Second Glance follows the lives of several characters throughout the book. In Picoult's signature writing style, the novel flashes back and forth many decades to piece together the story. The novel is set in the fictional town of Comtosook, Vermont. The story is about Abenaki territorial land that is planned to be turned into a shopping mall. However, if the Abenaki are able to show that an ancestor was buried on this expanse of land, then the mall cannot, legally, be built on the land. Ross Wakeman arrives in Comtosook to stay with his sister, Shelby. Ross is the survivor of many varied suicide attempts, which began after his fiancée Aimee was killed in a car accidentyears ago. Ross became a ghost hunter in the hopes that someday he would encounter Aimee's spirit. Fortunately for Ross, when he arrives in Comtosook, the town begins to experience strange phenomena, as the result of the new plans to build a strip mall on the Abenaki land.
Characters
Ross Wakeman: The male protagonist, a ghost hunter who moves around the country, now living with his sister in Comtosook, Vermont.
He is a ghost hunter who moves around constantly, now living with his sister.
Shelby Wakeman: Ross's sister, Ethan's mother, divorced, a librarian with a passion for unusual, complicated words, and etymology.
Ethan Wakeman: Ross's nine-year-old nephew and Shelby's son. He suffers from Xeroderma pigmentosum.
Cecelia Pike/Lia Beaumont: A suicidal woman featured in the present-day as well as in flashbacks.
Eli Rochert: A half-Abenaki police officer whose wife left him. After seeing Shelby in his dreams for weeks, he finds her and falls in love with her. He works with Ross to solve the murder mystery.
Lucy Oliver: The eight-year-old daughter of Meredith. She is intelligent for her age, but she sees things that nobody else can, including ghosts.
Spencer Pike: Cecelia's husband, works as a eugenist in the flashbacks. In the present-day, he lives at the Comtosook nursing home.
John Delacour:Also known as, Gray Wolf and Az Thompson. A 102-year-old Abenaki man, the last surviving member of his tribe, and the suspected murderer of Cecelia Pike.
