Picoult returns with two provocative questions: can a human join a wolf pack, and who has the right to make end-of-life decisions? Luke Warren, a vital free spirit, has devoted himself to understanding wolf behavior, to the point of having once abandoned his family to live with wolves. Now divorced and raising his 17-year-old daughter, Cara, near his wolf compound, Luke sustains a traumatic brain injury in an accident. His ex-wife, Georgie, remarried to a lawyer, summons Cara's brother, Edward, from Thailand, where he's lived for years alienated from his family, who assume the estrangement stems from his father's rejection of Edward's homosexuality. Cara wants to keep her father on life support; Edward struggles with resentment but believes his father wouldn't want to exist in a vegetative state. As Cara and Edward navigate their own conflicts and Luke languishes in a coma, Picoult folds in mesmerizing excerpts of Luke's book about life with the wolves. There are no surprises, as Picoult (My Sister's Keeper) as usual probes intriguing matters of the heart while introducing her fans to subjects they might not otherwise explore. You can always count on Picoult for a terrific page-turner about a compelling subject. Agent: Laura Gross, Laura Gross Literary Agency. (Feb. 28) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Estranged from his family while living in Thailand for the past six years, Edward Warren is summoned home to New Hampshire when his father, Luke, a renowned wolf expert, and Edward's 17-year-old sister, Cara, are critically injured in a car accident. Cara's wounds are not life-threatening, but Luke has suffered severe brain damage and languishes in a vegetative state doctors say is irreversible. As his father's legal next-of-kin, it falls to Edward to make the hard choices about life support and organ donation, a nearly impossible responsibility, given that father and son parted on angry terms the night Edward tried to confide to Luke that he was gay. Then Cara becomes a volatile advocate for her father's right-to-life, taking impulsive steps to wrest control away from Edward. Though the author's loyal Pi-cult following will drive demand, this latest offering lacks the emotional nuance that may have won Picoult her fans. Worthy discussions about critical end-of-life medical and moral issues are often eclipsed by overwrought teenage melodrama and heavy-handed working of the lone wolf/Luke Warren trope. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Best-selling Picoult will conduct a national author tour backed by extensive advertising and publicity for this topical drama by a reliably prolific and avidly popular author.--Haggas, Carol Copyright 2010 Booklist

Biologist Luke Warren leaves his family for two years to join a wild wolf pack in Canada to learn as an insider about their behavior. When returning from the wild, he can't seem to rejoin civilization, and his human family disintegrates. A car crash leaves Luke in a vegetative state; his neurosurgeon is 99 percent certain he will never regain consciousness. Someone must decide whether to keep him on life support. His son and daughter disagree about what to do, and the family faces the moral and ethical dilemma in court. VERDICT Picoult skillfully interweaves the pros and cons of this familial conflict with information about wolves-their family groups, interactions, rules, and how they teach their young. The story is well read by Natalia Payne, Louis Changchien, Celeste Ciulla, Nick Cordero, Angela Goethals, Mark Zeisler, and Andy Patis. Recommended. ["Picoult once again has written a compelling story involving current issues and family drama with a unique twist," read the review of the New York Times best-selling Atria: S. & S. hc, LJ 2/1/12.-Ed.]-Joanna Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Libs., Providence (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.