Second Glance by Jodi Piccoult

I have a confession.  I have a strange desire to see a ghost.  I don’t even know if I believe in ghosts, but if they exist, I want to see one.  I don’t know why I think that would be cool, but it would.  My first year back to school (2008) my roommates and I became obsessed with the show Ghost Hunters on the SyFy channel.  Every Wednesday we would order pizza and watch the Ghost Hunters marathon.  I really like that show because I feel like Grant, Jason, and the rest of the team tried their best to disprove things.  They would find alternate explanations for things going on in a house before saying “yes you have a ghost that resides here”.    To me, that made the possibility of ghosts seem a little more realistic.

 

 

The reason I am telling you all this is because the book Second Glance by Jodi Piccoult  is about ghosts.  Okay it’s not STRICTLY about ghosts, but ghosts play a decent part in the story line.  Second Glance is based in Vermont.  The story centers around a supposed Indian burial ground that has been sold to developers.  The local Indian tribe causes a ruckus because they are convinced Indians were buried on the site. When unexplainable events start to occur, the town starts to believe that ghosts of ancient Indians are telling the community that building this shopping center might not be the best idea.   The developers decide to put the rumors to rest by hiring Ross Wakeman, a ghost hunter.  Ross spends a few nights in one of the houses on the property, but doesn’t find anything of significance except a lonely lady name Lia that is in an abusive relationship.  She is desperate to find out if ghosts exist because she wants to know the mother she never had that died while giving birth to her. Ross is determined to build a relationship with Lia, but Lia seems to be an elusive character.  One night while Ross is out ghost hunting, he sees Lia.  He follows her to a gravestone, where she seems to disappear into thin air.  The grave stone Ross sees her near turns out to be HER gravestone.  Yup, Lia is a ghost.  The rest of the story follows the story of Lia and her husband Spencer.  The history on this plot of land is a lot more interesting than anyone in the town thought it would.

As per usual, Jodi Piccoult has written a great page turner.  I loved this book!  What is disturbing about it is how factual some of the events in the story are.  Piccoult always does great research before writing a book, and the facts she brings to light about Vermont in the 20’s and 30’s is pretty shocking.  Another plus for this book: Jodi consulted Jason and Grant from Ghost Hunters to learn more about the science of ghost hunting.  While reading I thought some of the terms sounded like familiar phrases that the use on the show.  My suspicions were confirmed in Piccoult’s acknowledgement page.   I seriously love Ghost Hunters. 

The most recent book I read was a bit out of the norm for me.  I just finished it last night, so hopefully I can get a post up soon.  I’m a bit behind in school work so I need to play some serious catchup, but I want to get caught up on blog posts as well.  YAY being super busy all the time!

Happy Reading!

 

Tara