Perfect Match

“What does it mean to be a good mother?” For career-driven assistant district attorney Nina Frost, the question inspires pangs of guilt familiar to all parents torn by the demands of home and office. But whereas most parents lie awake at night vividly conjuring the worst scenarios that could befall their children in their absence, Nina lives the reality of such crises — and it’s her job to do something about them. Nina Frost prosecutes child molesters — and in the course of her everyday work, she has endured the frustration of seeing too many criminals slip through the system and walk free. A man as methodical and careful as his wife is instinctive and mercurial, Caleb Frost is a stonemason who glories in his ability to construct with his own hands the physical barriers that will keep out the unwanted — and protect all that is precious within. But even the strongest walls cannot guard Nina and Caleb from the shattering discovery that their own beloved son has been sexually abused.

Five-year-old Nathaniel is the only one who knows the identity of his assailant — but in the initial fallout of his trauma, he’s been left mute, unable to speak a single word. Knowing the futility of trusting the courts to exact justice for Nathaniel, and ripped apart by a maddening sense of helplessness, Nina finds herself in a grip of rage she can’t deny — no matter the consequence, whatever the sacrifice. “What does it take to be a good mother? How far can a person go…and still live with herself? What happens if one’s absolute truths and convictions are turned upside down?”

Forging new ground in her unique territory of morally complex suspense fiction, bestselling author Jodi Picoultdelivers her most soulful and intimate novel to date — and portrays what happens to a family when a wheel comes off, when the domestic unit begins to careen and veer, when the vestments of ordinary life are forfeited to unspeakable horrors. From its provocative opening to the astonishing and revelatory finale, “Perfect Match” enters the raw and private realm of a parent’s heart, and ultimately questions our assumptions about family, security, and love.