you protect the unborn's rights, how do you also protect the woman's rights? At what point do the woman's rights become forfeit? The doctor's personal experiences make him passionate about the rights of women, and even more, of women of color in the South.

I am not a fan of flashbacks. This book starts okay and I tried to learn the characters, but then we start over on the day of the incident, hour by hour. By the time I was halfway through, I felt like the characters got muddied. I do not like needing notes to keep track of things! [Originally there were 16 characters, so thankfully this draft is culled.] I found the story very compelling.

The best part of this story? The incredible secrets and revelations at the closing hours of the crisis. Will it end happily? Well, people die, right at the beginning. This is not a good day unfolding. There is a question of what options women in Mississippi will have after the fact. What will change? There is a critical mass of emotion around the shooter, and the woman he is not protecting on his rampage.

I would also encourage readers to not stop at the end of the story. Read on about how Jodi Picoult did her research: see the statistics about violent protests, read her summary after time spent listening to people on all sides, and grasp the incredible choice to attend 3 actual abortions at different stages-- now that is research. I felt as emotional about this information as I did about the story! She also takes many points made by the characters and examines them -- if the goal is truly to reduce abortions, there are ways to make that goal more reachable, and yet those options are not in place. [Everything from birth control to assisting mothers whose reason for terminating is being financially unable to care for an additional child.]

Will we ever come to a place of agreement with two sides both having polarized personal commitment? Perhaps unlikely. Does our society need to take a look at the bigger picture? Oh, my; YES.

I do want to preface this by saying that I absolutely LOVE Jodi Picoult as an author, and giving her anything other than a 4 or 5 star review is rare for me. I know that she's no stranger to some controversial topics, but I think this one was just too much for me personally. It's not that the topic of abortion bothers me or anything, but this one was just... a lot to handle.
The story line was good, I think things progressed nicely and once everything came to fruition, it really came together nicely. But the one thing that bothered me was how much this jumped around. From one POV to another, from one time to another, from different timelines entirely, it was just way too much.
This book is, of course, amazing in its own way, but if you're going to pick it up, be prepared for a very heavy topic and lots of jumping from one spot or person or timeline to another. So if that is something that bothers you, I would definitely avoid this one.
Because this book jumped around as much as it did, I honestly had a very hard time connecting with any of the characters and having any sort of emotional investment in what happened and that's honestly the biggest reason for it not being 4 stars.

First, Jodi Picoult is a master at creating compelling characters on both sides of an issue. Her talents are just as strong with this book as they were in "Small Great Things" which, to me, has been her best book to date. She is also especially talented at crafting beautiful sets of words into sentences that leap off the pages as images playing out in front of the reader. With this book, however, I was confused from the first chapters all the way through the end. Throughout, I had to scroll back multiple pages and sometimes even chapters to see if I had missed something - with the characters, mostly. I'm familiar with her writing style, but for some reason it was not fluid for me this time around. Nonetheless, she fearlessly tackles hot-button issues and forces readers into seeing different perceptions and experiences. She injects difficult-to-comprehend research into readable, relatable stories. I think if the chapters were reorganized this would be on par with her previous offerings.

I wanted so badly to love this book like I have so many of her other books. I think it was the timeline that was throwing me off. It went backwards in time instead of forwards and just didn't flow well for me. Aside from that, I did love this book. The story line was great, and I loved the characters.

One shooter in a women’s reproductive health services clinic called The Center, changes the lives of countless individuals. The day started out the same as any other day, with a line of protesters outside the building. Police were called and the hostage negotiator started his job of talking to the shooter. What the officer didn't realize at the time was.... his daughter and his sister were 2 of the hostages. This book tells the story backwards, so that you can see how the events unfolded &, how stories were intertwined.
I am a huge fan of Jodi Picoult's books. They tackle hot topics, and always manage to make you see all sides of the situation... not just your own view. This book kept me on the edge of my seat. It kept me engrossed and I could not put it down. I highly recommend this book!

Wonderful plot. Well-drawn characters but oh my, why was it told in reverse time order. That was confusing. That's my only complaint.

Jodi Picoult has a way of drawing you into her novels with well developed characters, intriguing plots and well researched issues. A Spark of Light does just that. As the morning unfolds at a women's reproductive clinic, a woman has an abortion, a teenager and her aunt arrive for birth control...and a distraught gunman enters, firing shots and keeping several who couldn't escape hostage. Hug McElroy, a Jackson, Mississippi police officer and hostage negotiator rushes to the scene, only to find out that his sister and teenage daughter are among the hostages. He knows that he should immediately recuse himself from the investigation but he also knows he's the best man for the job. As the hours go by and the situation becomes more tense, has Hugh made the right decision? Will anyone else die?

Ms. Picoult has chosen an interesting, but somewhat confusing way to lay out the timeline of the story. Instead of doing it in a linear fashion, she starts later in the hostage situation, after some have already been killed. Then she jumps back and forth throughout the story to different times during the day and in the lives of the main characters, to discover their lives and motivations. As i read this, I found it very confusing initially to keep track of who was who, especially Joy and Janine. Even towards the end, I was still confusing some characters. I also thought it was unusual to know what had happened to some characters right from the beginning, before you even got to know anything about them. However, this did NOT in any way detract from my enjoyment of A Spark of Light, I couldn't put it down and read it over the course of a day and a half.

Aside from this, the book was a fascinating look into the world of abortion and abortion clinics. I learned a great deal due the the research that Ms Picoult did and appreciated her summing up statistics on abortion at the end of the novel. It was a fascinating read and I highly recommend it.

Expertly plotted, A Spark of Light, explores the range of emotion around a woman's right to choose. The setting in a womens health clinic in a conservative state in the deep south examines the difficulties faced by young and low income women in exercising their rights in those communities. And typical of Picoult's stories, the characters draw you in making it was hard to put down.

A Spark of Light is a unique novel about a group of hostages and the shooter who holds them captive in an abortion clinic in Mississippi. The story jumps back and forth in time throughout - starting with the current situation. The nurse, Izzy, trying to keep the wounded Doctor and Bex alive while Joy, Janine, and Wren struggle with the choices that led them to the clinic in the first place. Wren's father is also the hostage negotiator trying frantically to get his daughter and the other hostages released and his sister Bex and the injured doctor to the hospital. Jodi Picoult does an amazing job of presenting the viewpoints of all the characters, from the protesters outside, to the owner of the clinic, to the nurses who work there and the doctor who sacrificed family and lifestyle to insure that women have safe medical care. I kept waiting for the author to lean to one side or the other but she kept true to her characters throughout the story and gave me a lot to think about. She obviously researched the topic of pro-choice and pro-life, thoroughly investigating both sides and all the grey areas in between. Picoult has a knack for presenting the many different viewpoint in a way that makes it hard not to see where everyone is coming from. This will be an excellent reading club book for groups who value lively discussions and aren't afraid of stepping on a few toes.

In this latest Jodi Piccoult treasure, she tackles the issue of a woman’s right and abortion in her usual thoroughly engrossing manner.

There is a hostage crises at the only reproductive health clinic in Mississippi that performs abortions and the hostage negotiator’s sister and daughter are inside with the gunman who has already killed.

The book is well researched and Piccoult does an excellent job of presenting all sides of this issue. She tells the background stories of the main characters which gives insight into how each one has arrived at his/her views and actions.

Except for the epilogue, the story is revealed in reverse time order. This was an interesting technique, and I don’t know if it would have been more effective if revealed in chronological order.

As with Piccoult’s last novel, don’t forget to read the author’s notes at the back.

I received this ARC courtesy of NetGalley. Disappointed in this compared to Picoult's other works. The backwards gimmick didn't really work for me; I wonder if anyone hearing about the arrangement will choose to read it in reverse (minus the epilogue). Picoult is known for twists, but the ones in this were underwhelming at best. While it's obvious that she did her research, I didn't really learn anything new. I was a bit confused why it refers to Louie not hearing due to the shotgun blast when it's a pistol that George uses (maybe Louie thinks it was a shotgun). And although the heart tilts to the left, and people talk about putting their hand over the left side for the Pledge, the heart is somewhat centered.

I applaud Picoult for tackling tough topics. Even though she is pro-choice, I felt she attempted to share the thoughts and feelings of those who are pro-life.
However, the ending was anti-climatic. I think the reverse order didn't work well for this book. I liked the characters but I didn't love them. I didn't have a chance to connect with them.
I got to end and thought, okay. That's it. It's a good book. It just didn't move me like her others did.

Overall, it's worth the read because it's a reminder that people on both sides of an issue are still people. If we'd slow down enough to listen, we may learn something.

I received this book in exchange for my review. My thoughts are my own.

Jodi Picoult is an amazing writer who is not afraid to tackle extraordinarily controversial subjects and A Spark of Light is no exception. The story opens incredibly strong in a Women's Health Center where multiple health services are provided, including abortion. Picoult has obviously researched this topic and does an incredible job presenting a fair and balanced look at both sides of the pro-choice/right to life debate. The story is told through the eyes of characters with equally good reasons for their positions. The characters are all wonderfully drawn and through their lives, Picoult is able to present differing points of view on the topic of abortion without endorsing one or the other side. The thing that threw me in the book was the reverse chronological order in which it is told. The story starts with the ending and then proceeds to unwind backwards revealing each of the characters reasons for being at the Center. If found this a bit disorienting and think it actually weakened the intensity of the telling of the tale. It's a good book, excellent story-line, great characters, but I would have preferred that it be told in chronological order.

First full disclosure- Jodi Picoult is by far one of my favorite authors and I have read every book she’s written thus far and look forward to her future books. This book is about a women’s health clinic which services women’s health issues of various kinds. It is complete with protestors both pro life as well as pro choice and a very upset father who holds the clinic responsible for his daughter’s decision and comes in with a gun Killing and injuring several people and holding the rest hostage. The ending is fairly predictable but there is a surprise twist I didn’t see coming and I wish that had been played up more as the ending. This book had a few different story lines but pointed out what women’s clinics really do besides what uneducated people regard as abortion clinics only.
What I love about Jodi’s books is that they have a genre of its own. She always chooses a timely topic that is happening now-usually ripped from the headlines and her research is impeccable. She breaks the mold with her singular style of writing as well as the topics she chooses. I can’t wait for her next book!