Picture perfect

 

Ok its another golden oldie and one of my favorite authors Jodi picoult.

one of my favorite all-time authors . The title is picture perfect.

 Jodi often describes human interrelationships involving difficult moral or societal choices. Like any good mystery they are usually resolved at the end.  and most of the events in the this story actually reflected the headlines recently  practically word for word. It was all there and I found that amazing to say the least. The book was written some years ago. The headlines are current  In that they focused around a famous  celebrity  husband who may have been physically abusing a less famous Woman He charged the woman with slander and his reputation. According to some reports woman didn’t fit the image of a helpless woman and he the celebrity  star was very popular he won a slander lawsuit apparently based on his popularity on television. Jodi’s book was published in its paperback form which  in 1995. Her story was centered around a super famous handsome movie star who abused his wife Cassie who he loved beyond all boundaries.

Cassie the protagonist is a lower ranking teacher in the graduate school at UCLA. As the story begins she awakens in a Los Angeles graveyard her hair crusted with blood and suffering from amnesia. A Sioux Indian policeman from a reservation in the Black Hills of South Dakota has fled that reservation and obtained a job as a policeman in the Los Angeles. William Flying Horse, a new  to the city  and about to start a job with the LAPD, finds her and takes her in. Days later, when her husband comes to claim her at the police station, no one is more stunned than Cassie Barrett to learn that not only is she a renowned anthropologist, but she is married to Hollywood’s leading man, Alex Rivers.

Perhaps it might all seem like one of those Harlequin books with a Studly  looking man and scantily covered women on the cover men on the cover and women but it’s not both Cassie and Alex had  very traumatic childhood’s with flawed parents and this leads to difficulties for  both of them. When she makes a mistake he loses his temper and beats her and she loves him as he does her and doesn’t know how to handle it. Like any good mystery writer write does the author draws you into the plot. It all seems like the perfect marriage each one has their good points. Cassie seems to have it all: a romantic Bel-Air mansion, a husband nominated for a long list of Academy Awards, and a celebrated career of her own. It’s the picture of a perfect marriage. But as Cassie regains her memory and settles back into her glamorous life, after   recovering most of her memory she learned some frightening things.  A frightening pattern of hurt, denial, and broken promises. Torn between fear and love. Cassie wrestles with the he loves her he he loves her not, but he really does love her but over the top. Really does he loves her not she loves him too much and I couldn’t wait to see how this low worked out at and ultimate questions: How can she leave? Then again, how can she stay? I don’t usually do this but I stayed up till three in the morning to see how this mess turned out.     Alex with   baby whose life was threatened when she was pregnant  beat her again. Cassie fled to finally but feared that her husband would with all his money would be able to find her. She finds a safe place in South Dakota the Indian reservation of the Sioux nation where an Indian massacre took place in my lifetime’and the story continues from there. Picture-perfect Some of you may remember being a history teacher I prefer straight chronology in stories. Picture-perfect jumps around a bit but there are not a ton of characters and the call always makes them stand out and are memorable. It’s perhaps one of America’s best mystery writers best novels and it would be worth your time to go to your library and see if they still have it some years after it was published.