Jodi Picoult/YMMV

Idiot Plot: Many reviewers note that the entire premise of House Rules depends on absolutely nobody asking Jacob whether he committed the murder or not. His mother and lawyer immediately organise an insanity defence instead. This is particularly glaring because one of the traits of Jacob's Asperger's is that he's terrible at lying.
- Actually, Emma does ask Jacob if he killed Jess at one point, and he says he didn't. Emma knows he can't lie well and so should know that he's telling the truth, but for some reason she seems to assume that he did it accidentally.
- The plot would also be over in fifty pages if Theo didn't sit through his brother's arrest, jail time and trial, and all the strain this causes on his family, without telling anyone that he broke into Jess's house on the day of the "murder" and saw her fall down and hit her head. All right, maybe he's frightened of being charged with causing her accidental death, but when he finally owns up that doesn't seem to have occurred to him.
Shocking Swerve - many of her books end on sudden plot twists, but particularly notable is the end of My Sister's Keeper, where Anna is granted medical emancipation, but is in a fatal car accident on her way home and her organs are used anyway.
- Or possibly Handle with Care , when after the O'Keefes Win the lawsuit Willow drowns and dies

Unfortunate Implications - The town in Nineteen Minutes is fictional, but is in many ways obviously based off of Hanover, New Hampshire, where Picoult lives, and the school is based off of Hanover High School. As a result, there was a panic in the community that there would be an actual school shooting on March 6, when the event in the book takes place.