Publisher : Hodder
Published : 2008
Copyright : Jodi Picoult 2007
ISBN-10 : PB 0-340-89726-0
ISBN-13 : PB 978-0-340-89726-3
A developer has slated an ancient Abenaki Indian burial ground for a strip mall, and now strange happenings have the inhabitants of tiny Comtosook, Vermont, talking of supernatural forces at work. Ross Wakeman is a ghost hunter who's never seen a ghost -- all he's searching for is something to end the pain of losing his fiancée, Aimee, in a car accident. He tried suicide -- any number of times. Now Ross lives only for a way to connect with Aimee from beyond. Searching the site for signs of the paranormal, Ross meets the mysterious Lia, who sparks him to life for the first time in years. But the discoveries that await Ross are beyond anything he could dream of in this world -- or the next.
"Sometimes I wonder....Can a ghost find you, if she wants to?""
An intricate tale of love, haunting memories, and renewal, Second Glance begins in current-day Vermont, where an old man puts a piece of land up for sale and unintentionally raises protest from the local Abenaki Indian tribe, who insist it's a burial ground. When odd, supernatural events plague the town of Comtosook, a ghost hunter is hired by the developer to help convince the residents that there's nothing spiritual about the property.
Enter Ross Wakeman, a suicidal drifter who has put himself in mortal danger time and again. He's driven his car off a bridge into a lake. He's been mugged in New York City and struck by lightning in a calm country field. Yet despite his best efforts, life clings to him and pulls him ever deeper into the empty existence he cannot bear since his fiancee's death in a car crash eight years ago. Ross now lives only for the moment he might once again encounter the woman he loves. But in Comtosook, the only discovery Ross can lay claim to is that of Lia Beaumont, a skittish, mysterious woman who, like Ross, is on a search for something beyond the boundary separating life and death. Thus begins Jodi Picoult's enthralling and ultimately astonishing story of love, fate, and a crime of passion.
i am not usually a fan of ghost stories, and this is certainly a ghost story, but I was drawn into the story right from the start.
When a developer wants to build a shopping mall on a piece of land in Vermont, the Abenaki Indians claim it is an Indian burial ground and attempt to stop the construction. All sorts of strange things begin to happen - like the ground freezing solid, raining apple blossoms, etc.
Can people change their minds about something by reading fiction? Jodi Picoult challenges this premise and leads us into a story that make us think and wonder....."what do I believe? Where do I stand?" and especially, "I never knew that!"
Jodi Picoult always develops interesting characters and does so again in this book. The central character is Ross, a ghost hunter who is seeking the ghost of his girlfriend who died in a car accident. He eventually has a profound experience with a ghost and again falls in love - this time with a woman who was murdered seventy years ago.
Other characters of interest include his sister, his nephew who is allergic to the sun, a local police officer, a hundred year old Indian, etc.
There are several story lines, but they are very entwined with each other. The most intriguing to me was solving the 70 year old murder. or was it suicide? This book was quite different from other Picoult books that I have read, but I enjoyed it, even if it is a ghost story!
This was an entertaining book to read, and I also learned about some things I never knew happened.
