Change of Heart

Was a fantastic novel. I am so out of my reading "rut" that I haven't even changed the 'what I'm reading now from "I am Charlotte Simmons." If you went to college, got high and had random sex, then you've not only read Charlotte Simmons, you've lived it. I moved on after abour 100 pages. . .

This book is about a woman who has a child and a husband. Her husband was holding her child when they were in a car wreck and her husband was killed. The officer (Kurt) who told her that her husband was dead and extracted her and her daughter from the car, eventually fell in love with her. And vice versa. June found out that she was pregnant with Kurt's baby and they were married and moved in together. They were building a nursery for the baby and Kurt became very involved with his work as an officer/detective.

One day, a man comes to the door and sees that they need work done and offers to help. The next thing you know, June comes home from an OB appointment and finds her daughter and her new husband murdered. It only can be assumed that the Shay (the alleged perpetrator) had murdered the husband and daughter.

A jury convicted him. And he went to jail. Then a sort of 'Green Mile' thing happened where he resurrected a bird of one of the inmates. Then he cured his cell neighbor of AIDS.

Then. June's new daughter, eleven years later needs a heart transplant. Who's a perfect match? Shay. He volunteers his heart and bangs his head against a food tray until he starts seizing. When that doesn't work, he petitions to be sentenced to death by hanging where his vital organs can be salvaged. Eventually, his petitions won.

In the meantime, we find out that Shay had come back to the house to find that June's husband was sexually molesting her daughter. Shay and Kurt engage in a physical altercation and Kurt fires his gun and it his the daughter. Then, Shay steals the gun and kills Kurt.

Ultimately, he is sentanced to death by hanging and June's daughter is given his heart which happens to be a perfect match.

Her daughter is getting ready for some dance at school and notices that her dog is sleeping when he shouldn't be. Weird. Searching for some resemblance between her and her doner, she reaches for the dog and it jumps to life, even though it is listless and cold.

Justice served, I guess. That's the lesson of Change of Heart.