Author: Jodi Picoult
Publication Date: March 2010
Blurb: House Rules is about Jacob Hunt, a teenage boy with Asperger’s Syndrome. He’s hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has a special focus on one subject – in his case, forensic analysis. He’s always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do…and he’s usually right. But then one day his tutor is found dead, and the police come to question him. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger’s – not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, inappropriate affect – can look a heck of a lot like guilt to law enforcement personnel -- and suddenly, Jacob finds himself accused of murder.
My Thoughts: Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Aspegers Syndrome. He can't look people in the eye, can't relate to other people's feelings, often says innappropriate things, has ticks and twitches he can't control especially when he's upset, can only wear and eat certain colours on certain days and needs to take breaks in a special room to calm himself down, amongst other things. Jacob is also obsessed with forensics, and often shows up at crime scenes to help the police. All of these things are characteristics of a person with Aspergers. However, when Jacob's tutor, Jess is found dead the police come to the conclusion that these characteristics also point towards Jacob being guilty of her murder.
After a couple of disappointing releases Jodi Picoult is back to her usual fantastic work with House Rules. I literally flew through this book just because I didn't want to put it down. I found all the details about the court case and Aspergers Syndrome really interesting and I now know a lot more about both of these topics than I did before. What I liked most about House Rules was how Picoult made Jacob a character I could empathise with and grow to like. I have read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night and didn't have this experience with that book at all. I also liked how you got to see each person's point of view as Picoult had her chapters from various people's point of view. So you got to see the impact Jacob's Aspergers and his court case have on his mother, Emma and his brother, Theo and also get the story from the point of view of Jacob's lawyer, Oliver and the police officer that arrested him. The ending was a little predictable, I had solved the case before I was halfway through the book, but I still enjoyed reading on to see if I was right and to see how exactly the story would end up.
I would definitely recommend this book!
Rating: ****
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