From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of By Any Other Name comes a riveting novel about the risks we take to protect the ones we love in a world where crisis is always just around the corner.

On September 11, 2001, when Molly Fitzgerald was only two months old, her mother went to an appointment at the World Trade Center and never came home. Her father and the stepmother who raised her couldn’t have loved her more, but she still grew up with a healthy dread of disasters.

Now an adult, she runs the Rhode Island Department for Emergency Preparedness, mapping out ways to save lives during storms, epidemics, and airplane crashes. She and her husband, Jesse—a police polygraph expert with his own history of crisis—have found a love that is a solace in a dangerous world. But then the unexpected upends their new marriage, leading them both to question everything they thought they knew.

Moving between past and present, Hollow Bones is an epic story of the lies we tell ourselves as we write the narratives of our lives, the plans we design to protect ourselves at the worst moments, and the ties that bind mothers and daughters.

I received a gifted copy of this book from the publisher. All thoughts are my own.

I’m almost embarrassed to admit that before this book, I had only ever read one other Jodi Picoult novel in my life. That book was My Sister’s Keeper, and as it turns out, it’s connected to this one, so I guess it’s fitting that I made this my second novel. I’m kind of kicking myself for not reading anything else by her until now because this was fantastic.

The story centers on Molly, who lost her mother during the attacks on September 11th when she was only two months old. Her mother had an appointment at the World Trade Center and never made it home. I remember that day so vividly and revisiting it brought up all kinds of memories and feelings. Now an adult, Molly channels her fear of catastrophe into her work by running the Department for Emergency Preparedness in Rhode Island. She’s excellent at mapping out how to protect people when things go horrifically wrong. She’s also married to Jesse (who is connected to the characters in My Sister’s Keeper), a police polygraph examiner, and together they’re about to start a family of their own. Then something happens that shakes Molly to her core and changes the trajectory of her life and the novel. I’m deliberately not saying what, because the book builds toward it and the moment it arrives, it flips everything upside down for not only Molly, but the reader as well.

The story is told from three different perspectives, moving between past and present. I’ll be honest: I felt like one of the three POVs could have been trimmed or cut without the story losing its impact. Still, it didn’t lessen the impact or interrupt the flow in any way, I just didn’t find that character’s POV overly interesting (personal opinion). That said, the characters have amazing depth, they’re complicated and make surprising (and controversial) decisions.

There are some heavy, controversial topics woven through this book, and Picoult handles them expertly. She covers them in a way that’s straightforward and factual, without judgment. She’s not telling you what to think. She presents the facts (as uncomfortable as they can be at times) and then forces you to sit with it. I love that kind of storytelling, and it’s probably a big part of why her books are always bestsellers.

I’m glad this book came into my life when it did. I went in with basically no context for this author beyond one novel and came out with a full reading list. Good news is, I have no shortage of books to pick from when I need a Jodi Picoult fix.