House Rules

Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Asperger's syndrome. He's hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself to others, and like many children with Asperger's, Jacob has an obsessive focus on one subject - in his case, forensic analysis. He's always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to do - and he's usually right. But then one day his tutor is found dead, and the police come to question him. Reluctance to make eye contact, stimulatory tics and twitches, inappropriate gestures, all these can look a lot like guilt. Suddenly, Jacob finds himself accused of murder.House Rules looks at what it means to be different in our society, and at the extremes of love and loyalty a family must call upon to help each other overcome impossible circumstances. “Picoult is at her razor-sharp best with House Rules. It’s both a tender look at the depths of a mother’s love and a searing examination of how we treat those who are different, and whether we expect them to play by the same rules.”  BookPage“Intelligent, obsessive: House Rules is one of Picoult’s best!”  USA TODAY“ Jodi Picoult is not a writer who deals in the ordinary. She goes for the big topics and handles them smoothly and with expertise. ...House Rules is the name of this story and it is an applicable one. Still in the world of truly great writing it is Jodi Picoult who rules! ”  Huffington Post“Want a book that will keep you spellbound? If it's your turn to pick the book group book, or if you just want to read a dazzling and well-researched novel, you'll want this one.”  Pittsburgh Tribune“House Rules is a page-turner... well-paced and thoughtful. And it certainly leaves readers with more compassion and understanding for sufferers of a condition that puts them always on the outside without a way in.”  Boston Globe“Jodi Picoult fans won’t be disappointed in her new novel, House Rules. It’s a page-turner with much to say about oft-misunderstood Asperger’s syndrome...readers will take away much from the book to keep them thinking. ”  Philadelphia Inquirer