House Rules – Jodi Picoult
Autistic youth, forensics, forensics analysis, Asperger’s syndrome, mystery, fiction.
Rating 11/10
Jacob is a crime solving obsessed teen with Asperger’s syndrome. He has a knack for analyzing crime scenes on his television show and one that he saw in real life. Someone goes missing and the Hunt family is now in the spotlight and Jacob is a murder suspect. When they find the person, they find evidence that points to Jacob committing the murder. The odds are stacked against Jacob, but the unraveling of evidence points in a different direction.
This novel kept me on my toes and I simply loved Jacob. He reminds me of Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory of how particular a person is with Asperger’s. The actor has Asperger’s which he was allowed to bring his own experience into the character he played. I personally felt that the author did do a lot of research in both Asperger’s and criminal forensics to be able to make the narrative more believable with accurate representation. I felt so angry when the section of the book was about trying to convict Jacob that the other side was just trying to get Jacob behind bars and was extremely ignorant. Lawyers are supposed to do their job but what really got me was that Jacob’s lawyer was able to address the fact that in a real court scenario, if one of the people were disabled that they can have accommodations. Besides the legal aspect of the novel, Asperger’s is hard for families to endure and it is no one’s fault that the individual’s wiring is different. All we can do is be supportive and we should be a more supporting community towards Asperger’s instead of shunning them away. Offer them more accommodations and allow them to be able to interact in society the way they choose to be. Be more welcoming and accepting. Also, to end the whole ableist agenda because just because someone is different abled doesn’t mean that that can’t do great things. They are capable and not in ways that society outlines. I really loved this novel. Highly recommend.
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