Flashback Friday is my own little weekly tradition, in which I pick a book from my reading past to highlight. If you’d like to join in, here are the Flashback Friday book selection guidelines:

1. Has to be something you’ve read yourself
   
2. Has to still be available, preferably still in print
3. Must have been originally published 5 or more years ago

Other than that, the sky’s the limit! Join me, please, and let us all know: what are the books you’ve read that you always rave about? What books from your past do you wish EVERYONE would read? Pick something from five years ago, or go all the way back to the Canterbury Tales if you want. It’s Flashback Friday time!

My picks for this week’s Flashback Friday:

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

(published 1998)

From Goodreads:

For eighteen years the Hartes and the Golds have lived next door to each other, sharing everything from Chinese food to chicken pox to carpool duty– they’ve grown so close it seems they have always been a part of each other’s lives. Parents and children alike have been best friends, so it’s no surprise that in high school Chris and Emily’s friendship blossoms into something more. They’ve been soul mates since they were born.

So when midnight calls from the hospital come in, no one is ready for the appalling truth: Emily is dead at seventeen from a gunshot wound to the head. There’s a single unspent bullet in the gun that Chris took from his father’s cabinet– a bullet that Chris tells police he intended for himself. But a local detective has doubts about the suicide pact that Chris has described.

I initially picked up The Pact because I was drawn to the cover — that one right up there ↑ (a quick Google search shows several different versions, but the one on this page is the one that sucked me in and made me buy the book). The Pact was my first encounter with bestselling author Jodi Picoult, and although I’ve read several of her books since then, I still think The Pact is the best.

As a parent, I found this book devastating to read. It’s hard to imagine being on the receiving end of such a horrifying phone call — but from that shocking beginning, the book moves forward to reveal countless layers of family dynamics, expectations and failures, love and secrets. There’s a mystery to be solved, and a legal case to see through to a shocking conclusion. The truth about what happened to Emily is sad yet believable, and the tragedy of the young lives ruined is hard to shake even when you’ve finished the book.

Even many years later, The Pact has really stuck with me. If you’ve read it, please let me know what you think! And if you haven’t read it, and especially if you’ve never read any of Jodi Picoult’s works, give this one a try. But be prepared to be put through the emotional wringer. It’s a tough one.

So, what’s your favorite blast from the past? Leave a tip for your fellow booklovers!

Note from your friendly Bookshelf Fantasies host: To join the Flashback Friday fun, write a blog post about a book you love and share your link below. Don’t have a blog post to share? Then share your favorite oldie-but-goodie in the comments section. Jump in!