The difficult choices a family must make when a child is diagnosed with aserious disease are explored with pathos and understanding in this 11thnovel by Picoult (Second Glance, etc.). The author, who has taken on suchcontroversial subjects as euthanasia (Mercy), teen suicide (The Pact) andsterilization laws (Second Glance), turns her gaze on genetic planning,the prospect of creating babies for health purposes and the ethical andmoral fallout that results. Kate Fitzgerald has a rare form of leukemia.Her sister, Anna, was conceived to provide a donor match for proceduresthat become increasingly invasive. At 13, Anna hires a lawyer so that shecan sue her parents for the right to make her own decisions about how herbody is used when a kidney transplant is planned. Meanwhile, Jesse, theneglected oldest child of the family, is out setting fires, which hisfirefighter father, Brian, inevitably puts out. Picoult uses multipleviewpoints to reveal each character's intentions and observations, but shedoesn't manage her transitions as gracefully as usual; a series offlashbacks are abrupt. Nor is Sara, the children's mother, as welldeveloped and three-dimensional as previous Picoult protagonists. Herdevotion to Kate is understandable, but her complete lack of sympathy forAnna's predicament until the trial does not ring true, nor can we buy thatSara would dust off her law degree and represent herself in such acomplicated case. Nevertheless, Picoult ably explores a complex subjectwith bravado and clarity, and comes up with a heart-wrenching, unexpectedplot twist at the book's conclusion.