63 pages 2 hours read

Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan

Mad Honey

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022

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Chapters 5-8

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 5 Summary: “Olivia 3”

The night of Lily’s memorial, Olivia is awakened in the middle of the night by Mike and a couple other officers, who have an arrest warrant for Asher; he’s being charged with Lily’s murder. Olivia heads down to the station after Asher is handcuffed and taken away but is refused admission. Back home, she wonders if she should call Braden. She catches sight of a hole in the wall near Asher’s bed, remembering how Asher created it by punching the wall in a fit of anger and wonders whether it was after a fight with Lily. Olivia then remembers how Lily helped out with the honey harvest in September and how completely in love Asher and her seemed.

Jordan McAfee, Olivia’s older brother (and a famous defense attorney) arrives that morning; he has argued high-profile cases involving a teen suicide pact and a school shooting. Together, they head to the superior court where Asher’s arraignment is taking place. Asher is charged with murder in the first degree, and he pleads “not guilty” on Jordan’s advice. The prosecutor assigned to the case, Gina Jewett, makes the case that Asher and Lily were in a volatile relationship that spun out of control and resulted in Lily’s death.