I have always loved Jodi Piccoult"s books. I was really interested in this topic and seeing how each character was affected by the topic of abortions. I did find it a little confusing that there were so many characters and that the book was written from current time backward. I did feel a connection to each character and how they interacted.. I will buy this book for my branch library and will recommend it. I overall liked the book but did not love it. Can't wait to see what she writes about next.

Have you ever watched or read the news? Was drawn into the story, felt bad for the people involved but, maybe, three seconds after you turned off the tv, went on with your day and forgot about the news story? Unfortunately, that was me and this story.
From the first page I was drawn in but as time went on, my interest began to wane and I lost interest. I think it was because the story moves backwards and because of this I never really got a change to feel close to the characters. By moving backwards, the momentum and tension felt lessoned so when the last page was turned it was equal to turning off the news. An interesting story, but one that wasn’t going to stay with me because the characters never got a chance to find a place in me.

I could not put this book down (almost to the detriment of my family as I didn't want to make dinner to stop reading). The way this story is laid out grips you right from the beginning. I like how Jodi Picoult starts with the major incident (shooter with hostages in an abortion clinic in Mississippi) then works backward throughout the day, hour by hour, to see how everyone got to that place. Brilliant! Highly recommend reading this book, but be warned that you won't be able to put it down! :-)

Engrossing and Thought provoking; and tries to cover emotions and ideologies from both sides of the issue. . It will be a good book discussion book.

I really hate the format of this book and will be glad when the writing stories backwards phase is over. This author always writes thought provoking novels and this one is no different. Abortion, pro-choice and pro-life are all hot topics in today's society. I know research was done because of the author's note, but I feel the author had an agenda that shadowed over the story. Pro-choice readers will love this book.

At first I was disturbed by the weird reverse order of events, but ultimately this style works for the story. Picoult as usual tackles an important topic of the day; A Spark of Light is thought provoking, and would be a great book club selection.

Another timely novel by Jodi Picoult, tackling the issue of abortion, pro-life vs pro-choice. I'd say the ending was a bit abrupt, but the beginning was solid.

Jodi Picoult is hit or miss for me...sometimes I like her work, sometimes I really don't at all. This one was a hit. It's a timely subject, but Picoult looks at it from several points of view that you don't always get. Suspenseful, with a bit of a surprise at the end that kept me guessing throughout.

This novel really worked being written backwards in time! Ms Picoult takes the reader from an active hostage situation in a women’s reproductive clinic back, hour-by-hour, to explore what brought each character to that point. She effectively delves into the mindset of each person involved: doctor, nurse, patients, police, pro-life protestors, and shooter without judging their beliefs. I especially appreciated the Author’s Note and comments at the end.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House/Ballantine for sharing an ARC with me.

Jodi Picoult has written another thought provoking book, this time dealing with abortion. Two single dads, two teen daughters. Both dads raising their girls to the best of their abilities. Then separate actions taken by their daughters cause the dads to come into life threatening conflict with each other at an abortion center.
Picoult's characters are believable and fall on both sides of the abortion issue. Regardless if readers are pro-life or pro-choice, this book will give them some understanding of individuals on the other side of the the issue. I recommend A Spark of Light for book club discussions.

While Piccoult is known for her unique ability to write about controversial social issues, she missed the mark with this novel. The book was written in a backwards timeline style, causing the reader to never bond with any characters. The topic of abortion had both sides equally presented but was extremely graphic. This just did not seem to be a typical Piccoult novel. I always buy her books for my school library, but will definitely pass on this one.

Picoult does it again. She crafts a wonderfully written novel centered around a highly controversial topic, in this case abortion, and engages the reader into looking at that topic through the lenses of several characters who all have a unique experience and point of view. The ending was a surprise twist. Highly recommended.

Instead of her usual home run book, Jodi Picoult has hit it out of the park!! I was able to read a Galley of "A Spark of Light" thru Net Galley. I started reading early afternoon and didn't put the book down until after midnight when I finished!! Love her books!!

I have enjoyed Jodi Picoult's books in the past, but this one fell short. It was too obvious that she was trying to provide both sides of a controversial issue. The story was very weak and not up to her normal standards. It just seemed too lightweight and predictable for the subject matter. I was reading along and looked down to realize I was 88% through the book, and I thought I was still in the setup part of the story. There were too many slightly drawn characters. I lost track of whose story was whose. Her books usually end with a thought provoking, somewhat surprising ending. That did not happen in this one. I would not recommend this book, but our library will buy it simply because of the author. I suspect other readers who check it out will be just as disappointed.

Always provocative subject matters, this novel provides good insight into the issue using her 'what if this was me, or my kid' method.

As usual Jodi Picoult takes a very difficult subject and twists and turns it so you can get several different perspectives. I appreciate all the research she puts into her books as well and the experts she consults. This story was told in a reverse timeline with the end of the day at the beginning and the book working backwards. I didn’t enjoy this aspect of the book. It was much harder to keep track of and I feel like it kept me from really “bonding” with any of the characters. And there were many characters. There wasn’t much suspense or wondering what was going to happen in this book. It just fell a little short to me which was so disappointing because I think this is a really important topic.

Jodi Picoult's unerring sense of timely topics is displayed once again in A Spark of Light, a story of the emotionally fraught topic of abortion rights.

Hostage negotiator Hugh McElroy is called to the scene of a shooting at a women's health center, which is the sole provider of abortions in the state. The shooter is inside with an unknown number of hostages, both staff and patients. Also inside, unbeknownst to Hugh, is his teenage daughter Wren, and his sister Bex. Protocol would say that Hugh should turn over the negotiation to someone else, but he can't, determine to save his daughter and find out why she is there.

Chapter by chapter we piece together the lives of the shooter and the hostages, and why they are intersecting now, and in this place. The hostages are an interesting group: the abortion doctor who feels called to providing the service to women in need; the pro-life protester who is trying to get dirt on the center to close them down, but has dirty secrets of her own; the nurse who literally saves lives; and a patient who has come for an abortion. And why is the shooter there? What has happened to him or someone he loves to feel that taking a lot of lives makes sense for a man who views abortion as anathema because it takes a life?

Picoult does her usual excellent job of researching all sides of the issue of abortion rights. Her characters are sensitively drawn, there is no preaching, and the data about the state of the right to choose in some states is stunning, and real. A Spark of Light is a wonderful read, right up there with My Sister's Keeper (my favorite of her books) and Small Great Things. Don't miss this latest book!

Jodi Picoult's new novel is a difficult read, but she does give both sides of the story. A gunman walks in to a woman's clinic and begins shooting people he thinks did wrong by his family. The novel works backward in time so you get everyone's FULL story about why they are there, what they will do in this situation and their backstories in life. I honestly wasn't sure I wanted to finish the book, but Jodi Picoult is such an amazing writer that I did feel vested in each of her characters and I wanted to help each and every one of them....

Jodi Piccoult has always been one of my favorite authors, so I was thrilled to have the chance to review an ARC of this book. As expected, she didn’t disappoint.

Piccoult often tackles difficult topics. In this case, it centers around a man who takes hostages at a medical clinic that also performs abortions, and some people are shot. The story is told in multiple viewpoints (the shooter, some of the hostages, and the hostage negotiator, whose daughter happens to be one of the hostages). Unlike most of her stories, Piccoult chose to tell this one with a reverse timeline (which was a bit confusing at times. It definitely wasn’t my preference, but by the end, the reader can trace things back and see how each character came to be where they were on that fateful day.). Her characters are realistic and crafted in a way to clearly demonstrate the complexities of abortion, a highly controversial topic. In doing so, she has created a thought-provoking novel.

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy from NetGalley, but I wasn’t required to leave a positive review.

Opening lines: 5pm. The center squatted on the corner of Juniper and Montfort behind a wrought-iron gate, like an old bulldog used to guarding its territory. At one point, there had been many like it in Mississippi—nondescript, unassuming buildings where services were provided and needs were met. Then came the restrictions that were designed to make these places go away: the halls had to be wide enough to accommodate two passing gurneys; any clinic where that wasn't the case had to shut down or spend thousands on reconstruction. The doctors had to have admitting privileges at local hospitals—even though most were from out of state and couldn't secure them—or the clinics where they practiced risked closing, too. One by one the clinics shuttered their windows and boarded up their doors. Now, the Center was a unicorn - a small rectangle of structure painted a fluorescent, flagrant orange, like a flag to those who had traveled hundreds of miles to find it. It was the color of safety; the color of warning. It said: I'm here if you need me. It said, Do what you want to me; I'm not going.
Reason I picked up the book: I'm a huge Jodi Picoult fan so I was super excited to snag at NetGalley copy of this a few months before its release date.
And what's this book about?
The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center—a women’s reproductive health services clinic—its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage.

After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.

But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester disguised as a patient, who now stands in the cross hairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.

Told in a daring and enthralling narrative structure that counts backward through the hours of the standoff, this is a story that traces its way back to what brought each of these very different individuals to the same place on this fateful day.

Jodi Picoult—one of the most fearless writers of our time—tackles a complicated issue in this gripping and nuanced novel. How do we balance the rights of pregnant women with the rights of the unborn they carry? What does it mean to be a good parent? A Spark of Light will inspire debate, conversation . . . and, hopefully, understanding.
Recommended for: Anyone who enjoys books, pretty much. Fans of Picoult's previous books will enjoy it. It's also very timely considering our country's current position on birth control and abortions.
Favorite paragraph: The point of establishing a relationship with a hostage taker was to make sure that you were the only source of information, and to give you the time to find out critical information of your own. What kind of hostage taker were you facing? What had precipitated the standoff, the shoot-out, the point of no return? You might start trying to build a relationship with innocuous conversation about sports, weather, TV. You'd gradually find out his likes and dislikes, what mattered to him. Did he love his kids? His wife? His mom? Why?

If you could find the why, you could determine what could be done to disarm the situation.
Something to know: The chronology goes backwards, which is a little hard to comprehend at first. However, we still learn about the characters, but by going backwards in the story line, if that makes sense.
What I would have changed: I wasn't a huge fan of the backwards chronology. I still enjoyed the book but a little less than others I have read by her. However—SEMI-SPOILER—there's a big twist at the end which I did not see coming, which was interesting.
Overall rating: 3.5 stars out of 5.
Where can I find this book? Click here to purchase on Amazon - this book will be in stores and online on October 2, 2018.