The first book I ever read by Jodi Picoult was The Pact. I made the mistake of reading that on vacation -- the mistake was that all I wanted to do was read. It was that engrossing. I read everything she's ever written up to 2020's The Book of Two Ways, which brought my streak to a screeching halt. It was so heavy and filled with ancient Egyptian history that I couldn't get through it. While I liked Wish You Were Here a little more, I didn't like it as much as other Jodi books.
The main character, Diana O'Toole, is positive that her boyfriend, Finn, will propose on their upcoming trip to the Galapagos. But as a surgical resident, Finn must cancel the trip because of "all hands on deck" at the hospital. At this point, no one knew exactly how bad Covid would get. Implausibly, he tells Diana she should still go, and she does. But, of course, she gets stranded and only has limited contact with Finn, who tells her that things are not going well. Since her hotel has closed, a local family puts her up, and she grows close with them.
A warning that the majority of Wish You Were Here is about the pandemic, so if you're not ready to read about that yet, you might want to steer clear. I think what I found most frustrating is that Diana in the Galapagos really seems like a completely different book than what Finn is going through in the States. The mesh wasn't seamless. All in all, I would put this toward the bottom of the list of Picoult books, but that's because she has so many other ones I liked better.
MY RATING - 3
Available Nov. 30, 2021
