The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult

This was another book that was recently recommended and lent to me by a good friend of mine. I have always looked at books by Picoult, but have never actually bought them or read them. I have heard mixed reviews on some of her books, and so therefore, have always just decided to read something else instead. However, now that I have actually read one, I will totally be reading more and soon!!

So, what's this one about? Overall, a family who is going through hell! Here's a short synopsis directly from the author's website:

When Daniel Stone was a child, he was the only white boy in a native Eskimo village where his mother taught, and he was teased mercilessly because he was different. He fought back, the baddest of the bad kids: stealing, drinking, robbing and cheating his way out of the Alaskan bush – where he honed his artistic talent, fell in love with a girl and got her pregnant. To become part of a family, he reinvented himself – jettisoning all that anger to become a docile, devoted husband and father. Fifteen years later, when we meet Daniel again, he is a comic book artist. His wife teaches Dante’s Inferno at a local college; his daughter, Trixie, is the light of his life – and a girl who only knows her father as the even-tempered, mild-mannered man he has been her whole life. Until, that is, she is date raped…and Daniel finds himself struggling, again, with a powerlessness and a rage that may not just swallow him whole, but destroy his family and his future.

This is truly just a short summary! There is so much more to this book . . . mystery, romance (or finding it again), an affair, getting in the mind of a teenager as well as a survivor and the brutality that high school can be, a look into the Eskimo lifestyle, and a bit of a graphic novel within. I have read only a couple of graphic novels and LOVED them! The small novel within the novel adds so much to this story, that it actually makes me thirst for more graphic novels these days. The overall effect . . . I was so emotionally involved in the story that I did not want it to end. I wanted to know what happened afterwards and beyond. I want to know more about Dante's Inferno. I just want more!

It's a very serious novel, but there is a little fun added to it as well. When you are finished, the author has left a hidden message for the reader with the drawings. You can check her website for the answer because I do not want to ruin the fun. It's NOT easy to figure out, but it is possible!! After all, I did it!! :)