Mercy by Jodi Picoult

Title: Mercy
Author: Jodi Picoult
ISBN: 978-0-340-83550-0
Publisher: Hodder/1996
Pages: 449

How far can you go if you love someone? Can you kill her/him? Jodi Picoult has covered that aspect in Mercy. What I liked about this book is that this is not mushy or sentimental.

Jamie MacDonald kills his wife, Maggie and knows that he has no life apart from her. His love for her is beyond anything. He has done what she had asked from him. When he comes to Wheelock with Maggie's body and confesses to the Police chief, Cam MacDonald, who is really his cousin, Cam has no other choice than arrest him. Family blood ties do not matter at all.

Cam's wife Allie, loves him deeply but she sides with Jamie. She knows if Cam were suffering and asked her to kill him, she would do it. According to Jamie, in a marriage there is always one who loves more. She starts wondering about it.

The very same day Jamie comes to Wheelock, Mia arrives and starts working for Allie who owns a florist's shop. Cam feels an instant attraction for her and from there starts a life of deceit and lie. He cannot wait for Allie to leave town so as to get together with Mia. She represents all that Allie is not. Allie is comfort, order, predictable who can anticipate all his needs. Mia is what he wants to be, a free spirit who can go any where she wishes to.

Jamie's trial moves in parallel with Cam and Allie's life. Allie comes to know of Cam's betrayal and leaves home. She comes back but she cannot trust him any more. She stops doing all the little things she did for him to make his life smooth. Now he wishes for the same things which had irritated him. The balance tilts. Because of Mia, he finds that he cannot think of living apart from Allie. Why is love so difficult? Why do we realise its worth after we lose it?

Has Jamie done the right thing? Was Maggie better off dead? What do the Jury decide for him? Does Allie forgive Cam? Picoult answers all these and asks few more. Do we have the right for mercy killing? Who decides that?

Mercy is a story about love. That love which can take a life if need be. Loving somebody to death. Jodi Picoult sure knows how to hold her readers.