I'm a big fan of Jodi Picoult and this novel has cemented our (very one-sided) relationship. This is a book that she has wanted to write for most of her career, but knew that it would be difficult to do so without cries of cultural appropriation. 
 For this is a book about racism, and it's hard-hitting. 
 Picoult writes in three voices in this novel: an African American labour and delivery nurse, a white-supremacist father, and a white public defender. The story is very painful to read, but difficult to put down. In the Author's Note at the end of the novel, she details the research she did and the many relationships she developed to help her truthfully represent the experiences of persons of colour in the United States, and their varying reactions to it. She depicts a legal system that will tie itself in knots to avoid introducing race into a case. 
 Personally, it made me reflect on the interactions I have with people of colour: friends, acquaintances, and strangers. After reading this novel, I hope they call me out when I am blind to my own prejudices. 
 Thanks to Penguin Random House for the ARC.