Since I last wrote about what I’ve been reading, I finished two more books.
This is book 3 in the Maze Runner series and because it’s the last book, it is supposed to provide answers. Thomas was supposed to get his memories back which would help us understand the history of the organization called WICKED, but Thomas chooses not to have his memories restored. I was unfortunately still left wondering what the answers were. I enjoyed the Maze Runner and truly liked The Scorch Trials but The Death Cure was not the kind of series finale I would have preferred. There were a lot of plot holes which I won’t analyze here. I had one theory of my own while reading about the disease that effected the population in the story, but it did not hold true. Too bad, I think my theory was better than the book turned out on it’s own.
The next book I read was Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult. Jodi Picoult is my favorite writer and this is the first time in many years that I have let her new release pass me by. I was able to take it directly off the shelf in the library, which seems to imply that the book isn’t quite as popular as her recent books have been. “In the wild, when a wolf knows its time is over, when it knows it is of no more use to its pack, it may sometimes choose to slip away. Dying apart from its family, it stays proud and true to its nature. Humans aren’t so lucky. Luke Warren has spent his life researching wolves. He has written about them, studied their habits intensively, and even lived with them for extended periods of time. In many ways, Luke understands wolf dynamics better than those of his own family. His wife, Georgie, has left him, finally giving up on their lonely marriage. His son, Edward, twenty-four, fled six years ago, leaving behind a shattered relationship with his father. Edward understands that some things cannot be fixed, though memories of his domineering father still inflict pain. Then comes a frantic phone call: Luke has been gravely injured in a car accident with Edward’s younger sister, Cara. Suddenly everything changes: Edward must return home to face the father he walked out on at age eighteen. He and Cara have to decide their father’s fate together. Though there’s no easy answer, questions abound: What secrets have Edward and his sister kept from each other? What hidden motives inform their need to let their father die . . . or to try to keep him alive? What would Luke himself want? How can any family member make such a decision in the face of guilt, pain, or both? And most importantly, to what extent have they all forgotten what a wolf never forgets: that each member of a pack needs the others, and that sometimes survival means sacrifice?” This was not one of my favorite Jodi Picoult books, but that is not to say I didn’t like it. I still love her writing style and characters. I do feel like she is trying to change her books into more than just novels – in the past she has included a graphic comic within one book and a CD of songs in another. This one contained facts about wolves. I think she was trying to draw a parallel between the wolf world and the family drama, which didn’t quite work for me. Also, I cannot believe she included a (very very minor) character named La-a (Ladasha – the dash is pronounced). The whole section on this character’s name and the names of Helen Bedd and her mother Crystal Chanda Leer seemed wholly unnecessary to me! Jodi – you can do better!