Mercy [Paperback]

Jodi Picoult (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 1, 2001

Police chief of a small Massachusetts town, Cameron McDonald makes the toughest arrest of his life when his own cousin Jamie comes to him and confesses outright that he has killed his terminally ill wife out of mercy.

Now, a heated murder trial plunges the town into upheaval, and drives a wedge into a contented marriage: Cameron, aiding the prosecution in their case against Jamie, is suddenly at odds with his devoted wife, Allie -- seduced by the idea of a man so in love with his wife that he'd grant all her wishes, even her wish to end her life. And when an inexplicable attraction leads to a shocking betrayal, Allie faces the hardest questions of the heart: when does love cross the line of moral obligation? And what does it mean to truly love another?

Praised for her "personal, detail-rich style" (Glamour), Jodi Picoult infuses this page-turning novel with heart, warmth, and startling candor, taking readers on an unforgettable emotional journey.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What could have been a competent, topical novel about a mercy killing becomes, in Picoult's (following Picture Perfect, 1995) hands, an inspired meditation on love. The setting is Wheelock, Mass., a slightly eccentric town where most of the residents are of Scottish descent, where weddings end in a blood vow, the name MacDonald is "painted on an alarming number of mailboxes" and police chief Cameron MacDonald doubles as clan chief and protector. On a seemingly ordinary day in Wheelock, Jamie MacDonald, a cousin of Cameron's, drives to the police station and announces: "My wife here, Maggie, is dead, and I'm the one who killed her." Cam finds himself saddled with a murder case and a conflict of interest: his cousin has given in to the pleas of his cancer-ravaged wife to kill her, and he's come to the clan chief to confess. But as police chief, Cam must also prosecute. On the same day, Cam's wife, Allie, the local florist, hires Mia, a violet-eyed beauty with a genius for flower arranging. Allie gets involved in Jamie's case, and Cam, who has spent his life in service to his community and his clan, falls in love with Mia and begins an affair that will bring his marriage to the breaking point and change it profoundly. Like Jamie, Allie is the marriage partner who loves more. "It's never fifty-fifty," says Jamie. As Jamie's court case proceeds, Picoult plumbs the emotional core of both marriages. The pace of the trial is slow, but Picoult pays loving attention to her central characters, fashioning a sensitive exploration of the balance of love.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Cameron MacDonald is both the chief of police in the Massachusetts village of Wheelock and the reluctant figurehead chieftain of the MacDonald clan, which immigrated there in the late 1700s. Thus it is to Cam that his cousin Jamie turns after he accedes to his suffering wife's wish and helps her to die. Cam, who longs to travel and free himself from his family obligation, arrests Jamie for first-degree murder but then hires a lawyer for him. On that same day, exotic young Mia wanders into the village and is hired by Cam's wife, Allie, to help out in her florist shop. Cam and Allie have reached a comfortable plateau in their marriage, but both sense that something is missing. Mia and Cam are irresistibly drawn to each other, she to his established place in local society and he to her itinerant lifestyle. The story explores love and the intricate balance of give and take that marriage demands. Picoult (Picture Perfect, LJ 1/95) offers a well-written novel with touches of spirituality that are reminiscent of Alice Hoffman's stories. Highly recommended for most collections.?Kathleen Stevens, Fairfax Cty. P. L., Vir.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Washington Square Press; Later Printing edition (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743422449
• ISBN-13: 978-0743422444
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (187 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,257 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I grew up on Long Island with my parents and my little brother, the product of a ridiculously happy childhood. My mom says I've been writing as long as she remembers - my first masterpiece was "The Lobster That Was Misunderstood," at age 5. I honed my writing skills beyond that, one hopes, before I headed off to Princeton, where I wanted to work with living, breathing authors in their creative writing program. Mary Morris was my teacher/mentor, and I really do believe I wouldn't be where I am today if not for her guidance and expertise. I had two short stories published in SEVENTEEN magazine when I was in college. However, when I graduated, a desire to not eat ramen noodles exclusively and to be able to pay my rent led me to take a job on Wall Street (not a great idea, since I can't even balance my checkbook). When the stock market crashed in 1987, I moved to Massachusetts and over the course of two years, worked at a textbook publishing company, taught creative writing at a private school, became an ad copywriter, got a master's in education at Harvard, got married, taught at a public school, and had a baby. My first novel was published shortly after my son was born, and I've always said that the reason I kept writing is because it's so much easier than teaching English.

In fourteen years, I've published thirteen novels: Songs of the Humpback Whale, Harvesting the Heart, Picture Perfect, Mercy, The Pact, Keeping Faith, Plain Truth, Salem Falls, Perfect Match, Second Glance, My Sister's Keeper, Vanishing Acts, and the upcoming The Tenth Circle, this March. Two of my books (Plain Truth and The Pact) were made into Lifetime TV movies; Keeping Faith will be another. My Sister's Keeper is in development at New Line Cinema to be a feature film. And there isn't a single day that I don't stop and marvel at the fact that when I go to work, I get to do what I love the most.

My husband Tim and I live in Hanover, NH with our three kids, a dog, a rabbit, and the occasional donkey or cow.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#28 Overall (See top 100 authors)

#2 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

#2 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction

#5 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

#10 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers

#10 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction

#2 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

#2 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Literary Fiction

#5 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary

#10 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers

#10 in Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Contemporary Fiction

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

77 of 82 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars MEA CULPA September 16, 2001

By Nancy Martin

Format:Paperback

I can't remember reading a book where all the characters had such undesirable traits that reading any further became an effort. The only character who was somewhat bearable was a cat and that's probably because it spent its time either eating or hidden in someone's backpack serving as a parallel to everything else that's hidden away in this small town of Wheelock, MA.

I'm already a Jodi Picoult fan having read and liked four of her other books -- The Pact, Keeping Faith, Plain Truth and Salem Falls -- so when I say that I didn't enjoy this book at all, I have a good basis for comparison. Never before have I read a book where I felt so detached from each and every character. The wife Allie has no backbone, the husband Cam has no loyalty, the mistress Mia has no values, the mercy killer Jamie has no fortitude, his dead wife Maggie was selfish, Cam's mother Ellen is a wacko.....I could go on and on.

The backdrop of the story is one of intense love -- so intense that your emotions take over your senses. There's a case of a mercy killing, another story of a cheating spouse and a courtroom scene where all the scenarios are played out. The events leading up to and after the killing are all impulsive -- sometimes so impulsive that they're hard to believe. There are other parts in the book where reality is suspended and mysticism takes over. I'm always at a loss when an author resorts to this.

Probably the biggest complaint I have is the intense lack of editing. I can't stand when I'm reading a book and two people are having a conversation yet the name you're reading on the typewritten page is NOT the name of the person who is actually doing the talking. This happened on three separate occasions and after awhile, it only added to my overall confusion and lack of continuity of my reading experience. I'm usually not this hard when reviewing a book and it could be the fact that I read it in the midst of our great American tragedy which could have altered my mood considerably. For that reason, I've given it three stars as opposed to the two stars which I had originally intended. Somehow though, I don't think it was my mood...the book just wasn't that enjoyable for me.

56 of 63 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars If you really love me, you would kill me! December 14, 2000

By Denise Bentley

Format:Hardcover

Euthanasia is the subject and it is handled quite well by this author. First I want you to know that there are no spoilers here. The book starts with the act of suffocation and then goes on to explain the circumstances. Jamie MacDonald loves his wife Maggie with a fierce loyalty. When Maggie's cancer ridden body becomes more than she can bear she asks him to kill her. What follows is a journey that there is no coming back from.

Cam MacDonald is the highly respected police chief in a small town and is married to Allie who adores him to the point that she has lost herself in this man she calls her husband. The sun rises in the east due to the light she sees in Cam's eyes. Allie's world is about to come crashing down around her. Hers is also a journey that will take her to a place that there is no coming back from.

Cam is not only the police chief, but by no choice of his own, he has become the respected head of the MacDonald Clan, whose ancestors hail from Scotland. They have settled in Wheelock, Massachusetts over the centuries. Jamie comes to Wheeloch to enjoy his last hours with Maggie and commit his act of love.

The author has created a multifaceted situation and has gone on to superbly blend the stories together. We are dealt a betrayal on two fronts and we watch as the characters wade through the mire that their lives become because of it. This is another great book by Picoult. She was kind enough to chat with my book group on line a few months back and told us this was her personal favorite. I have to admit I'm hooked, and I have now bought every one of her books. I am anxiously awaiting her new book SALEM FALLS that should be out in the first part of the New Year. 12/14/00

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars The quality of mercy leaves a lot to be desired February 28, 2005

By lisatheratgirl VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

I have read most of Jodi Picoult's books and reviewed some, and they were all outstanding. This is the first one in which I was really disappointed. After page 25, I knew a lot about one person's genealogy, another's high school reminiscences, an unknown person who had a tag sale of all her husband's stuff when he was away, and a few notes with no indication who wrote them or to whom they were written or what they had to do with anything. The story seemed to be constantly sidetracking. It took forever to cut to the action and then it would be interrupted by more distractions.

I didn't get the point of having this book set in a town inhabited by an entire Scottish clan that emigrated together two hundred years before. Maybe there actually is a town like this, but it didn't ring true. By page 100, the names of the characters were making me nuts. It reminded me of Brigadoon where there is a song that goes something like MacGregor, MacDougall, Macduff and MacCoy, McKenna MacNeil and MacRae, etc. If she had set the book in Scotland, not everyone would have names like this. It was impossible for me to take seriously anyone named Verona MacBean. There also names like Watchell Spitlick (!)

The plot seems far-fetched and unrealistic. The issue is a good one; there is a controversial case in the Florida courts right now. But smothering your wife and then pulling up in the main square to announce it to the whole town, with the dead body in tow-they didn't even do that in Brigadoon. You're kind of waiting for James to break into song at this point. Allie hiring Mia and inviting her to stay in their house when she knows nothing about her and doesn't even ask is crazy. She could be a fugitive from justice, a serial killer, an illegal immigrant with no Social Security number, who knows. The police chief and his wife never lock their doors. I've never lived in a small town, but come on, this isn't the 1930s, where anyone would invite a passing transient in to have lunch with the family. The police chief secretly pays a lawyer to get his cousin off a murder charge while he participates in the prosecution? Wouldn't the court appoint an attorney?

The book really isn't about euthanasia. It's about marital problems, flower arranging, New Age healing, people seeing ghosts, scenes that are repeated later in the story, and scenes that don't go anywhere. Verona seems like she's going to be a major character, but we hear nothing about her after chapter 1. Why didn't Picoult do some research on the real issue and treat it in depth instead of straying off into all this trivia? Anyone can write about extramarital affairs. It's as if she felt she had to fill 400 pages no matter what.

This is the first time I've had to force myself to finish a book by Jodi Picoult. Neither the plot nor the characters captured my interest, and it didn't get any better. It's too bad, because she could have done so much more with the real subject matter instead of wandering off onto topics that may have interested her, but bored a lot of readers.