In a graceful portrait, masterfully written in high-pitched prose, Picoult raises the ethical, moral, constitutional, personal and mostly unanswerable questions about how anyone can make a life-or-death decision about a terminally ill loved one for whom extreme measures must be taken to play for more time.

In my first memory, I am three years old, and I am trying to kill my sister. Sometimes, the recollection is so clear I can remember lhe itch of the pillowcase under my hand, the sharp point of her nose pressing into my palm...