The Pact
The Pact', by Jodi Picoult, is the story of two families torn apart by a tragedy no one saw coming. Both the Harte's and the Gold's worlds are shattered upon hearing of 17-year-old Emily Gold's death, and her boyfriend Christopher Harte's presence at the scene of the crime. What is originally reported as a botched double suicide pact eventually transforms into suspicions of a homicide, with Chris Harte representing the culprit. Did Chris, incapable of imagining living in a world without his beloved Emily, intend to kill himself that tragic night, or could he have actually shot and murdered his lifelong best friend turned lover?
While we wait to find out the answer, Chris spends the long months before the trial in jail after being arrested on suspicions of murder. Melanie Gold, Emily's mother, will no longer even look at her former best friend and neighbor, Augusta "Gus" Harte, Chris's mother. James Harte, an accomplished doctor who is terrified of public humiliation, will not even acknowledge Chris as his son anymore. Meanwhile, through their strength and faith during difficult times, Gus and Michael Gold, Emily's father, form a special bond. Despite the mounting evidence against Chris in a society that has completely turned its back on him, Michael continues to visit him in jail, entirely confident that Chris never could have hurt his daughter.
As the story progresses, we learn that two families that were once inseparable continue to be torn farther and farther apart. Secrets are unveiled, deeply-rooted relationships are permanently destroyed while new ones are established, and consistent with Picoult's usual story line, the action culminates in a heated trial scene. In this concluding legal battle, we finally learn every heart-wrenching detail of the fateful night of Emily's death.
However, even with a genuine rundown of the highly-debated night presented to us on a silver platter, Picoult still leaves us pondering a number of questions. As she so often tends to, Picoult once again urges us to reconsider the concepts we identify on such a straightforward level. Through narrating the heartbreaking story of Emily and Chris and their young love that ends all too abruptly, Picoult shows us the shades of gray that exist within the clear-cut scale of black and white-and that even when the truth is known, it cannot always be defined in terms of the rigid, official, and legal labels that we are so accustomed to attaching to personal experience.