The Pact by Jodi Picoult
This novel is about an sweet hometown story about two perfect best friend family's who share everything. The wives are just about long lost sisters and they live next door to each other. These two family's the Harte's and the Gold's are so close they are almost one conjoined family. The family's are thrilled when their children begin to date in high school. Emily and Chris were destined to be together.
Their simple perfect life is shattered when both family's get a call saying that there had been an accident. But neither family predicted the twisted and unbelievable story that they were about to hear. Emily, the Gold's daughter is dead at the scene, and Chris Harte is holding a gun that has one more unused bullet that he claims was meant for him. As detectives question Chris he begins to describe a suicide pact that Emily had come up with. Many are skeptical of Chris' story and eventually Chris Harte is charged with Murder in the first degree.
When Chris is charged with murder, that is the final straw for the Gold and Harte friendship. They are no longer on speaking terms and in court not even a single glance is passed between them.
