Jodi Picoult’s Change of Heart was a good read, but I didn’t like it as much as I liked the other Pocoult books I have read. The focus on religion, which may be interesting and sometimes educational for others, was too much for me.
Shay Bourne is a drifter who does odd jobs. When he is found inside a house with a dead cop and his stepdaugheter, both of whom have been shot, Borne is sentenced to death. His case certainly wasn’t helped by the fact that the seven-year-old girl’s underware was in his pocket at the time of arrest.
As the story unfolds, the reader is taken through several miracles that Borne supposedly achieved. People gather outside the prison believing he is Jesus.
At the same time, the daughter and halfsister of Borne’s supposed victims is dyin because she can’t get a heart transplant. Seeing the story on the news, Borne decides he wants to donate his heart to the child.
By the end, we learn things on both sides of the debates over the death penalty and religion aren’t as simple as they are too often presented. The speech made by Maggie Bloom, Bourne’s atheist ACLU lawyer, after his conviction was the best part of the book.
Change of Heart was worth the read. It wasn’t how I would tell a story about the death penalty.