The Tenth Circle - Jodi Picoult

I finally finished reading The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult and boy am I glad it is over with! I've always thought that Picoult's books are either hit or miss and this book proves to be a huge MISS! What we have is a book that deals with date rape, a father/daughter relationship, identity issues, infidelity, friendship and loyalty and so much more packed into a mishmash of flashbacks, comic book pages, and the revelation of what happened to Jason Underhill (the rapist). All of these topics alone make for a great novel, but Picoult just does not seem to get the recipe right. Its hard to describe what exactly she gets wrong in the story. The writing is good and the idea of inserting Daniel's comic, Wildclaw, into the book seems an interesting move - however I found it to be annoying and distracting. And no I didn't comb through the comic to find out what the hidden message is (apparently Picoult inserted a hidden message throughout the comic and you can go to her site to find out if you are right). As for the characters - what a disappointment! I found them to be trite and completely unsympathetic and therefore I could not muster an ounce of interest in any of them. I honestly had to make myself finish the book and even then I had to skim over the comics and some sections of the book that just bored me.
I don't really even care to talk about the book anymore, but I suppose I should provide some sort of summary, so here goes: Trixie Stone is date raped at a friend's party and the only people that believe her, are her parents. The entire town believes that Jason Underhill is innocent and that Trixie cried rape because she regretted having sex with Jason. Her parents, David and Laura, are having marital problems of their own - Laura has been having an affair with one of her graduate students. The cops believe that Jason is innocent, but continue to investigate the rape case, until Jason is found dead beneath a bridge. At first glance it appears to have been a suicide, but the more evidence that appears, it is soon apparent that Jason Underhill was not alone at the bridge and that someone pushed him over. David admits to fighting with Jason the night of his death, but does not confess to murder. Trixie is tired of everything going on at home so she runs away to Alaska (where David is originally from). Laura and David slowly begin to communicate again and find themselves searching for their daughter and praying she is safe. The detectives decide to follow the parents, believing they will be lead them to Trixie (whom they now believe to be behind Jason's murder). In Alaska, David confronts his past and is reunited with his family. The police arrest Trixie for Jason's murder and David confesses to the murder. Laura also confesses to the murder. In the end we find out that Laura was on the bridge that night and that Jason fell over the bridge and she tried to help him up, but wound up letting go of his hand. The end.
Okay, so that is over with. The only benefit from reading the Picoult book is that I can use it to cross another one off of the Clear Off Your Shelves reading challenge and the Fall/Winter Challenge - so, yay me!! Now, I can finish reading The Lace Reader. I still haven't finished S&S&Sea Monsters or In The Woods - truthfully, I'm just not into them at the moment, so, I suppose I will finish them whenever I get to them again. As for the 100 Mile Fitness Challenge - lets just say that I am a tad behind on my miles. I'm hoping to make them up this week!!
Ta for now and Happy Reading!!!