Mad Honey: The most compelling, challenging and contemporary novel you will read this year

Mad Honey is a novel by best-selling American author, Jodi Picoult and award-winning American author, Jennifer Finney Boylan. Mere days after eighteen-year-old Asher Fields has found his girlfriend of three months, Lily Campanello unconscious at the foot of her home's stairs, he is arrested for her murder. His mother, Olivia McAfee doesn't hesitate to call her older brother Jordan to help. A renowned lawyer, Jordan instantly abandons his vacation to defend his nephew.

While Ava Campanello is convinced that Asher is responsible for her daughter's death, he vehemently denies harming her: he loved Lily. The young man spends time in jail awaiting trial because Olivia can't raise a million dollars in bail.

Watching as her son deteriorates, she bites the bullet and calls her ex-husband, a charming, wealthy cardio-thoracic surgeon who proved to also be a violent gas-lighting control freak. She had felt relieved to remove herself and Asher from a marriage that felt "Like someone stabbed me and then blamed me for getting blood on the knife."

Olivia has no idea that her son has been meeting Braden Fields once a month for breakfast, although Asher's best friend, Maya describes him as "not a nice man, Lily. He's just figured out how to imitate one." He does efficiently come up with the cash and hovers in the background despite a restraining order.

If Lily and Asher had wondered just how well one can know a person after three months, fleeting gestures and expressions Olivia recognises from her earlier life have her privately doubting the earnest protestations of the son she has raised for eighteen years.

Jordan and his wife and legal investigator, Selena strategise with Asher and Olivia on how to defend the case which, without witnesses to Lily's death and scant trace evidence, looks largely circumstantial, until a shocking courtroom revelation that makes it even more imperative that Jordan inserts the element of doubt into the prosecution's case.

The story is told through alternating first-person narratives that start on the day of Lily's death: Olivia's describes the aftermath; Lily's goes in reverse, returning to the events that lead up to that day; both include flashbacks.

Picoult Is especially skilled at endowing her characters with almost instant appeal through their banter and little incidents. By virtue of her occupation as an apiarist, a wealth of interesting bee/honey facts is subtly woven into the story as Olivia relates what is happening in their lives to what she knows best.

Olivia and Ava, women who have both escaped toxic males and might otherwise have had a strong rapport, are now at odds. Lily is an especially fascinating character, clever and observant, who notes that there is a vast canyon between who we want people to be, and who they truly are. "People always talk about how their love for you is unconditional. Then you reveal your most private self to them, and you find out how many conditions there are in unconditional love."

Picoult never shies away from challenging or controversial subjects, and while some readers may find this an uncomfortable read, it is certainly topical. As always, the research is thorough and apparent on every page. These authors present a very balanced and informed view that asks: "How similar does someone have to be to you before you remember to see them, first, as human?" and also to consider the distinction between secrecy and privacy. The twelve delicious-sounding honey recipes are a bonus addition to this informative, moving and thought-provoking novel.

This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton.