Nineteen Minutes Read online

  Praise for #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult's startling and poignant novel Nineteen Minutes

  "Adept character development and intelligent plot twists. . . . Nineteen Minutes is both a page-turner and a thoughtful exploration of popularity, power, and the social ruts that can define us in ways we may not wish to be defined."

  --Rocky Mountain News (Denver) "Picoult is a rare writer who delivers, book after book, a winning combination of the literary and the commercial. . . . No reader can possibly foresee the book's stunning denouement. This is vintage Picoult, expertly crafted, thought-provoking and compelling."

  --Entertainment Weekly, Grade: A "[Nineteen Minutes is] absorbing and expertly made. On one level, it's a thriller, complete with dismaying carnage, urgent discoveries and 11th-hour revelations, but it also asks serious moral questions about the relationship between the weak and the strong, questions that provide what school people call 'teachable moments.' If compassion can be taught, Picoult may be just the one to teach it."

  --The Washington Post

  "Breathtaking storytelling by a bestselling writer."

  --The Associated Press

  "Lots of humor, assured writing, and a meaty, provocative plot: Nineteen Minutes deserves to be where it is--at the top of the bestseller list."

  --The Philadelphia Inquirer

  "Every bit as gripping and moving as Picoult's previous novels, Nineteen Minutes will no doubt garner considerable attention for its controversial subject and twist ending."

  --Booklist

  "Picoult paints a troubling portrait of families and kids, especially the bullies and the bullied. . . . [The book's] ordinariness gives it surprising power. This could be your community, your neighbor, your family."

  --USA Today

  "Picoult's fiction is intelligent, often moving and always ripe for book club discussion."

  --Daily News (New York) "Brilliantly told."

  --Publishers Weekly (starred review) Praise for

  The Tenth Circle

  "A chilling account of the contemporary world of teenagers. . . . [A] remarkable achievement and a great read."

  --Rocky Mountain News

  "Another gripping, nuanced tale of a family in crisis from bestseller Picoult."

  --People

  "Thought-provoking and topical . . . the book twists the reader's heart. . . . [Picoult] leads readers to consider thorny issues around motives and consequences."

  --Denver Post

  "Picoult's writing finesse shines. . . . Coupled with its illustrated counterpart, [The Tenth Circle] becomes a treat for both the mind and the eye."

  --Houston Chronicle

  "In her taut tale, Jodi Picoult deftly builds the suspense as the story moves from the aftermath of rape to more heartache. . . . [She] will make you guess until the end."

  --Pittsburgh Post Gazette

  Praise for

  Vanishing Acts

  "Ms. Picoult is a solid, lively storyteller."

  --The New York Times

  "Richly textured and engaging."

  --The Boston Globe

  "The worlds Picoult creates for her characters resonate with authenticity, and the people who inhabit them are so engaging."

  --People

  Thank you for purchasing this Atria Books eBook.

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  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Part One

  Chapter 1: March 6, 2007

  Chapter 2: Seventeen Years Before

  Chapter 3: Hours After

  Chapter 4: Twelve Years Before

  Chapter 5: The Day After

  Chapter 6: Six Years Before

  Chapter 7: Ten Days After

  Chapter 8: One Year Before

  Chapter 9: One Month After

  Chapter 10: The Month Before

  Part Two

  Chapter 11: Five Months After

  Chapter 12: 6:30 A.M., The Day Of

  Chapter 13: Five Months After

  Chapter 14: 10:16 A.M., The Day Of

  Chapter 15: Five Months After

  Chapter 16: March 6, 2008

  Readers Club Guide

  Between the Lines Teaser

  Reader's Companion

  About Jodi Picoult

  About Emily Bestler Books

  About Atria Books

  Ask Atria

  For Emily Bestler, the finest editor and fiercest champion a girl could ask for, who makes sure I put my best foot forward, every time.

  Thanks for your keen eye, your cheerleading, and most of all, your friendship.

  Acknowledgments

  You know it's going to be an intriguing paragraph when I first thank the man who came to my house to teach me how to shoot a handgun in a woodpile in my own backyard: Captain Frank Moran. Thanks, too, to his colleague, Lieutenant Michael Evans, for detailed information on firearms, and to police chief Nick Giaccone for the bazillion last-minute email questions about search, seizure, and all things police-oriented. Detective Trooper Claire Demarais gets her own special kudo for being the queen of forensics and for walking Patrick through a crime scene of enormous proportion. I'm fortunate to have many friends and family who happen to also be experts in their fields, who let me share their stories, or who serve as sounding boards: Jane Picoult, Dr. David Toub, Wyatt Fox, Chris Keating, Suzanne Serat, Doug Fagen, Janine Scheiner, Conrad Farnham, Chris and Karen van Leer. Thanks to Guenther Frankenstein for his family's generous contribution to the expansion of Hanover's Howe Library and for the use of his marvelous name. Glen Libby patiently answered my questions about life at the Grafton County Jail, and Ray Fleer, the undersheriff at the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, provided me with materials and information about the school shooting at Columbine. Thanks to David Plaut and Jake van Leer for the really bad math joke; Doug Irwin for teaching me the economics of happiness; Kyle van Leer and Axel Hansen for the premise behind Hide-n-Shriek; Luke Hansen for the C++ program; and Ellen Irwin for the popularity chart. I'm grateful, as always, to the team at Atria Books that makes me look so much better than I truly am: Carolyn Reidy, David Brown, Alyson Mazzarelli, Christine Duplessis, Gary Urda, Jeanne Lee, Lisa Keim, Sarah Branham, and the indefatigable Jodi Lipper. To Judith Curr, thanks for singing my praises without stopping to take a breath. To Camille McDuffie, thank you for making me that rarest of things in publishing: a brand name. To Laura Gross, I raise a wee dram of Highland whiskey and salute you, because I can't imagine this business without you. To Emily Bestler, well, check out the following page. A very special nod to Judge Jennifer Sargent, without whose input the character of Alex could not have existed. And to Jennifer Sternick, my own personal prosecutor--you're one of the brightest women I've ever met, and you make work way too much fun for our own good (long live King Wah), so it's clearly your own damn fault that I keep asking you to help again and again. Thanks, as always, to my family--Kyle, Jake, and Sammy--who make sure I remember what's really important in life; and to my husband, Tim--the reason I'm the luckiest woman on earth. Lastly, I would like to thank a cadre of people who were the heart and soul of this book: the survivors of actual school shootings in America, and those who helped with the emotional aftermath: Betsy Bicknase, Denna O'Connell, Linda Liebl, and the remarkable Kevin Braun--thank you for having the courage to revisit your memories and the grace to let me borrow them. And finally, to the thousands of kids out there who are a little bit different, a little bit scared, a littl