Lone Wolf

Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult

Hardback, 384 pages

Expected Publication: February 28th 2012 by Hodder & Stoughton

My shelves: adult-fiction, arc-or-review, books-i-own, comfort-novels, currently-reading, medical-conditions, read-in-2012, realistic-fiction, hodder and stoughton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Description via Goodreads:

Edward Warren, 23, has been living in Thailand for five years, a prodigal son who left his family after an irreparable fight with his father, Luke. But he gets a frantic phone call: His dad lies comatose in a NH hospital, gravely injured in the same accident that has also injured his younger sister Cara.

Cara, 17, stll holds a grudge against her brother, since his departure led to her parents’ divorce. In the aftermath, she’s lived with her father – an animal conservationist who became famous after living with a wild wolf pack in the Canadian wild. It is impossible for her to reconcile the still, broken man in the hospital bed with her vibrant, dynamic father.

With Luke’s chances for recovery dwindling, Cara wants to wait for a miracle. But Edward wants to terminate life support and donate his father’s organs. Is he motivated by altruism, or revenge? And to what lengths will his sister go to stop him from making an irrevocable decision?

My thanks go to Hodder & Stoughton for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

As soon as I heard about Jodi Picoult's latest novel, I just had to get my hands on a copy. When I did receive a copy from the publishers, I just couldn't wait to get started on it! Whilst I haven't read them all, I've read most of Jodi Picoult's novels and I've really enjoyed them, giving her a firm place in my favourite authors. 

I'll start by admitting that I was slightly wary of the 'wolf' aspect of this book. Whilst I love animals, I'm not usually keen on reading about them and I have had no interest in wolves before. Still, I really wanted to read it just because of the author. Thankfully, once again, she didn't let me down! 

Picoult does go into detail about wolves as they play a huge part in the novel, as you can expect simply from the title. I never felt overwhelmed by this information though - it became very fascinating and it's clear that a great amount of research went into the writing. I was extremely impressed with how Picoult formed the story - the recollections of Luke's time living with wolves worked extremely well in parallelling the events that were happening in the present. However, this book is not just about wolves - It is also about relationships, loyalty and family. It's also a novel about deciding what is right, not only for yourself, but for others. It's about letting go of perceptions, beliefs and people.

There are several important characters, the main ones being Luke, Cara, Edward, Georgie and Joe, which we get to hear from as they independently narrate. Luke is the father of Cara and Edward, as well as the ex-husband of Georgie. He is our central character in this novel as the story revolves around him. After a car crash with his daughter, he is left in a coma and it must be decided what to do - turn off the machine that is keeping him alive so that his organs can be donated, or keep him alive and wait for a miracle? We learn more about Luke through accounts of his time living with wolves and through the thoughts and actions of his children and his ex-wife. Even after completing the book, I am still torn on my thoughts regarding Luke, but I think that it's a good thing that the author still has me thinking, even after I've finished reading.


All of the characters that we are introduced to are deeply complex and have had so many experiences that have shaped and affected them. They each have distinctive voices opinions and it is interesting to see how they all interact. Picoult is fantastic at portraying the characters that she has created and allows us to really get to know them and feel their emotions. 

Picoult has a formula that she knows works - she crafts realistic stories, adds twists and turns, throws in well written arguments for both sides of often controversial topics and manages to come up with stories that have an impact upon you. 
If you liked her previous novels, there's no doubt that you'll enjoy this one just as much. If you haven't read any of her novels before, I promise you that you are missing out! I'd have no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone. This is yet another astonishing piece of writing from an incredibly talented author and now I'm impatiently waiting to see what she can offer us next!

[Jodi Picoult's last book, Sing You Home, also made it into my top picks of 2011 which you can check out here]

Behind the scenes footage of the audio recording of Lone Wolf.