The Pact
| The Pact | |
|---|---|
 First edition |
|
| Author(s) | Jodi Picoult |
| Cover artist | Nada Bankovic & Tabitha King |
| Country |  USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Allen & Unwin |
| Publication date | 1998 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 451 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 978-1-74114-036-1 |
The Pact (1998) is a novel by bestselling author Jodi Picoult about a possible suicide pact between two teenage lovers.
[edit] Plot summary
"Chris and Emily, teenagers from the same neighborhood and very close families, have been as close as siblings since birth, but as teenagers their relationship develops into something more. Emily feels pressured, and develops suicidal feelings. She shares her thoughts with Chris, and he attempts to prevent her from committing the act.For eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty-- they've grown so close it seems they have always been a part of each other's lives. Parents and children alike have been best friends, so it's no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily's friendship blossoms into something more. They've been soul mates since they were born.
So when midnight calls from the hospital come in, no one is ready for the appalling truth: Emily is dead at seventeen from a gunshot wound to the head. There's a single unspent bullet in the gun that Chris took from his father's cabinet-- a bullet that Chris tells police he intended for himself. But a local detective has doubts about the suicide pact that Chris has described.
The profound questions faced by the characters in this heart-rending novel are those we can all relate to: How well do we ever really know our children, our friends? What if…? As its chapters unfold, alternating between an idyllic past and an unthinkable present, The Pact paints an indelible portrait of families in anguish… culminating in an astonishingly suspenseful courtroom drama as Chris finds himself on trial for murder."[1]
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1. Jodi Picoult & TaylorMade (Book released in 1998). "The Pact". http://www.jodipicoult.com/the-pact.htm. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
